Amie Comeaux - Memories Left
Behind
Review By: George
Peden, CSO Staff Journalist
When
21-year old Amie Comeaux went to God on December 21, 1997, after a
wet road accident near her Baton Rouge, Louisiana home, many
mourned the loss as senseless and tragic. It was. The
talented and vivacious singer songwriter had been out front of
audiences since the age of two. Prior to her untimely death, her
career was starting to move. She had been gaining wide recognition
for her music, with many industry leaders predicting a future for
the youthful humanitarian who was praised for her work with the
elderly and the infirmed. Then, sadly, a straight stretch of road,
heavy rain and a miscalculated tree ended the dream.
For fans, those who enjoyed her
previous albums -- "Moving Out" (1994) "A
Very Special Angel" (1998) – this final release, an
album with10 songs recorded before her death, the album will be a
reminder that hers was a talent taken too soon.
Dedicated to her mother, Carmen
(she passed August 13, 2006), the album is a
vibrant mix of upbeat toe-tappers, and a balanced blend of
ballads. The album also includes the latest single to radio,
“Never Had A Girl Like Me”. The track, a mid-paced
country rocker, tells of a girl who describes her relationship
arrival as like “trading a tractor for a thunderbird”. Lucky
guy!
Tracks like “Keeping On” and
“Make No Promises Tonight”, a tale of an optimistic revisit to
a fractured and failed relationship are fine offerings; but both
pale to the sensitivity of the James Beauhall and Sylvia Johns
penned “A Rose By Any Other Name”. The tune, poignant and
revealing, tells of homegrown shame at the hands of a drunken
father, with the result “Rose” takes to the streets.
As the lyrics tell, it’s a
story that has a familiarity offering a sad echo that many of us
know, but many of us choose to ignore:
“Her home now is a shipping crate
In an alley by a heating grate
She wears clothes someone else threw out
She gets her meals at the mission house
She’s had the chance to sell herself
But her heart tells her it ain’t right
Each day she searches for her sanity
Then struggles for survival each night
She fashions paper roses to give to strangers on the street
Sometimes they leave some loose change
In a fruit jar at her feet
Everybody calls her Rose, her real name no one knows
But a rose by any other name is still a rose”
Maybe the next time we see the “bag lady”,
this tune might remind us that often life’s biggest pains and
hurts are not self-inflicted.
Standout cuts are the rock tinged “Ain’t
Heard Nothing Yet”, “You Could Steal Me” and love’s
constraint of keeping the truth quiet when it comes to liking the
guy, “Don’t Tell Him”.
The album is out now on Beaujo Music. The
album is a fitting tribute to the talents of a singer whose
remembrance is now complete. Memories Left Behind has seen
to that.
