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)

I'm Back In Town
Melanie Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I'm back in town.
You don't look so happy 'cause I'm back in town
You don't look like smiling, don't jump up and down on my toes.
I guess I better go, oh.

I'm very sure.
I should have knocked when I opened the door.
Pardon me, miss, but he's just a friend from before

Who never locked his door.
I opened without knocking like before.

You wrote me that all was the same
So I came,
But I can't find the love in your eyes.
I guess that you're surprised just like me.
I never thought you'd find another she
You liked as well as me,
But I guess I was wrong
So I'll be going home, oh.

I'm back in town.
Didn't they tell you that I'm back in town?
You don't look so happy, don't jump up and down on my toes.
You loved me once, you know.
I guess that you don't love me anymore, hm.

I'm back in town.
Didn't they tell you that I'm back in town?

You don't look so happy, don't jump up and down on my toes.
You loved me once, you know.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Melanie's song "I'm Back In Town" tell a story of a woman who returns to town after receiving news that everything is the same as before, only to be surprised by the changes that have taken place in her absence. The first verse sees her arriving in town and noticing that her presence is not welcome to one particular person. However, instead of being confrontational and insisting on staying, she decides to leave because of the uncomfortable situation. In the second verse, she explains that she entered someone's house unannounced without knocking beforehand because she assumed it was still alright to do so, like it probably was before she left town.

Line by Line Meaning

I'm back in town.
I have returned to this place.

You don't look so happy 'cause I'm back in town
Your facial expression looks unhappy or displeased due to my presence.

You don't look like smiling, don't jump up and down on my toes.
You don't seem to be overjoyed or ecstatic that I am here, so please refrain from showing physical displays of excitement around me.

I guess I better go, oh.
Based on your reaction, I think it would be best for me to leave.

I'm very sure.
I am certain about what I am saying or doing.

I should have knocked when I opened the door.
I realize it would have been better if I had knocked on the door instead of just walking in.

Pardon me, miss, but he's just a friend from before Who never locked his door.
Excuse me, ma'am, but this man is just a friend of mine who had a habit of leaving his door unlocked.

I opened without knocking like before.
I entered in the same manner as I had done before, without knocking on the door.

You wrote me that all was the same So I came, But I can't find the love in your eyes.
Based on your letter, I assumed nothing had changed so I came back, but I can see from your gaze that the love is no longer there.

I guess that you're surprised just like me. I never thought you'd find another she You liked as well as me, But I guess I was wrong
I am assuming that you are as shocked as I am, because I did not anticipate that you would find someone else you liked just as much as me, but it seems that I was mistaken.

So I'll be going home, oh.
Given the circumstances and emotions present, I have decided to leave and return to my home.

Didn't they tell you that I'm back in town? You don't look so happy, don't jump up and down on my toes. You loved me once, you know.
Weren't you informed that I had returned? Your reaction makes it evident that you are not pleased, so please don't act overly enthusiastic. You used to love me at one point in time.

I guess that you don't love me anymore, hm.
Presumably, you do not have romantic feelings for me anymore. Hmm.

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MELANIE SAFKA

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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