1. Melanie Ann Safka-Schekeryk (b. 1947, d. 2024; known professionally as M… Read Full Bio ↴1. Melanie Ann Safka-Schekeryk (b. 1947, d. 2024; known professionally as Melanie) was a U.S. singer-songwriter.

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)

Deep Down Low
Melanie Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I visit my dreams
In the mournin' of night
And wake to half wishes
And the fall of the flight
I won't hide my hopes
In my down pillow
They'll become my river
And up them I'll flow

Right in broad daylight
In front of your eyes
My wishes are flowin'
But I'm their disguise

(refrain:)
Over and over, think it slow
All things that grow
Need not be pretty
And don't have to show
We could be
Think it slow

Cause you got a secret for me
That I know
Not how to hang on to
Or how to let go
Can you keep me from drowning
In my down pillow
Oh! Please, I need help
Cause my deep down is low

(repeat refrain once & last verse once)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Melanie's song Deep Down Low describe the innermost thoughts of the singer, who visits her dreams in the stillness of the night, hoping that her wishes will come true. The lyrics suggest that these hopes and dreams are deeply personal, something that she is unwilling to share with others. The use of the phrase "down pillow" in the lyrics is significant, as it symbolizes comfort and safety, yet it also hints at the singer's tendency to hide her true feelings and desires.

The refrain of the song, "All things that grow/Need not be pretty/And don't have to show," speaks to the idea that not everything that is meaningful or important in life is immediately apparent or visible to others. The singer is asking the listener to take a little extra time to think about things and to consider the potential hidden depths within themselves and others.

Overall, the song encourages reflection and introspection on the part of the listener, encouraging them to think more deeply and slowly about the world around them in order to fully understand and appreciate its complexities.

Line by Line Meaning

I visit my dreams
I think about my aspirations and desires

In the mournin' of night
During the quiet, contemplative hours of the night

And wake to half wishes
I am partially fulfilled but not completely

And the fall of the flight
The fall from achieving my full potential

I won't hide my hopes
I won't keep my aspirations a secret

In my down pillow
Even in the comfort of my bed

They'll become my river
My hopes will become a constant stream

And up them I'll flow
I will ride the current of my hopes

Right in broad daylight
In plain sight, for all to see

In front of your eyes
In front of the person I am addressing

My wishes are flowin'
My aspirations are becoming reality