I was actually introduced to her on DL, because of "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)". RIP to a great singer!

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by Anonymous

reply 62

January 31, 2024 9:35 PM

I'll throw away a pair of roller skates in her memory.

by Anonymous

reply 1

January 24, 2024 9:12 PM

Loved her music when I was a child in the late 60s and early 70s. I remember my older cousin (early 20s) used to play her records whenever I visited their house (my aunt and uncle's). She's the one who turned me on to her. I bought some of her albums on CD and still listen to her these days.

by Anonymous

reply 3

January 24, 2024 9:16 PM

I was genuinely a fan when I was a boy.

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by Anonymous

reply 4

January 24, 2024 9:20 PM

One of the most inspirational first ladies of our time. Our condolences to Barack Obama and his family.

by Anonymous

reply 5

January 24, 2024 9:21 PM

Since there is no link in the OP...I'll put one in.

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by Anonymous

reply 6

January 24, 2024 9:21 PM

Sinead had a bit of Melanie in her style.

by Anonymous

reply 7

January 24, 2024 9:22 PM

I've got a brand new pair of roller skates, you've got a brand new key .... Silly song that stuck with you.

by Anonymous

reply 9

January 24, 2024 9:24 PM

Well Melanie spent decades singing songs. Remember songs? WHET?

by Anonymous

reply 10

January 24, 2024 9:27 PM

Lay down, lay down, lay it all down.

by Anonymous

reply 11

January 24, 2024 9:41 PM

I like Lay Down, but, jaysis, it goes on forever at the end. (Great, now I've got it stuck in my head.)

by Anonymous

reply 13

January 24, 2024 10:18 PM

R12 no Dora Dumbfuck, I'm an eldergay MAN. She came on the scene when I was a BOY.

by Anonymous

reply 14

January 24, 2024 10:19 PM

Someone wrap a protective bubble around Maria Muldaur!

by Anonymous

reply 15

January 24, 2024 10:30 PM

"Brand New Key" is what she's remembered for, OP.

by Anonymous

reply 16

January 24, 2024 10:32 PM

The Kids in the Hall did an entire ongoing sketch a couple of years ago about the end of the world and the only song on the radio was "Brand New Key". It plays repeatedly. It got an enormous amount of press.

by Anonymous

reply 17

January 24, 2024 10:33 PM

Her "Ruby Tuesday" surpasses all others.

by Anonymous

reply 19

January 24, 2024 10:36 PM

R16 - well, as someone relatively new to Melanie, I think "Lay Down" is great and "Brand New Key" is awful.

by Anonymous

reply 20

January 24, 2024 10:36 PM

I got excited for a moment because I thought I could make Ivanka my First Lady.

by Anonymous

reply 22

January 24, 2024 10:43 PM

Ed Sullivan gave her quite an introduction and 7 minutes of his show.

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by Anonymous

reply 23

January 24, 2024 10:57 PM

She was a witty lyricist and a genuine singer. She could write a superb breakup song with twists and turns in three minutes of melancholy, bravado, and sorrow over discovering she was never as in love as she’d thought.

Sad about not being sad enough!

RIP Melanie!

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by Anonymous

reply 27

January 24, 2024 11:57 PM

Another great breakup song. It starts off humorous with feigned indifference before finishing in a borderline primal scream demanding to know if her boyfriend’s new girlfriend is as pretty as she is.

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by Anonymous

reply 28

January 25, 2024 12:00 AM

She always seemed like a very sweet lady. It was a a pity she lost the weight battle so early, she was very cute when she started out.

A hostile critic once described her voice as the sound of outraged innocence. I never could see why that was such a bad thing.

The 1970s live video of Candles in the Rain always amused me. She and the Hawkins Singers performing to a middle aged audience in Holland. The performers singing their hearts out to a crowd of confused survivors of WW2.

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by Anonymous

reply 29

January 25, 2024 12:05 AM

I’m Back in Town. She casts herself as a sad clown, complete with circus music.

R29, I agree: “outraged innocence” is a hard mark to hit with conviction.

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by Anonymous

reply 30

January 25, 2024 12:12 AM

Brand New Key actually worked well on the soundtrack of Boogie Nights as Roller Girls theme song.

by Anonymous

reply 31

January 25, 2024 12:20 AM

Look what they've done to my brain, ma

Look what they've done to my brain

Well, they picked it like a chicken bone

And I think I'm half insane, ma

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by Anonymous

reply 32

January 25, 2024 12:24 AM

For sale: roller skates, never worn.

by Anonymous

reply 33

January 25, 2024 12:27 AM

She even made it to TMZ, while Mary Weiss did not.

by Anonymous

reply 34

January 25, 2024 1:22 AM

Was she touring through the years? Anyone see her?

by Anonymous

reply 35

January 25, 2024 3:02 AM

I love Brand New Key. If Taylor Swift recorded something as cheerful and melodic and memorable as that, maybe I'd like her.

by Anonymous

reply 36

January 25, 2024 3:12 AM

I died today too. Where is my thread?

by Anonymous

reply 38

January 25, 2024 5:20 AM

Melanie - Lay Down (Candles in the Rain (1970)

