Singer-songwriter from the 60s had this hit banned for sexual innuendo
By Stephen Pate – Our lives are filled with songs. The songs remembered longest are those from our teens. A chord in my memory was played today. Messaging a band in Allentown, PA, the song Brand New Key by Melanie came back.
In 1966, I dated a girl in Easton, PA down the highway from Allentown. She was a dead ringer for Melanie. The resemblance would stick with me despite the fact that Melanie was just another folk singer in Greenwich Village in 1966 when I was hitchhiking to the States.
Melanie Safka – known as Melanie – was successful enough to be at Woodstock. She broke the Top 10 with Lay Down Candles in the Rain in 1970 based on her performance at the legendary rock concert.
She hit #1 in 1971 with Brand New Key, a simple perky song that was banned for the lyrics. Go figure in a post 60s world with all those suggestive blues and rock lyrics.
Brand New Key lyrics
I got a brand new pair of roller skates,
You got a brand new key.
I think that we should get together and try them out, to see…
I been looking around awhile,
You got something for me
Oh! I got a brand new pair of roller skates,
You got a brand new key.
I ride my bike, I roller skate, don’t drive no car,
Don’t go too fast, but I go pretty far.
For somebody who don’t drive
I been all around the world
Some people say I’ve done alright for a girl… (lyrics copyright Melanie Safka)
Melanie had been on Columbia Records but moved to Buddha Records, an offshoot of Kama Sutra Records the label that launched the Lovin’ Spoonful. That label had mob ties that were not unheard of in the music business.
Melanie was typecast as a bubble-gummer by the folk elite which didn’t help her career. She was never taken as seriously as Carole King or other female singer-songwriters in the folk/rock genre. Melanie’s singing was earthy and she often used a pronounced quaver. She de-emphasized her career while raising a family. Even so, she put out 34 CDs and albums between 1969 and 2010.
People remember Brand New Key, Look What They Done To My Song Ma, and Beautiful People even today.
Melanie looms large in my past
Oh, that girl from Easton? Mary Jane married a Vietnam Vet after sending me a Dear John letter, broke my heart and raised a family. It took me years to get over her which was hard on everyone I dated for a while. She didn’t help by doing the girl thing and staying friends with my sister-in-law who took delight in dropping Mary Jane’s news tidbits. Then one day her ring slipped off my finger riding a motorcycle in Rivière du Loup. It was over. Today, she’s a grandmother in PA, still doing well I hear.
Melanie’s music is available from Amazon.com and iTunes. Of the many Melanie “Best Of” compilations, Beautiful People: The Greatest Hits Of Melanie is said to be the best”. If you are looking for a Melanie CD with her most popular songs this is the one to get.”
Beautiful People: The Greatest Hits Of Melanie
Beautiful People: The Greatest Hits of Melanie – Melanie
Michael R. Neal
I remember Melanie Safka from my youth. In fact, while I was reading the lyrics for Brand New Key, I could hear it in my mind in her voice! Thanks for the memory!