Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) – Challenge #186

Melanie wrote and recorded the song ‘Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)’ on her 1970 album Candles in the Rain.  This song was her breakthrough hit in the United States, and it climbed all the way up to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it reached #3 on the Cash Box Top 100.  The record was ranked #23 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1970.   This song sold more than a million copies and in 1972, Melanie was named Billboard’s top female vocalist.  Melanie Safka wrote this song about her experience at the Woodstock festival in August 1969, where she was basically an unknown 22-year-old folk singer at the event, but she became a celebrity there, in the half hour set that she did on stage that Friday night, August 15, from 11:00–11:30 pm where she played 6 songs.

She never performed in front of so many people before and she was terrified, as her husband stayed behind in Europe and they wouldn’t let her mother on the helicopter with her, so she felt all alone and she never performed in front of a crowd larger than 500 people before.  It started to rain right after Ravi Shankar finished and before she went on.  She was happy to see the rain, as she thought that everybody was going to leave and go back home and she wouldn’t have to perform in front of this large crowd.  The announcer Wavy Gravy told the audience that if they lit candles, it would help to keep the rain away.  By the time she finished, the whole hillside was a mass of little flickering lights and Melanie was never afraid to perform in front of a crowd again.  Melanie said, “Woodstock was an affirmation that we were part of each other, that there was more to life than doing what your mother and father told you and that certainly we shouldn’t have been involved in the Vietnam War.”  When she did the Woodstock show, her mother had to drive her to the festival from their home in Elberon, NJ which is just north of Asbury Park and she said that she never got paid for her performance.  Melanie saw Woodstock as a place where people had the right spirit, which allowed them to overcome amazing obstacles.

Melanie got her big break because of the efforts of Buddah co-founder Artie Ripp, as the one-time-musician-turned-record-executive was a friend of the Woodstock organizer Artie Kornfeld, and Ripp decided to take a risk and send Melanie to the festival.  She and her late husband Peter had an office in the same building as the people that were organizing Woodstock.  Melanie didn’t fit the mold and no one in the music industry thought she was going to make it, as even though some DJs were playing her songs on the radio, fans couldn’t buy her music, because the record label didn’t stock it in stores. Melanie’s husband Peter Schekeryk said that the concert tradition of people holding up lighters at shows was started by his wife, because hippie members of the Hog Farm commune distributed about a half a million candles as a spiritual offering in the dark that night on Max Yasgur’s Farm in upstate New York.

Friday night at Woodstock was folk night and the lineup included Richie Havens, Swami Satchidananda, Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Ravi Shankar, Melanie Safka, Arlo Guthrie and Joan Baez.  Melanie made a recording of ‘Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)’ that was a collaboration between her and the Edwin Hawkins Singers gospel group, who had reached the national Top Ten the previous year with their hit ‘Oh Happy Day’.  The Edwin Hawkins Singers got a deal with Melanie’s label Buddah Records and this rendition showcased black and white harmony, unity and power which was rare back in 1969.  The Edwin Hawkins Singers brought a vibrant, spiritual feel to this song and lyrics describe what Melanie felt as she looked out at the sea of people in the audience who had all lit candles to let other people know that everything was going to be OK.

Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown

We were so close, there was no room
We bled inside each others wounds
We all had caught the same disease
And we all sang the songs of peace

Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown

So raise the candles high
‘Cause if you don’t we could stay black against the night
Oh, raise them higher again
And if you do we could stay dry against the rain

Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown

We were so close there was no room
We bled inside each others wounds
We all had caught the same disease
And we all sang the songs of peace
Some came to sing, some came to pray
Some came to keep the dark away

So raise the candles high
‘Cause if you don’t we could stay black against the sky
Oh, oh, raise them higher again
And if you do we could stay dry against the rain

Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
You gotta lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
You gotta lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
You gotta lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown

Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
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Oh lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
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Let it all down, let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown

Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds oh oh oh
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Uh uh uh uh lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown

Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones who stand and frown
Lay down, lay down, let it all down
Let your white birds smile up at the ones

The challenge today is to focus on this song and use it for a short story, a piece of flash fiction, or a poem that you can share with the WordPress writing community.  There is no need to stick with this song, as you could write about another song by Melanie, or any of the other performers that went to Woodstock.  You could also write about doves being the white birds that symbolize peace.  You could write about what you think are the ones who stand and frown.  If you would like to write about the phenomenon of people lighting up lighters at concerts, which today has been almost entirely replaced by cell phones that would make an interesting post.  You could write about the significance of man discovering how to control fire, or add your thoughts about rain.

The whole point of this MM Music challenge is to get you to think, to trigger something so that you can show how creative you are and everyone is welcome to participate.  This challenge is very loose, so pretty much whatever you come up with will be acceptable.  I try to throw some ideas out there for you and if they seem right, then go with it.  You could write about a candle that you made, or how often you light up candles.  If you think that you know what Melanie was getting at when she sang about bleeding inside of someone’s wounds, it would be much appreciated if you to explain that.  Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie brings you a dose of fetish, good friends and an incomparable muse and next Friday on July 16 Dylan Hughes will be here with her First Line Friday.  I will be back on Friday, July 25 with another MM Music Challenge where we will discuss the song ‘Hello, It’s Me You’re Looking For’.  You can either create a ping back to this post, or place your link in the comments section below.