Althouse: Goodbye to Melanie.

January 25, 2024

Goodbye to Melanie.

30 comments:

Licky Lundy said...: With Edward Hawkins Singers, 1970

https://youtu.be/IZ52lk9wjZI?si=3_T23Yxzs2gW-Nl5; 1/25/24, 4:28 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: Vaya con Dios...; 1/25/24, 4:35 AM
Kate said...: I'm glad to see at your tag that she never intended her roller skate song as double entendre. It's nice when some things are genuinely simple.; 1/25/24, 4:43 AM
John henry said...: I loved her voice. That sort of warble.

Listened to candles & key last night and it took me right back.

RIP, Melanie

John Henry; 1/25/24, 5:35 AM
Will Cate said...: As a young kid I was absolutely infatuated with Melanie. I still own (and played last night) the album I bought when I was 12 years old: Gather Me; 1/25/24, 5:38 AM
Iman said...: Another face and memory of my yute. RIP.; 1/25/24, 5:49 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "As a young kid I was absolutely infatuated with Melanie..."

She had a very special relationship with her fans. She was genuinely idolized. It wasn't the largest number of fans — this was back in the early 70s — but they were really devoted. I remember how they made a huge deal out of her birthday.; 1/25/24, 6:36 AM
rhhardin said...: Roller skate was nice and got lots of air play. Her Lay Lady Lay was good and got no airplay.; 1/25/24, 6:39 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I'm glad to see at your tag that she never intended her roller skate song as double entendre. It's nice when some things are genuinely simple."

Thanks for going to the tag and seeing that there. I hate seeing the question of that one metaphor, that she didn't intend (she says), become thing #1 reaction to her death.

You can consider my choice of "Look What They've Done to My Song" as a deliberate message not to treat "Brand New Key" that way.; 1/25/24, 6:40 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I see really beautiful girlishness that is much better than pointing out another sexual metaphor.; 1/25/24, 6:42 AM
Howard said...: The roller skate song always harkened me back to my nursery school playground. The genuine way she sung the song exudes innocence and joy unspoiled by the harsh realities of the adult world. I pity anyone who doesn't feel that warmth in the heart.; 1/25/24, 6:52 AM
D.D. Driver said...: The original DIY riot grrrrl who told the record industry to fuck off in '71 and started her own label. An amazing talent.

I was up way too late watching youtube videos. And, she herself interacted with some of the commentors below the videos. How cool is that? RIP.; 1/25/24, 7:11 AM
Wince said...: Before her death, Melanie was working on her 32nd album, a tribute album tentatively titled Second Hand Smoke. The album featured versions of Morrissey’s “Ouija Board Ouija Board,” Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” Radiohead’s “Creep,” among others.; 1/25/24, 7:21 AM
baghdadbob said...: I absolutely LOVE Candles in the Rain. Regarding Brand New Key, nice try at plausible deniability Melanie. Read these lyrics and explain the absence of double entendre:

I rode my bicycle past your window last night
I roller-skated to your door at daylight
It almost seems like you're avoiding me
I'm okay alone, but you've got something I need

Well, I've got a brand-new pair of roller skates
You've got a brand-new key
I think that we should get together
And try them on to see
I've been looking around a while
You've got something for me
Oh, I've got a brand-new pair of roller skates
You've got a brand-new key; 1/25/24, 8:18 AM
Joe Bar said...: I really like this song (Lay Down):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlp3wmE4bbI; 1/25/24, 8:59 AM
Iman said...: “Lay down, lay down… lay it ALL down”; 1/25/24, 9:23 AM
Todd said...: Licky Lundy said...
With Edward Hawkins Singers, 1970

https://youtu.be/IZ52lk9wjZI?si=3_T23Yxzs2gW-Nl5

1/25/24, 4:28 AM

Love it. Still remember the first time I heard it, got a good bit choked up. What the talent...; 1/25/24, 9:34 AM
Todd said...: Joe Bar said...
I really like this song (Lay Down):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlp3wmE4bbI

1/25/24, 8:59 AM

Agreed, a powerful song and style...; 1/25/24, 9:49 AM
Amexpat said...: She had such a warm and friendly voice. Would have been great to have some milk and cookies in her kitchen.

She did an interesting version of "California Dreamin"; 1/25/24, 9:51 AM
who-knew said...: I knew all of her hits, having grown up in those olden days. While cruising the used record bins in the late 70s, I stumbled on a completely forgotten album of hers called "Phonogenic – Not Just Another Pretty Face" and loved it. It was my first and only Melanie album and deserved a bigger audience.; 1/25/24, 10:00 AM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) was probably the most powerful song of my youth. I'm not sure why it resonated with me so much. It came out when I was about to enter my teen years. I think it might mark the end of my childhood and the first stirrings of adolescence. I bought the album a few years later when a local FM rock station transitioned to country and sold off their rock collection. I also purchased the Woodstock album and several others that I don't recall. I guess I was fourteen at the time I made the purchase. Maybe eleven when I first heard Lay Down.

RIP; 1/25/24, 10:28 AM
Robert Cook said...: Melanie wrote her transcendent "Lay Down" about--and as a reaction to--the Woodstock festival, where she performed.; 1/25/24, 10:46 AM
NeggNogg said...: Awww, I'm sad to hear this. Melanie was probably the first pop singer I knew by name. I was in grade school when her first big hits made the airwaves.
And, like Cher, nobody ever seemed to need a last name for her.
They aren't listing the cause, but I hope it was peaceful.; 1/25/24, 10:57 AM
Kai Akker said...: --- I see really beautiful girlishness that is much better than pointing out another sexual metaphor.

Why? Doesn't that make the song a little childish and insipid?

Anyway, I can't buy it.

"I go pretty far..." That California runaway, Manhattan acting student, Geenwich Village club singer, 24-year-old beauty was really talking only about her roller skates?

Yeah, no. Whatever she may have said or left out. Even the breaking of her 27-day fast and ending her vegetarianism by gobbling down a McDonald's meal. Her appetites were starved!; 1/25/24, 11:53 AM
William said...: The years went by and I kept getting older. She went to a Grecian urn and remained a pretty young woman singing about her roller skates. I'm sorry to hear about her death. She wasn't supposed to die before me.....Whatever a pretty young girl sings about, she singing about sex. This is especially true of church choir singers.; 1/25/24, 12:07 PM
Joe Smith said...: John Denver in drag?

Seriously...isn't she better-known for another hit about roller skates?; 1/25/24, 12:38 PM
Mike Petrik said...: My personal favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBIaZ9aTWco; 1/25/24, 2:02 PM
John Holland said...: Rest in peace, Melanie, I hope you didn't suffer at the end.

All my early '70s favorites are passing away rapidly. Truly the twilight of the Boomer gods. Anyone read the book by Steven Hyden on this?

https://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Gods-Journey-Classic-Rock/dp/0062657135

I have three or four of her albums, have to dig them out for a listen.

She had a pretty active YouTube Channel, mostly clips of her old television performances, with new posts several times a month. Most recent one was only 2 weeks ago. It's good that she got all this stuff out there, to document her career for those who were too young, or perhaps unaware. In this way at least, YouTube is a blessing.; 1/25/24, 2:27 PM
fleg9bo said...: I always thought that the candles were for illuminating the cake that was left out.; 1/25/24, 2:33 PM
PJ said...: “I don’t eat white flour, white sugar makes you rot.
Oh, white can be beautiful, but mostly it’s not.”

One of the lesser Melanie lyrics that has nonetheless stayed with me all these years.

Good life, Melanie Safka.; 1/25/24, 10:55 PM