Lay, Lady, Lay in peace

I was sad to read today that the singer, Melanie, had passed away a few days ago at the age of 76.  Although many people didn't, I loved her voice which she developed when trying to emulate Édith Piaf and Billie Holiday when she was young.  She was booked to play the Woodstock Festival as a complete unknown and as she was ferried to the festival by helicopter she naïvely asked what the 'mass of stuff' was on the ground, to which she was told "People; around 500,000 of them"!  She had never played before to more than a few hundred people so was intensely nervous, which wasn't helped by her set being pushed back time and again.  Eventually, she went on stage in the early hours following Ravi Shankar in the rain and the announcer told the crowd that if they lit candles it would send the rain away.  She played a blistering set still in the rain but by the end, there were candles lit over the entire crowd who had loved her.  Following that, the audience lighting candles became quite a thing at her concerts which meant they had problems getting fire cover!

She lived a settled life with her husband and children and continued working until the end when she was recording a new album to be called 'Look what I've done to their songs'; covering songs by other artists and a play on her own hit 'What have they done to my song, Ma'.  My own favourites were her versions of Ruby Tuesday and Lay, Lady Lay.  I was prompted to dig out some of my music from the era and listen to it today including, of course, some of her tracks.  Rest in peace Melanie Safka; 3rd February 1947 - 23rd January 2024.