Melanie (1947 - 2024)

Singer and songwriter Melanie Safka died last week. An artist that I hadn't heard anything new from since maybe 1980, when she was announced in a popular TV show in NL with her new single. I vaguely remember being surprised because I liked it. I did not undertake any action concerning the song or album. If something was uncool in 1980, it was Melanie.

In all the items I saw on the news or in writing on the news of her passing, I noticed that she was considered flower power and associated with wearing flowers in your hair. She had performed at Woodstock in the summer of 1969. I wasn't aware of Woodstock until probably four years later when a friend had the famous triple album. Melanie was not on that album, not in the movie I saw years later, so I was surprised to read she played at Woodstock in 2024.

Melanie and I do go back to 1969, when she entered the Top 40 in the fall of 1969. 'Beautiful People' was a song I may not have appreciated at the time as I've started to do more and more and more over the decades since 1969. If I remember anything from then, it was the surprise of that voice. It had nothing to do with the young woman Melanie was at the time. Looking back, seeing it as the female equivalent of Bob Dylan is justified.

Listening today, I notice that 'Beautiful People' is such a rich song. Lyrically Melanie touches on the differences between people in many layers. The way she wants to bring them together still rings true today. The way she laughs in between some lines! Musically there's so much going on in the song. I still haven't really figured out what chords are played, she extends lines like Bob Dylan in his most famous songs. Instruments that take a run in between. The changes in pace are magnificent. The thousand different sounds going on in the background create an alternate universe. For a first hit single, this is nearly unsurpassed. Did I hear all this in 1969? Of course not. I have no clue when I really started to appreciate 'Beautiful People'. Most likely somewhere in the 1970s on a cassette tape. I have heard it somewhere late in 2023, the Top 2000 perhaps and knew once again how great it is.

The one I play most is Melanie's only number 1 single in NL (and the Edwin Hawkins Singers second and final) 'Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)'. This gospel song is not as musically rich as 'Beautiful People', but superb in melody with a glorious chorus. With the choir behind her the sky is conquered. Inspired by her show at Woodstock, Melanie wrote the ultimate peace song. If only the world got together to sing this song, all wars would stop. The era of Aquarius had come to a ferocious end at Altamont in 1969, but not for Melanie. She put a flower in her hair once more and wrote and released one of the best songs of the 1970s. 'Lay Down' puts a smile on my face every time I hear it and is a song which I am truly grateful for for knowing. So let me thank Melanie posthumously here for her song.

In NL she scored two more hits. In 1970 'Stop! I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore', a single I did buy at the time. With the choir singing Latin at the start of the b-side 'Peace Will Come'. The A side, is another very strong song. A flute is all through it. It has a little of the MASH theme song, I notice in 2024, also from 1970. The marching rhythm in the chorus sets the song apart from most others.

Something I could not explain and still can't, is how I got to know one of her other famous songs, 'Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma'. It wasn't a hit but it is a song I could sing along to with ease, when I bought the 'Candles In The Rain' second hand some years ago. It must have been played on the radio a lot of the time any way. Just like her version of 'Ruby Tuesday'.

Her final hit, 'Brand New Key' from 1972 appears to be her most popular song on Spotify, by far I notice, but one that did not touch me at all at the time. Listening to it now for the occasion, I notice how I'm reminded of 'Big Yellow Taxi'. I'm referring back to the start. That is her best song, not my favourite though.

1972. That's 52 years ago. 52 years that Melanie did not reach me with new music and still she'll be with me till the end of my days. If I run into another second hand album from around 1970, I will get it and discover if there's more to like. I'm sure there is.

Wout de Natris

P.S. 'Peace Will Come' was her fifth hit single here I found after checking.