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)
Ain't no sunshine
Melanie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's not warm when he's away
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
And he's gone so long
Any time he goes away
Wonder this time where he's gone
Wonder if he's going to stay
And this house just ain't no home
Anytime he goes away
I know
Hey, ought' a leave that thing alone
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
Only darkness every day
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
And he's gone so long
Any time he goes away
Ain't no sunshine in the night
And ain't no sunshine in the day
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
And he's always gone to long
Any time he goes away
Any time he goes away
Any time he goes...
Any time he goes away
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
It's not warm when he's away
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
And this house just ain't no home
Any time he goes away
Wonder this times where he's gone
Wonder if he's gonna stay
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
And this house just ain't no home
Any time he goes away
Any time he goes...
Any time he goes away
Any time he goes away
I waited and waited...
And when no message came
I knew it must be from you
The song "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers has been re-recorded by numerous artists, and Melanie Safka's rendition in 1971 adds her unique style and interpretation to this classic soulful ballad. From the title to the chorus to the verses themselves, the song speaks of loss, longing and despair, using vivid imagery to paint a portrait of a lonely and bleak existence without the one you love. The repetition of "Ain't no sunshine when he's gone" emphasizes the impact this person has on the singer's life and the negative emotions that arise in their absence.
Throughout the song, Melanie plaintively wonders where he has gone, if he will ever return, and laments the emptiness and dark void that consumes her life when he is not there. The line "It's not warm when he's away" highlights the emotional void she feels in his absence, and the mention of "only darkness every day" paints a picture of a bleak existence. The final verse indicates that the absence is unwelcome and long, leaving the singer to wait countless sleepless nights, hoping for a message that never comes.
Overall, "Ain't No Sunshine" captures the universal feeling of loss, of missing someone deeply, and the power of their presence to light up and transform our lives. It speaks to the struggle of finding meaning and purpose when someone we love is not with us, and the longing to fill the emptiness that they leave behind.
Line by Line Meaning
Ain't no sunshine when he's gone
Life seems gloomy when he's away
It's not warm when he's away
His absence brings coldness
And he's gone so long
He's been away for a considerable time
Any time he goes away
His departure is always a sad moment
Wonder this time where he's gone
Thinking about where he might have gone
Wonder if he's going to stay
Doubting if he'll stay for good
And this house just ain't no home
His absence makes the house feel empty
I know
Hey, ought' a leave that thing alone
Realizing the need to let go
Only darkness every day
Every day seems dark without him
Ain't no sunshine in the night
Even the night feels dull without him
And he's always gone too long
His departures always seem endless
I waited and waited...
And when no message came
I knew it must be from you
Realizing that the lack of communication meant the relationship was over
Contributed by Tyler O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.