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)
Bo bo
Melanie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Once I bought a bottle for fun.
Tell me what you gonna do with the bottle
When the curiousity's done.
Well I brought it out to the Bo Bo's party
Then I got it in to the company,
Then I brought it up to the boys in the backroom,
They got the knack to tune in on me,
I find it hard to hold on me,
I find it hard to hold, I find it hard to hold,
I find it hard to hold on me, I find it hard to hold on me,
I find it hard to hold, hard to hold, hard to hold.
You know, I've been bad, but
I would be good instead.
Ah, if my man did half of the things that he said,
I wouldn't have to go to the Bo Bo's party
I wouldn't have to go to the company,
I wouldn't have to go to the boys in the backroom,
With their knack to tune in on me,
I wouldn't have to go to the boys in the backyard.
I find it hard to hold on me,
I find it hard to hold, I find it hard to hold,
I find it hard to hold on me, I find it hard to hold on me,
I find it hard to hold, hard to hold, hard to hold.
You know, I've been bad, but
I would be good instead.
Ah, if my man did half of the things that he said,
I wouldn't have to go to the Bo Bo's party
I wouldn't have to go to the company,
I wouldn't have to go to the boys in the backroom,
With their knack to tune in on me,
I wouldn't have to go to the boys in the backyard.
I find it hard to hold on me,
I find it hard to hold on me,
I find it hard to hold.
In Melanie's song "Bo Bo's Party," the singer talks about buying a curious bottle for fun and taking it to a party. The party seems to be filled with people who are scrutinizing her every move, as she references "the company" and "the boys in the backroom" who have a knack for tuning in on her. The singer seems to feel uncomfortable and unable to hold onto herself, perhaps indicating that the pressures of society and the expectations placed on her are difficult to navigate.
The lyrics also touch on a desire to be good, but feeling unable to do so without the help of her man. This could reflect societal gender norms that place a lot of responsibility on men to guide and protect women, even in situations where women may not necessarily want or need that level of protection. Overall, the song seems to highlight the pressures women face to conform to societal expectations and the constant surveillance they are under, as well as the ways in which relationships can be used to control and guide women's behavior.
Line by Line Meaning
Once I bought a curious bottle,
I purchased an unusual bottle
Once I bought a bottle for fun.
I bought a bottle for entertainment purposes
Tell me what you gonna do with the bottle
What will you do with the bottle?
When the curiousity's done.
Once the novelty has worn off.
Well I brought it out to the Bo Bo's party
I took it to Bo Bo's party
Then I got it in to the company,
I brought it to my colleagues
Then I brought it up to the boys in the backroom,
I took it to some men in a private room
They got the knack to tune in on me,
They were suspicious of me
Then I brought it up to the boys in the backyard.
I brought it to some men in the yard
I find it hard to hold on me,
It's difficult for me to resist
I find it hard to hold, I find it hard to hold,
I struggle to control myself
I find it hard to hold on me, I find it hard to hold on me,
It's hard for me to resist its influence on me
I find it hard to hold, hard to hold, hard to hold.
It's extremely difficult for me to resist
You know, I've been bad, but
I've made mistakes
I would be good instead.
I want to make positive changes
Ah, if my man did half of the things that he said,
If my partner kept his promises
I wouldn't have to go to the Bo Bo's party
I wouldn't need to seek excitement elsewhere
I wouldn't have to go to the company,
I wouldn't have to socialize with my colleagues
With their knack to tune in on me,
Knowing my colleagues might be suspicious of me
I wouldn't have to go to the boys in the backroom,
I wouldn't need to seek the company of secretive men
I wouldn't have to go to the boys in the backyard.
I wouldn't need to find refuge in the company of men in the yard
I find it hard to hold on me,
It's difficult to control myself
I find it hard to hold on me,
I struggle to resist its influence on me
I find it hard to hold.
It's hard for me to resist
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MELANIE SAFKA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Daiska_Plays
When the chorus of a song is in your head for absolutely no reason, and somehow you find it and end up here...
Satisfaction.
And a forgotten great song. Thank you.
Robert Thurston
Awesome
Carlo E. F. khamargho
What does "Bobo's Party" mean in the song?
In my country we have the word, "Bobo", and it means idiot.
In my language, (Bobo's Party) means, (idiots party).
Is Bobos a slang?
John Stallings
It's promoter Bill Graham 's nickname Uncle Bobo! 💙😶💙