Melanie

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

I thought the posts on Melanie Safka were apropos.  
When I first heard Kate, my immediate reaction was, 
"oh a melanie clone".  Of course, once past the first 
song or two, I noted that the resemblance was not 
that deep.  Melanie had a much simpler style of 
recording, and yes, once pushed into recordings 
like "Brand New Key", lost some credibility.  OTOH, 
for those who weren't a teenager then, it was quite 
a good pickup song for women trying to get a guy's 
attention (a bit before the IncinerateThePlatex period) 
so that tune has a place on my shelf.  If you think about it, 
another hit on the radio at that time was "Riders On 
The Storm", so there was some pretty big extremes 
and that was the way it was.

But for anyone who is the proud owner (I am) of the brown 
jacketed vinyl of her album, (My Name is Melanie(?)), 
they remember the tiny and ever so gorgeous woman 
with big eyes and the biggest voice one could imagine.  
She had an emotional delivery that 
was very raw but controlled and in the time in which 
Joni Mitchell and other more jazz-influenced smoothies 
were the norm for female folk singers, the incredible 
range and drive of Melanie were not just refreshing but 
very touching.  Candles In The Rain was an anthem of 
the time.  It seemed that few songs made the statement 
of the period so well, as we watched the dream of peace, 
love, and maybe a better shake for everyone start to 
dissolve in the last days of the war.  What had held us 
all together was, like so many spirits, on this plane 
for a very brief time.  

"We were so close, there was no room...
when we sang the songs of peace."  

It is an incredible mind boggling thing to see a generation 
step up to the whole world, we will stand together 
until you hear us.  We will stand together until 
you stop this criminal act.  You taught us freedom 
and respect for all:  now live up to it.  We will 
live and die for America, but not for Exxon."

In the conservative rewrite of history that wants to 
tell the young that the hippies ruined the nation's 
morals and left only a legacy of drugs and sexual 
disease, some forget just what happened all 
those years ago:  a generation stood for peace.
Whatever else happened, and it was a complicated 
time, don't forget those candles in the rain.  When 
the ministers of money blow the horns of 
apocalyse, standing together can make a difference. 
In those days, the musicians and artists stood up 
and those who had ears to hear, stood with them.

If you locate a copy of her first album 
in any kind of sale, be sure to get it.  There are some 
beautiful emotional and whimsical moments on that album. 
It is produced very minimalistically and that is part of 
the beauty of it.  It is also one of the very unkatelike 
aspects.

Melanie was great.   Still is.

len