He Can Only Hold Her

Amy Winehouse sings about a love that slips through her fingers. In “He Can Only Hold Her,” the artist’s raspy voice drags along over a rhythm that seems to pause every so often, as if time itself were reluctant to move forward. The lyrics don’t speak of a happy romance, but of someone trying to hold on to a person whose mind is already elsewhere: the title foreshadows that frustration. There’s no possibility of possession, only the empty gesture of embracing someone who’s no longer there.

The song was born in the same studio where *Back to Black* was recorded, between 2005 and 2006, when Amy Winehouse was working with Mark Ronson and the band The Dap-Kings. The team sought to recreate the sound of 1960s girl groups, but with a modern twist: raw soul mixed with contemporary R&B. Here, however, the focus is intimate. The 2:46 runtime is just right for telling a story that needs no further words. The mixing was handled by Tom Elmhirst and Matt Paul, who gave it that live-recording feel, as if every note had been captured in a single take.