Melanie's version is heard playing over the closing credits of the 2nd episode of the 2020 miniseries The Stand, right after Randall Flagg gives Lloyd Henreid a stone that transforms into a key, and frees him from prison. The song also connects Heather Graham's portrayal of Rita Blakemoor to her role as Rollergirl in Boogie Nights. American single certifications – Melanie – Brand New Key". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved January 30, 2022. As for that flower child label? “I never even felt like I was a hippie, I didn’t like the term. If anything, I was the beat generation – people in the Village expressing themselves in so many ways, not being pigeonholed.” It’s kind of a relief when you’re no longer “the girl”, Melanie says. She’s even thinking about re-recording Brand New Key as the blues single she always envisioned it to be. “I really want to communicate that I’m still here and I’m still doing it. It is 50 years later and I’m not quite decrepit. I think it was [baseball player] Satchel Paige who said, ‘How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?’”

I’m not a trained musician and my husband [Peter Schekeryk] was the producer, he was mostly the person who communicated to the band, who were all guys,” Melanie recalls. She had production ideas, she tells me, but with little familiarity with the language of music, she had a hard time articulating them. Not so, however, with her counter-offering Some Say (I Got Devil) from side two of Gather Me, a subversive response to the bubblegum pop hit everyone is familiar with. “That’s Morrissey’s favourite, he did a version of it recently,” Melanie says. I’m not surprised. “Some have tried to sell me / all kinds of things to save me / from hurting like a woman,” she sings with an intoxicating mixture of desire and weariness. Subversive lyrics which go some way towards highlighting Gather Me’s often dark and radical beauty. Brand New Key (United States 7" vinyl liner notes). Melanie. Neighborhood Records. 1971. NRA-4201. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link)This section contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. ( April 2022) Unlike my straightlaced friends, I've always dug the idea of Melanie -- Edith Piaf as Brooklyn waif, preaching the hippie gospel in that absurdly flexible and resonant alto. But I've found the reality cloying. Here she grows up just enough. "Brand New Key" is one of those impossible celebrations of teen libido that renew one's faith in AM radio. "Steppin'" is the best breakup song since "It's Too Late," and though side two slips badly toward the end, she's rarely a simp this time out. B+

a b c d Whitburn, Joel (1996). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums 1955–1996. Record Research. pp.516–517. ISBN 0898201179. a b c Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. The song is also heard in Family Guy season 20, episode 18, "Girlfriend, Eh?". [27] The Voice [ edit ]Gather Me, the first release on the label founded by Melanie and husband Schekeryk, was a winning effort that housed "Brand New Key" and the equally wonderful "Ring the Living Bell." ****

Top 100 Year End Charts: 1972". Cashbox Magazine. Archived from the original on 2012-08-14 . Retrieved 2015-05-21. Gather Me is a 1971 album released by Melanie and featuring the US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart #1 song " Brand New Key" (a novelty hit which also reached the #1 chart position in Canada, New Zealand and Australia between November 1971 and March 1972 [2]). The album also features the singles "Some Day I'll Be a Farmer" and the Top 40 hit "Ring the Living Bell". The album was certified Gold in the U.S. and was arranged by Roger Kellaway.Melanie - Se alla låtar och listplaceringar". NostalgiListan (in Swedish) . Retrieved January 19, 2022. The original version appears in episode 1 of the first season of the 2017 Australian television series Sisters, as the viewer is initially introduced to Julia, one of the main characters. The song is sung from the viewpoint of a girl with roller skates trying to attract the attention of a boy. Wow, I was really good! Isn’t it crazy, it took this long? Is this the best gift person can ever get, to find out after all this time? Now yes, it might’ve been better if I could’ve known while it was all going on. But I’m here now and I get it! I now see why you my dear ones are here it wasn’t just because you felt sorry for me (someone actually said that) or because I reminded you of something or someone you loved. Breihan, Tom (February 14, 2019). "The Number Ones: Melanie's "Brand New Key" ". Stereogum . Retrieved June 16, 2023. ...her LP Gather Me, which is otherwise a straight-up idiosyncratic folk record...