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)
Nothing is real
Melanie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ain't nothing like the real thing
Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby
Ain't nothing like the real thing
I got your picture hangin' on the wall
It can't see or come to me when I call your name
I realize it's just a picture in a frame
I read your letters when you're not near
But they don't move me
And they don't groove me like when I hear
Your sweet voice whispering in my ear
Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby
Ain't nothing like the real thing
I play the game, a fantasy
I pretend I'm not in reality
I need the shelter of your arms to comfort me
No other sound is quite the same as your name
No touch can do half as much to make me feel better
So let's stay together
I got some memories to look back on
And though they help me when you phone
I'm well aware nothing can take the place of being there
So let me get the real thing
So let me get the real thing
Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby
Ain't nothing like the real thing
Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby
Ain't nothing like the real thing
Melanie's song "Nothing is real" speaks about the stark difference between a remote connection and physical presence in a relationship. The song describes how a picture or a letter doesn't compare to the real thing - the physical presence of a loved one. The singer tries to create an illusion in her mind by playing the game of fantasy, pretending that she is not in reality. However, she acknowledges that it is just a game and that she needs the real thing - the touch, sound, and shelter of her lover's arms to comfort her.
The lyrics also highlight the importance of memories and their limitations in filling the void created by physical absence. The singer acknowledges that memories of her loved one comfort her when they are not together, but they are not enough to replace the real thing. In conclusion, the song emphasizes the depth and value of physical human connections in relationships and the impact of distance in creating an emotional vacuum.
Line by Line Meaning
Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby
The real thing is unique and cannot be replicated
Ain't nothing like the real thing
A redundant, yet significant reminder that nothing compares to the real thing
I got your picture hangin' on the wall
I have a picture of you on my wall
It can't see or come to me when I call your name
The picture cannot respond to me when I try to communicate with you
I realize it's just a picture in a frame
I am aware that the picture is simply a representation and not the real thing
I read your letters when you're not near
I read the letters you send me when we are apart
But they don't move me
The letters do not have the same effect on me as the real thing
And they don't groove me like when I hear
The letters do not have the same impact on me as your spoken words
Your sweet voice whispering in my ear
I miss hearing your voice softly in my ear
I play the game, a fantasy
I create a make-believe world where you are present
I pretend I'm not in reality
I try to escape reality by pretending you are with me
I need the shelter of your arms to comfort me
I crave your physical presence to console me
No other sound is quite the same as your name
Your name has a unique sound that cannot be replicated
No touch can do half as much to make me feel better
Your touch has a healing power that no one else can imitate
So let's stay together
I want to be with you
I got some memories to look back on
I have some memories of us together that I can revisit
And though they help me when you phone
Thinking of our memories helps me when I miss you and you call me
I'm well aware nothing can take the place of being there
I realize that nothing can replace your physical presence
So let me get the real thing
I want the genuine and authentic experience of being with you
So let me get the real thing
Another plea for the real and not a substitute
Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby
A reminder that nothing substitutes for the true and authentic
Ain't nothing like the real thing
Reiterating that there is no substitute for the real thing
Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby
Re-emphasizing that the real thing is incomparable and unique
Ain't nothing like the real thing
An unrelenting mantra that nothing can duplicate the real thing
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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