>Posted on 01/25/2024 1:46:26 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
The singer turned her experience at the 1969 concert into "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)," a top-10 hit in 1970
Singer Melanie Safka, who turned a 1969 performance at Woodstock into a hit song and a five-decade career, died Tuesday at the age of 76. Safka’s death was announced on her Facebook page with a letter from her three children, Leilah, Jeordie, and Beau Jarred:
Dear Ones,
This is the hardest post for us to write, and there are so many things we want to say, first, and there’s no easy way except to say it… Mom passed, peacefully, out of this world and into the next on January, 23rd, 2024.We are heartbroken, but want to thank each and every one of you for the affection you have for our Mother, and to tell you that she loved all of you so much! She was one of the most talented, strong and passionate women of the era and every word she wrote, every note she sang reflected that.
Our world is much dimmer, the colors of a dreary, rainy Tennessee pale with her absence today, but we know that she is still here, smiling down on all of us, on all of you, from the stars.
No cause of death was announced.
Earlier this month, Safka was in a recording studio working on “Second Hand Smoke,” an album of cover songs, for the Cleopatra label, Variety reported. Born Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk in Astoria, New York, Safka studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before deciding to pursue a career as a folk singer. Her big break came at the 1969 Woodstock concert, which she described to Rolling Stone in 2019 as her first “out-of-body experience.”
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I just listened to her "Lay Down." She really had some pipes, could carry a great tune, make wonderful key changes, and really belt out the song. It's very powerful and emotional. Anybody who wasn't there during the 60s and 70s probably won't like this song.
"Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" was the second single from Melanie's 1970 album Candles in the Rain. The song proved to be her breakthrough hit in the United States, climbing to number six on Billboard's Hot 100 and number three on the Cash Box Top 100. The record was ranked #23 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1970.
Saw her perform at the Troubador in LA in the 1970’s. Jackson Brown opened for her.
I always crank it up when that song comes on the radio.
Is she the girl with new roller skates?
I’m 69 and remember her songs. My generation is dropping like flies.
IIRC, she also did the quirky and thinly-veiled double entendre “Brand New Key” (”I Got A Brand New Pair Of Roller Skates, You Got A Brand New Key”
She had three great songs and she was very pretty. I love those three songs and I sing along every time the radio plays them.
Yep. “Brand New Key” was one of her hits.
Brand New Key went to #1 in the US, Australia, and Canada
Wow - how cool. That must have been a great show.
“My generation is dropping like flies.”
I’m 72 and I hear ya!
I knew that was a naughty song, even though I was a not quite a teenager!
Just heard that the other day on the radio, and hadn’t heard it for years. Wondered what had happened to her, she was so big for a few years.
After my freshman year at UofCincinnati, I moved to Hollywood where I lived 68 thru mid 70s with plans to transfer to UCLA and its $100/quarter in-state tuition.
The Troubadour was THE place and the start of so many singer-songwriters of that era
Her mother owned a craft store called Paint-in-Place.
Her song with the Hawkins gospel Singers is nothing less than awe inspiring. I grew up on keys and rollerskates. Best time to grow into age ever! 1965 to 1978 was amazing.
> She had three great songs and she was very pretty. <
Yes, and yes. Melanie’s songs always made me smile.
RIP
“My generation is dropping like flies.”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Yeah, all the big names of the British Invasion and Woodstock era are in their 70’s and beyond.
They REALLY transformed rock and roll and really raised the art form. Most everyone after just commercialized it.
As Aerosmith would say, a 10 Inch Key.
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