RIP

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by Anonymous

reply 40

January 25, 2024 6:02 AM

Very unique, powerful, beautiful voice

by Anonymous

reply 41

January 25, 2024 6:03 AM

Susan Dey feels terribly about Melanie's passing. She cannot speak at the moment.

by Anonymous

reply 42

January 25, 2024 6:08 AM

There are times I am shocked at how utterly geriatric DL has become.

by Anonymous

reply 43

January 25, 2024 6:09 AM

‘Lay Down(Candles in the Rain)’ was one of the first 45s I ever bought with my allowance money when I was six years old. My Dad was horrified! He’d stick his fingers in his ears, scrunch up his face and complain “what’s that?” I would laugh and laugh. Dad was a Margaret Whiting fan.

by Anonymous

reply 44

January 25, 2024 6:20 AM

R43 Why?

It's news. TMZ broke the story, the NYTimes currently has her photo on their front page, including two articles about her.

So you really expect DL to ignore her death?

by Anonymous

reply 45

January 25, 2024 6:21 AM

You don't need to be born in a particular decode to appreciate the music, particularity during the current extended cultural drought.

by Anonymous

reply 46

January 25, 2024 6:36 AM

She just buried Grandma!!!!!! :( :(

by Anonymous

reply 47

January 25, 2024 6:43 AM

August 15, 16, 17 1969: Melanie was one of the Woodstock originals.

While her debut album was well-received, it was her Woodstock performance that put her on the map. Melanie was one of three solo women to perform at the festival. She did not appear on screen in the 1970 documentary Woodstock, but her set was included as an extra on the 40th-anniversary DVD release.

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by Anonymous

reply 48

January 25, 2024 6:50 AM

She continued: "I didn't go on until after Ravi Shankar. It started to rain. I finally got on. I went on stage, totally terrified. Right before, an announcer made an inspirational announcement about passing out candles. Somewhere in there, I absorbed all of that. And then, I had an out-of-body experience. I did. I really did. I left my body. I watched myself. At some point, I was back in my body. I felt this incredible glow of human connectedness. I was not afraid any more. I sang my heart out for a half-hour."

The experience provided the basis for her breakthrough hit, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)." From there, lighting candles became a trademark of her concerts, for better or worse. As she wrote in a 2019 Rolling Stone essay reflecting on the Woodstock experience, "It became so connected with my concerts that my shows were getting banned because fire departments wouldn't approve them. In fact, they wouldn't let me do concerts in New Jersey for several years because they said I constituted a music festival, and they didn't allow festivals in that state."

by Anonymous

reply 49

January 25, 2024 6:50 AM

R39 He became an anti-choicer critical of Pelosi, Obama & the left so probably one less Trumper in the end.

by Anonymous

reply 50

January 25, 2024 7:28 AM

UK here. West Country yokels comedy act The Wurzels got to Number 1 with this. I hope Melanie made a ton of money from it. Look what they’ve done to my song, indeed!

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by Anonymous

reply 51

January 25, 2024 7:46 AM

One of my favorites was her beautiful cover of Jim Croce's "Lover's Cross". I like it better than the original.

RIP Melanie

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by Anonymous

reply 53

January 25, 2024 4:31 PM

she took her Woodstock gig to the bank for 50 years.

by Anonymous

reply 54

January 25, 2024 5:01 PM

55, hun. We're older than that.

by Anonymous

reply 55

January 25, 2024 5:03 PM

Melanie was on Buddah Records with the Ohio Express and the 1910 Fruitgum Company....and Neighborhood Records, too - a label she founded.

by Anonymous

reply 56

January 25, 2024 5:05 PM

reading her wikipedia page she was probably very smart in retrospect starting her own label.

She had one go back on Atlantic in mid 70s that didn't catch on.

i assume Brand New Key royalties kept coming in.

Used in 1999 film Boogie Nights/ introduced to a whole new generation.

by Anonymous

reply 57

January 25, 2024 6:18 PM

R57 alas, she found out after his death that her husband had sold every aspect of her work, including publishing, that might have generated income streams.

by Anonymous

reply 58

January 26, 2024 9:29 AM

I thought someone in a thread alluded to the husband selling the rights. R58

I wonder what year he did that? And she wan't in on the decision?

Weird,... because of the years in the biz, and the long marriage, kids...

Interesting looking at old performance clips... she had an air of unpretension about her that really holds up. You could see how female fans could relate to her. And children. A lot of comments talk about remembering their mom playing the album when they were young kids.

by Anonymous

reply 59

January 26, 2024 2:53 PM

Bankrupted by her fucking husband. I know how that goes.

by Anonymous

reply 60

January 27, 2024 2:22 PM

Also strange how the Scientology stayed fairly under wraps until recent years. I thought celebrity members were meant to be as public as possible - for PR and so on. I’m surprised Melanie wasn’t wheeled out more often so her star power would draw others in.

by Anonymous

reply 61

January 30, 2024 12:23 PM

According to an older Wikipedia entry, Melanie renounced Scientology, and is not included in the current listing of deceased members.

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by Anonymous

reply 62

January 31, 2024 9:35 PM