Warwick Avenue – Duffy

“When I get to Warwick Avenue meet me by the entrance of the tube, we can talk it over a little while, promise me you wont step out of line”

Duffy made an incredible retro pop album a little over a decade ago. Huge vocals full of emotion and soul over lush string arrangements and 60’s inflected grooves. One of the really big singles from Rockferry was this merciless tear jerker. Guaranteed to fuck you up if you’ve recently been dumped (I’m good, don’t worry about me) this was straight up main stream pop music which cared not if you were hip, alternative, straight laced or some unique snow flake to the far left of the middle.

If you had a tender spot in the memory banks where someone had let you down less than gently… Well, then Duffy and her team of songwriters had a VIP invitation for you to attend your own little pity party. The cab was waiting right outside and the meter was running.

“Don’t think we’re OK just because I’m here, you hurt me bad but I wont shed a tear”

This Welsh sing star had a voice from the previous century. Her sound fitted with the Amy Winehouse, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey retro sound which had a hot minute around that time. A hankering for substance in popular music which craved something more than the ringtone writ large that was the current state of the pop shit show. And it has to be said. She looked amazing. I can’t bear watching her cry in the video. I feel like I need to apologise and I’ve never met the woman.

I remember seeing the mighty Paul Weller happy to play second fiddle to her talents and play guitar for her. I also recall reading that Johnny Marr was a fan. Paul McCartney teamed up with her for a charity single and The Roots have played as her backing band because one thing all of these huge acts recognise in a talent like Duffy’s is that the most perfect pop of all stems from the big hair>big sounds of Ladies singing wonderfully crafted Nancy Sinatra, Diana Ross, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Bassey standard music which reaches everybody with it’s pure melodic intentions.

If you’ve lived any life at all you’ve loved. If you’ve loved and lost when you weren’t ready for it to end, well at that point a lyric as simple as;

“I’m leaving you for the last time”

Sung with such class has a massive impact. This is pop music at it’s multi-million reaching best and it is brilliant.