2. Melanie: Midwest Auckland emo four piece Melanie released their full length album 42 Losers in May 2020 and have been playing a fine selection of gigs and house parties since
1. Born on the 3rd February 1947 in Astoria, New York deceased 23rd January 2024, Melanie made her first recording, "Gimme a Little Kiss", when she was five.
She first found chart success in Europe. Her 1969 song "Bobo's Party" reached number one in France. Later that year she had a hit in the Netherlands with "Beautiful People" before performing at Woodstock. Apparently, she was inspired to write "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" by the audience lighting candles during her set; the song became a hit in both Europe and the USA. Her biggest hit in the USA was "Brand New Key", also known as "The Roller Skate Song". She has been awarded three gold albums.
Three of Melanie's compositions were hits for The New Seekers: "Look What They've Done to My Song Ma", "Beautiful People", and "The Nickel Song".
With one exception her albums have been produced by her husband, Peter Schekeryk. Her three children - Leilah, Jeordie and Beau-Jarred -are also musicians. Beau-Jarred is a guitarist and accompanies his mother on The 2003 Australian hip-hop track "The Nosebleed Section" by The Hilltop Hoods sampled Melanie's "People in the Front Row".
In 2004 Melanie released Paled by Dimmer Light, which is co-produced by Peter and Beau-Jarred Schekeryk.
In 2010 the last album co- produced by her now late husband Peter Schekeryj and their son Beau Jarred Schekeryk was released: Ever Since You Never Heard Of Me
Melanie, who became the voice of an era in one magical instant onstage at Woodstock, has been putting the pieces in order.
Pieces of a career, scattered by the winds of experience and assembled again by the force of love into the most personal and brilliant moments of her musical journey.
Melanie is poised to enlighten new generations about what it means to sing with both passion and eloquence, to write at once with intelligence and emotion, and to inspire through song… and nobody does this better than Melanie.
Others learned this that night at Woodstock, where as a New York kid barely known outside of the coffeehouse circuit in Greenwich Village, she sang her song "Beautiful People" and inspired the first panorama of candles and cigarette lighters ever raised at a concert event. That, in turn, moved the young singer to write "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain"), which sold more than one million copies in 1970 and
prompted Billboard, Cashbox, Melody Maker, Record World, and Bravo to anoint her
as female vocalist of the year. Her single "Brand New Key," an infectious romp about
freedom and roller skates, topped the charts in 1971.
And so her story began.
With guitar in hand and a talent that combined amazing vocal equipment, disarming
humor, and a vibrant engagement with life, she was booked as the first solo pop/rock
artist ever to appear from the Royal Albert Hall to Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan
Opera House, and later opened the New Metropolitan Opera House in New York, the
Sydney Opera House, and in the General Assembly of the United Nations, where she
was invited to perform on many occasions as delegates greeted her performances
with standing ovations.
The top television hosts of all time -- Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, and Dick Cavett --
battled to book her. (After her stunning performance on his show, Sullivan goggled
that he had not seen such a "dedicated and responsive audience since ElvisPresley.")
Accolades rolled in, from critics ("Melanie's cult has long been famous, but it's a cult
that's responding to something genuine and powerful -- which is maybe another way
of saying that this writer counts himself as part of the cult too," wrote John Rockwell
in The New York Times) as well as peers ("Melanie," insisted jazz piano virtuoso
Roger Kellaway, "is extraordinary to the point that she could be sitting in front of us in
this room and sing something like 'Momma Momma' right to us, and it would just go
right through your entire being.")
In the years that followed Melanie continued to record, continued to tour.
UNICEF made her its spokesperson; Jimi Hendrix's father introduced her to the
multitude assembled for the twentieth anniversary of Woodstock. Her records
continued to sell -- more than eighty million to date. She's had her songs covered by
singers as diverse as Cher, Dolly Parton, and Macy Gray. She's raised a family, won
an Emmy, opened a restaurant, written a musical about Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity
Jane…
She has, in short, lived a rare life. But all of it was just a prelude to what's about to
come.
"For the first time, I'm not afraid to voice exactly what I feel. I used to feel that I didn't
want to say too much, but now I can say anything. I feel like a person who's never
been heard. Maybe people think they've heard me, but they never really have. I'm a
new artist who is having so much fun with my voice -- a person shouldn't be allowed
to have so much fun. I'm the woman I wanted to be when I was sixteen and going for
Edith Piaf. It's me -- I'm back."
(Written by Robert L. Doerschuk)
Afraid Of The Dark
Melanie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Send their children to bed and stay out all night
While they lie
Their lives are in safe keeping
They roam the corners of night
Afraid of the dark
So they can't see the light sleeping
Melanie's song "Afraid of the Dark" explores the fear of the unknown and the fear of confronting our demons. The first lyric "People who are afraid of the dark send their children to bed and stay out all night" highlights a common coping mechanism faced by individuals who are afraid of confronting their fears. Some people tend to avoid their fears altogether by keeping themselves occupied and not dealing with their emotions. Meanwhile, those who are left behind or left alone suffer in the darkness as they miss the comfort and care of their loved ones who are not around.
The phrase "While they lie, their lives are in safe keeping" implies that these individuals are living in denial and prefer to stick with the status quo. They may feel safe in their current state of mind, avoiding the unravelling of their emotions and tackling their fears. However, they are failing to embrace the unknown and the endless possibilities that come with it. The line "Afraid of the dark, so they can't see the light sleeping" suggests that their fear of the unknown is stopping them from discovering and experiencing the beauty of life.
Overall, "Afraid of the Dark" is not just a reflection of an individual's fear of the unknown but of society's tendencies to avoid confronting their feelings and instead focus on mundane distractions.
Line by Line Meaning
People who are afraid of the dark
Individuals who are frightened of what they cannot see in the darkness
Send their children to bed and stay out all night
They put their kids to bed early and leave their homes to avoid confronting their fear
While they lie
As their children sleep peacefully, unaware of the burden of their parents' worry
Their lives are in safe keeping
Their existence is protected and secure, despite their anxiety
They roam the corners of night
They move about in the darkness, fearing what might be lurking just beyond the reach of their vision
Afraid of the dark
Trembling with apprehension and panic whenever the light fades and shadows emerge
So they can't see the light sleeping
Their terror renders them unable to appreciate the beauty and serenity of night-time, when the world is at rest
Contributed by Alexis Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.