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)
Autumn Lady
Melanie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I wouldn't begin to explain without help from a song
And the moon and the sun
Sometimes the wind that blows through life
Can stir up the darkness and pain
Oh I've been blown to the right and the left of the light
It's the wind but I still feel to blame
The Autumn Lady is laying now on a mountain of feathers and down, oh
She spent all her nights under raspberry lights
And her days, wrote her days into songs
Why has the maple gone brown on me
Has the falling already begun
I lay in the grass in the fields of the past
Since you're gone with the moon and the sun
"Autumn Lady" is a song that tells a story of loss, nostalgia, and the memories that haunt us. The first verse talks about the singer's struggle to find words to describe their thoughts and emotions about the season. The image of the "Autumn flower rhyme" is one that filters through the singer's mind, but he or she can't quite articulate it. The moon and the sun represent the forces of nature that control the cycle of life and death, and which are the backdrop to the singer's musings.
The second verse is about the unpredictable, sometimes destructive forces of life, represented by the wind. The singer feels blown around by events that are out of their control, and feels guilty for not being able to handle them better. The Autumn Lady in the third verse is a symbol of the past, of someone who has moved on and left the singer behind. She has "spent all her nights under raspberry lights" and "wrote her days into songs" - in other words, she has created a rich and fulfilling life for herself. The singer is left wondering why the world around him or her has changed, why the maple tree has gone brown, and why everything feels different since the Autumn Lady has left.
Overall, "Autumn Lady" is a poignant reflection on the passage of time and the way that memories can cling to us and shape our perceptions of the present. It's a song about the things we can't quite articulate or understand, but which nevertheless leave a deep impression on our hearts and souls.
Line by Line Meaning
Autumn flower rhyme filtered through my mind
The idea of autumn is present in my thoughts, like a poem or a song
But I wouldn't begin to explain without help from a song
I need the right words, inspiration from music or art, to express my feelings
And the moon and the sun
The passage of time, the cycle of day and night, have an impact on my emotions
Sometimes the wind that blows through life
Life can be unpredictable, and changing circumstances affect me
Can stir up the darkness and pain
Difficult experiences can resurface and cause me pain
Oh I've been blown to the right and the left of the light
I've been pulled in different directions, away from what I know and believe
It's the wind but I still feel to blame
Despite knowing it's not my fault, I can't help feeling responsible for my own struggles
The Autumn Lady is laying now on a mountain of feathers and down, oh
Someone else is experiencing a sense of comfort and rest, while I remain restless and uncomfortable
She spent all her nights under raspberry lights
She found joy and beauty in simple things, and made the most of her time
And her days, wrote her days into songs
She expressed herself creatively, and turned her experiences into art
Why has the maple gone brown on me
I'm struggling to understand why things in my life, like the changing seasons, don't seem to match my expectations
Has the falling already begun
Am I already starting to lose what I thought was stable and constant in my life
I lay in the grass in the fields of the past
I'm dwelling on memories, and wishing I could go back to a simpler time
Since you're gone with the moon and the sun
I'm feeling the loss and absence of someone or something important in my life
Contributed by Daniel V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.