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)
Peace Will Come
Melanie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's a chance peace will come in your life, please buy one
Sometimes when I am feeling as big as the land
With a velvet hill in the small of my back
And my hands are playing the sand
And my feet are swimming in all of the waters
All of the rivers are givers to the ocean
Well, sometimes when I am feeling so grand
And I become the world
And the world becomes a man
And my song becomes a part of the river
I cry out to keep me just the way I am
According to plan
According to man, according to plan
According to man, according to plan
According to plan, according to man
According to plan, according to man
Oh, there's a chance peace will come
In your life, please buy one
Oh, there's a chance peace will come
In my life, please buy one
For sometime when we have reached the end
With a velvet hill in the small of our back
And our hands are clutching the sand
Will our blood become a part of the river?
All of the rivers are givers to the ocean
According to plan, according to man
There's a chance peace will come in your life, please buy one
There's a chance peace will come in your life, please buy one
There's a chance peace will come in your life, please buy one
There's a chance peace will come in your life, please buy one
In Melanie's song "Peace Will Come", the lyrics express a longing for peace in one's life and in the world. The repeated line "There's a chance peace will come in your life, please buy one" is a call to action, urging listeners to actively seek out and work towards peace. The imagery used in the first stanza, of feeling as big as the land and playing in the sand and water, creates a sense of unity with nature and a desire to preserve it. The line "All of the rivers are givers to the ocean, according to plan, according to man" suggests both the natural order of things and the role of humans in that order.
The second stanza speaks to a feeling of oneness with the world, where the self and the world become interconnected. The line "my song becomes a part of the river" highlights the power of music and art to connect people and promote peace. However, there is also a plea to preserve one's individuality and uniqueness, with the line "I cry out to keep me just the way I am."
The final stanza speaks to the inevitability of death and the hope that one's legacy will contribute to peace in the world. The line "Will our blood become a part of the river?" suggests both the cycle of life and the idea that one's actions in life can have a lasting impact. Overall, "Peace Will Come" is a powerful call to action that encourages listeners to work towards peace in their own lives and in the world around them.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a chance peace will come in your life, please buy one
The song is about hope for peace and a plea for people to strive towards finding it.
Sometimes when I am feeling as big as the land
The singer feels empowered and connected to the vastness of the world.
With a velvet hill in the small of my back
Nature provides comfort and support for the singer.
And my hands are playing the sand
The artist feels joy and kinship with the earth through tactile interaction.
And my feet are swimming in all of the waters
The artist is swept up in the beauty and unity of all bodies of water.
All of the rivers are givers to the ocean
The singer recognizes the interconnectedness and cyclical nature of water systems.
According to plan, according to man
The singer acknowledges the human impact on and control of natural systems.
Well, sometimes when I am feeling so grand
The artist experiences a sense of grandeur and expansiveness.
And I become the world
The artist feels intimately connected to every aspect of the world.
And the world becomes a man
The artist sees the world as a reflection of humanity as a whole.
And my song becomes a part of the river
The singer's voice and essence blend into the broader cycles of nature and humanity.
I cry out to keep me just the way I am
The artist expresses a desire to maintain their sense of identity and connection to the world.
Oh, there's a chance peace will come in your life, please buy one
The refrain reiterates the hope for peace and encourages people to work towards it.
For sometime when we have reached the end
The singer speaks to the inevitability of mortality and its connection to nature.
And our hands are clutching the sand
Even in death, the singer wishes to remain connected to the earth.
Will our blood become a part of the river?
The artist reflects on the unity and continuity of life cycles.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Melanie Safka
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@ronabrams7899
Melanie Ann Safka Schekeryk your spirit lives forever......thank you for sharing your songs with us.....your songs are the songs of love......your songs are the songs of hope.......your songs are the songs of peace.......i have heard your voice amongst the Angels.....the Angels are singing your songs forever......
@just1mansopinion
Put Melanie in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame posthumously! It's an unbelievable shame that she wasn't inducted in her lifetime. Such a generational icon. RIP beautiful soul!
Cheers\=/\=/
@lorrainegrey9120
I'm becoming progressively more irked that this great lady is almost NEVER mentioned when the other great ladies of the 1960s and '70s music are discussed, including the long-deceased. I don't begrudge anyone's success-- indeed many of these artists amiably share space on my record and CD shelves, and my time, when I have some to listen to them.. But Melanie was out there, doing personal and very well-written lyrics set to her own well-written tunes at the same time (and for decades after) , and even did wonderful covers of others' work, most notably RUBY TUESDAY originally by the Rolling Stones. Others have done hit covers of HER songs as well. She had two gold albums and one gold single, and was the first female artist to have 3 songs in a Top 40 countdown. She was the most notable breakout musician to perform at Woodstock, yet was not included in the documentary. She never won a Grammy, but does share an Emmy for co-writing (with the also-great Lee Holdridge) a love theme for the original 80s series BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. She was, until the pandemic, still quite a draw in Europe. She did a couple of duets with Miley Cyrus which I hoped would revive wider interest, but somehow did not, and NOT because then 70-year-old year-old Melanie wasn't able to keep up with and even surpass Miley! This will mystify me until the end !!!
@bobmoslow4636
I think part of the Beauty of Melanie is that she is not primarily focused on external tributes, but that she is energized by and feels contentment from fans like you, graciously writing to her of your appreciation. Its nice to hear/see how much she has meant to so many.
@davidwalsh8465
You hear what Ihear you see what I see
@katherine9109
well you know -
she's "crazy"...
can't include her!
what if she FREAKS OUT or something..!?!
(I'm adding this later,
'cause some misunderstood.
I was being facetious.)
@JezDavis
I don't think Melanie was part of the Cult which you have to be to get 'acknowledgement' from the Cult
@sparklemouseproductions4286
She isn’t and yet is at the same time a mainstream artist most of her songs and bits of lyrics from her music cuz she says just that she hates the music industry and what it does to pple she speaks truth and not everyone wants to know the truth or care about it so much like she does she’s against so much and pple don’t really understand her and how deep and real she is
@sxxydon
RIP Melanie. Your peace has come.
@voxxvoltair2662
Rest in peace Melanie. A beautiful voice, and a beautiful person whose songs will live on. Blessings ~V~