Shortly after the turn of the seventies, deep in the last century, the first name Melanie suddenly became popular. Apparently it goes back to two Roman women of the fourth and fifth centuries who were included in the Catholic calendar of saints because they founded monasteries (the older one) or did good works and fasted (the younger one). But the parents who gave their daughters this precious name were by no means particularly pious; they were hippies (or would have liked to be), members of the Woodstock generation. In Woodstock in 1969, on the first evening of the festival, just as the rain was setting in, a young woman came on stage, clinically drug-free, armed only with a guitar and long hair, and shortly before midnight she began singing “Beautiful People” in a slightly hoarse voice ” to sing in front of her. She had filled in for a band that was afraid of water and was lucky because she didn’t have to worry about being electrocuted with her acoustic guitar. Ravi Shankar, who had performed before her, had advised the crowd to light candles to drive away the rain, which obviously didn’t help, but it made for an atmospheric, Georges de La Tour-esque scene and, above all, for the song ” Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)”, with which Melanie, whose last name was Safka but always remained Melanie, became the epitome of the flower child.
A gift to the world: Folk legend Melanie Safka dies – Culture
