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)

Eyes Of Man
Melanie Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I was up early one morning
When I lived alone in the dunes
As I remember it wasn't quite dawn
And I could still see the full moon
My senses told me that out in the silence
I might see or hear or feel the unknown
But the sun was faster than I was
The magic had set and was all but gone

Oh Lord, let me see something never seen before
By the eyes of man, Lord
I want to see something never seen before
By the eyes of man
I think I saw a long time ago
Will I ever see again?

People saw a long time ago
Will they ever see, Oh Lord?

Overall Meaning

In Melanie's song "Eyes of Man," the singer recounts an experience of being alone in the dunes before dawn and feeling a sense of anticipation that they might witness something new and unknown. They express a desire to see something that has never been seen before, something that is beyond what has been experienced by the eyes of man. Despite this desire, the singer recognizes a feeling of defeat as the sun rises and the potential for magic fades away. The final lines of the song express a similar sentiment of longing for something lost or forgotten, but with a sense of uncertainty about whether it will ever be found again.

The lyrics of this song are particularly poignant as they address a sense of wonder and awe that is often lost as we navigate through the mundane routines of life. The singer's desire to see something new and unknown is a reflection of our own innate desire for discovery and excitement. However, the reality of the world often falls short of these expectations and this realization can be disheartening.

Line by Line Meaning

I was up early one morning
I woke up early in the morning

When I lived alone in the dunes
I lived alone in a place surrounded by sand dunes

As I remember it wasn't quite dawn
I remember it wasn't yet sunrise

And I could still see the full moon
I could still see the full moon in the sky

My senses told me that out in the silence
I had a feeling that in the quietness outside

I might see or hear or feel the unknown
I might encounter something that I had never seen, heard or felt before

But the sun was faster than I was
However, the sunrise happened before I could experience something extraordinary

The magic had set and was all but gone
The magic moment had passed and I couldn't experience anything unusual anymore

Oh Lord, let me see something never seen before
I'm praying to God to show me something that no one has ever seen before

By the eyes of man, Lord
With human eyes only

I want to see something never seen before
I desire to witness something that no one else has ever witnessed