Rare Performance: Melanie Sings ‘Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)’ on Netherland’s TV, 1970

Melanie Safka, known professionally as just Melanie, had a string of top 10 hits in the 1970s including ‘Brand New Key’, ‘What Have They Done to My Song, Ma’ and her iconic song about appearing at the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival - ‘Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)’. The second single from her 1970 album Candles in the Rain, the song was a breakthrough hit in the U.S. peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart back in 1970. Melanie recorded the song with the gospel group the Edwin Hawkins Singers.

In March of 1970 ‘Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)’ replaced The Beatle’s ‘Let It Be’ as the #1 tune in the Netherlands. Later that year Melanie and the Edwin Hawkins Singers appeared on a nationally televised Netherlands aTV show to talk about, and perform, the song live. This video, found on Melanie’s official YouTube channel captures that performance plus other tidbits from the appearance. Enjoy!

You can listen to all of Melanie’s songs, plus hundreds of other artists from the 1970s, 24/7 on Dusty Discs Radio.