one side of Amy Winehouse’s first post-rehab interview

after Eve L. Ewing & Hanif Abdurraqib

A: If you call lonely lucky.

A: Let’s say demons could speak—they won’t.

A: No, I still hear voices, but my higher power is between me & my higher power.

A: Whatever brings me close without burning. That’s considered a high, yeah?

A: A chorus of angels—what rubbish. To watch over who?

A: They wouldn’t want to watch.

A: Ain’t they aware the devil is an angel?

A: Look, I never said that’s what I sang for. I’ll stretch any note til it breaks.

A: A song is a wordless thing that needs sayin’. Praying is for the bedroom.

A: Not that kind of prayer.

A: It’s like water in a bowl your mouth can’t reach.

A: To say I merely survived wouldn’t do the moment justice.

A: Listen, I left a whole lot more than money on the table for a whole lot less.

A: By learning to be thankful for smaller miracles.

A: Not that small.