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)
Live Coal
Melanie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
'Cause the were made for the criminal and the fool, oh
I wasn't one of those
I had some wild oats to sow
I was a live coal
Don't kill the live coal
Hey now, seems like everywhere I go
Oh, don't be one of those
I have some wild oats to sow
I am a live, alive'o
Oh baby, don't kill the live coal
I said, oh, oh, oh, don't kill the live coal
I said oh, oh. Oh, don't be one of those
Oh baby, don't kill the live coal
I said don't kill it, don't kill it
Don't kill the live coal
Don't kill it, don't kill it
Don't kill the live coal
New ones, old ones, I've seen 'em blow
Fan the embers watch the lives ones glow
We've such a long way to go
So from the heart of my soul
Don't kill the love coal
Oh no, don't kill the live coal
I said, oh, oh, oh don't be one of those, oh no
I said oh, oh, oh, don't kill the live coal
I said don't kill it, don't kill it
Don't kill the live coal
Don't kill it, don't kill it
Don't kill the live coal
Oh, oh, oh, don't be one of those
Oh, oh, oh, don't be one of those
When I was young I broke every rule
'Cause the were made for the criminal and the fool
Oh no, I wasn't one of those
I had some wild oats to sow
I am alive alive'o
Oh yeah, oh baby, don't kill the live coal, oh no
I say, oh, oh, oh, don't kill the live coal
I say, oh, oh, oh, don't kill the live coal
I said don't kill it, don't kill it
Don't kill the live coal
Don't kill it, don't kill it
Don't kill the live coal
Oh, oh, oh, don't be one of those, oh no
Oh, oh, oh, don't kill the live coal
In Melanie's song Live Coal, the lyrics seem to be a plea to not let the fire within die out. Melanie starts by reflecting on her youth and how breaking the rules was a way of life for her. She explains that rules seemed to be designed for the criminal and the fool, something she did not identify with. Melanie sings about her desire to experience life to the fullest and to explore. She likens herself to a live coal, something with the potential to keep burning intensely and urges others not to kill it.
Melanie then says that wherever she goes, there seems to be someone trying to douse the fire in her. She implores her listeners not to be like these people and to recognize the need for them to have wild oats to sow. Melanie is still that live coal, and she wants to keep burning brightly, and she begs others not to extinguish the fire in their souls. In the last few verses, she acknowledges that it is vital to keep the fire burning and not to let it die out. We need to fan those embers and watch the live ones glow bright. As she concludes, she makes one final plea, "Don't kill the live coal."
Line by Line Meaning
When I was young I broke every rule
I didn't follow society's expectations because they were made for those who are foolish or criminal.
'Cause they were made for the criminal and the fool, oh
Referring to the rules, they were made for those individuals who lack wisdom or are deemed criminal.
I wasn't one of those
She didn't see herself as foolish or criminal.
I had some wild oats to sow
She had some experiences and opportunities she wanted to pursue.
I was a live coal
She was filled with energy and potential that had yet to be realized.
Don't kill the live coal
Don't let that energy and potential go to waste, don't hold her back.
Hey now, seems like everywhere I go
Everywhere she goes, someone is trying to extinguish her fire.
Some joker is trying to kill the live coal
A foolish person is trying to squash her potential.
Oh, don't be one of those
Don't be someone who tries to extinguish someone else's potential.
I have some wild oats to sow
She still has some experiences and opportunities she wants to pursue.
I am a live, alive'o
She is still full of energy and potential.
Oh baby, don't kill the live coal
She pleads to not let anyone extinguish her fire and potential.
New ones, old ones, I've seen 'em blow
She's seen many people with potential, both young and old, have their flame extinguished.
Fan the embers watch the lives ones glow
Encourage and support people with potential so that they can succeed.
We've such a long way to go
There's still a lot of progress to be made.
So from the heart of my soul
She sincerely believes in this message.
Don't kill the live coal
Don't let that energy and potential go to waste, don't hold someone back.
Oh no, don't kill the live coal
She strongly urges people to not extinguish someone else's potential.
I said, oh, oh, oh don't be one of those, oh no
Don't be someone who tries to extinguish someone else's potential.
Oh yeah, oh baby, don't kill the live coal, oh no
She passionately pleads to not let anyone extinguish her fire and potential.
Contributed by Mackenzie C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@tamara7210
Such a feel-good song! Makes you want to dance.
@richardsmith6488
Love the shift to reggae. What a terrific song.
@TarBabyJim
Melanies live coal burnt out long ago when she gave her heart to Scientology