A heartfelt tribute to Melanie Safka

A little piece to mark the recent passing of one of my favourite musicians

It’s 1989, I’m fifteen, hanging with the cool girl from school in her patchouli and cannabis den, aka her bedroom. Dangling moons and spearing stars jostle for attention with runes and crucifixes.

An album cover is lifted, ceremoniously. My boyfriend and I look it over, certain it must be worth lending our ears to and we keenly await the rasp as needle meets its mistress in the form of black vinyl.

That record was ‘Left Over Wine’.

It’s a live album recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1970. Right there and then, I fall in love with the legend that is Melanie Safka, commonly known as Melanie.

Sure, I’d heard kitsch radio fave ‘Brand New Key’ but that was a novelty song, right?

This woman I was listening to, had soul, connection with people. She was no one’s gimmicky party piece. And besides, she was wearing a royal purple pant suit I was sure I’d seen down Afflecks …..

When I heard she’d done Woodstock, I was all in.

The next few months were spent scouring carboot sales and record fairs, hungry for more of her Mother Earth to rain its honey in my adolescent ears.

Less sophisticated than Joni Mitchell, quirkier than Carole King, what shone through in buckets with Melanie, was her warmth and accessibility. She was approachable, could easily be your best friend, and for a teenager, that’s a rarity. Even though I was a generation too late, Ms Safka was a role model I could buy into. She wasn’t stick thin, didn’t feel the need to flaunt acres of flesh, she had green ideals before virtue signalling was even *a thing*. She acknowledged her own melancholy but didn’t allow herself to wallow in it.

Melanie was both worldly and innocent, carrying the old soul of a babe on her kaftaned shoulders. In tracks such as ‘Left Over Wine’ , you feel her depth, whilst songs like ‘Alexander Beetle’ and ‘Animal Crackers’ reveal a playful side as someone who didn’t take her self too seriously. A very welcome quality in a pretentious music world.

More than any other artist, Melanie liberated me to express all sides of my personality. She refused to niche herself, to conform to a pigeon hole of folk, pop or soul singer. She performed both her own songs and covers. She spoke in tones of shadow and light, asking questions, demanding social change. She was endearing, wise, passionate and funny. And people accepted all of it - all of her - because above it all, sat her resounding authenticity.

Melanie educated me.

I listened to ‘Psychotherapy’ and grew curious to learn more of Freud and the concept of ‘id’, whilst her cover versions enriched my musical education by introducing me to legends such as Woody Guthrie.

Melanie’s eccentricity knew no bounds. Songs like ‘Kansas’ reassured me there were other people out there just as batshit as I was. As a teenager, that goes a long way…..

A frequent endeavour, was for unity. In songs such as ‘Close to it all’ and ‘Beautiful People’ she urges people to put aside their differences for the greater good of love and peace.

Like most artists, Melanie had a golden period and I would say it was 1968 - 1975. But when she shone, she was sun, moon and stars.

But more than that she was a stellar human being, a true beacon of light.

I will leave you with my favourite songs of hers. Feel free to add your own and/or any memories you have of her music. And if all you know is ‘Brand New Key’, be sure to check out more.

My top ten favourite Melanie songs

1. Baby Day

   Melanie invites you to fall in love with dawn. Simple and uplifting.

   I love the comment on YouTube that states “This is my alarm every morning”. Why the hell not?

2. Uptown Down

   A grittier Melanie back from New York tells us she couldn’t care less if we loved her or not. Quite right, honey, and that’s precisely why we do!

3. Close to it all

   Melanie has a dream. She starts off tiny - as all dreams do - builds and nails it.

4. Some say I got devil

   To every young girl who’s ever been told she’s a fuck up. Mel has your back reminding us we all have both devil and angel residing within us.

5. I don’t eat animals

   Long before The Smiths brought us ‘Meat is Murder’, Melanie gave us the original vegetarian anthem. Incidentally, Morrissey gives a rare hat tip to Melanie here:

6. Christopher Robin

   Ms Safka borrows from A.A Milne and serenades our inner child with a cute babble about baths and prayers.

7. Pretty Boy Floyd

   The Woody Guthrie classic is given a soulful rework.

8. Brand New Key

   Needs no introduction

9. Lay Down, Candles in the rain

   With the Edwin Hawkins singers

   Soul meets gospel as Melanie recounts how she felt performing at Woodstock, and magic is made.

10. Beautiful People

Unifying and infectious. If there is one song I think Melanie should be remembered by, it is this one.