White Light

Album: White Light (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • It was Asif Kapadia's Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy, which inspired writing The Corrs' sixth album. The title, 'White Light,' is from a quote from Tony Bennett in the film about the singer. Andrea Corr explained to The Sun: "I went to see the Amy documentary which obviously had a big effect. It struck me when Tony Bennett said: 'You've got to live long enough to learn how to live.'

    I walked out of the movie thinking about the 27 Club and the amount of artists that die at that age. 'White Light' is about being brave enough to get over that difficult time because everything passes.

    I remember when we were in our 20s how immersed we were in certain issues but you realise it's a moment that will pass and you've just got to deal with it. But Amy didn't want to be famous. She just wanted to be a jazz singer."
  • Female First asked Sharon Corr why they named the album after this song. She replied: "In many ways it represented so many different feelings on the album. Andrea wrote the lyrics after watching the Amy Winehouse documentary. There's a great line from Tony Bennett, 'You have got to live long enough to learn how to live.' It's such a good line because there have been so many artists under that White Light who just couldn't cope with it and couldn't handle it.

    I think as you get a little bit older; the things that once seemed so stressful, you come to realize that they weren't worth worrying about. Sometimes you just need a little bit more time and a little bit more living to be able to live better.

    White Light refers to being on stage and being at the center of something and having that White Light and having to perform. Then there is a White Light in the sense of an afterlife and the White Light that people speak about.

    It encapsulated the album in so many ways in what we do for a living. You are constantly exposed under the White Light. Some of us survive it, some of us live it and love it and how some of us don't survive it."

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