Frequently Asked Questions
(under construction)
1. Melanie's Birthday
2. What's with all the overlap?
3. Addresses
1. MELANIE'S BIRTHDAY:
February 3rd, 1947
New York
7.35 a.m.
2. OVERLAP BETWEEN ALBUMS.
To start with is Silver Anniversary Unplugged; there are two different versions of this double CD:
a German version (SA-G) and a Dutch version (SA-D), and they have different tracklists.
Many of the songs from this CD have appeared on other CDs (Freedom Knows My Name (FKMN),
Old Bitch Warrior (OBW), Unchained Melanie (UM), Her Greatest Hits Live & New (HGHLAN)),
Ring The Living Bell (RTLB) and Shine On (SO). Below is the
track listing of SA with behind the titles the other album(s) the song appears on. One
can see that all of the songs from SA on OBW also appear on HGHLAN, BUT the tracks on
OBW have been remixed and 'Look, Ma' is about a minute longer on OBW. Furthermore,
'Long, Long Time' on Ring The Living Bell has some 'rehearsals' tucked in front of the
actual song.
It's probably only a matter of time that the 4 remaining tracks on SA (How Can I Help
You To Say Goodbye, Taking A Bath and Count The Days You're Gone) will resurface on
other albums. There's also two compilation CDs out there which are both
single-CD-compilations of just the Silver Anniversary CD ('Acousic Blue' and 'Unplugged').
SA Arrow 3:36 FKMN / RTLB
Freedom Knows My Name (SA-D only) 4:18 FKMN / RTLB
Purple Haze 3:31 FKMN / SO
Brand New Key 4:16 HGHLAN / RTLB
Too Late To Go 5:03 UM
Long, Long Time 5:48 UM / HGHLAN / RTLB
Life Will Not Go Away 3:26 FKMN / RTLB
Beautiful People 5:56 HGHLAN / RTLB
Candles In The Rain (SA-D only) 5:21 OBW / HGHLAN / RTLB
Count The Days You're Gone (SA-G only) 2:52
Rainbow Race 4:32 UM
Babe Rainbow 4:26 HGHLAN
Cyclone 4:15 RTLB
Live Coal 5:29 FKMN / RTLB
Ruby Tuesday 5:18 OBW / HGHLAN / RTLB
Perceive It 3:51 RTLB
Tonight's The Kind Of Night 6:09 FKMN
Friends And Company 5:10 RTLB
Sun And Moon 5:04 RTLB
Taking A Bath (SA-G only) 3:59
Ring Around The Moon 2:11 HGHLAN / RTLB
Peace Will Come 6:09 HGHLAN / RTLB
Look What They've Done To My Song Ma 4:19 OBW / HGHLAN / RTLB
Natural Man (San Bernadino) 4:02 UM / RTLB
Close To It All 4:55 HGHLAN / RTLB
If I Needed You (SA-G only) 3:30 UM
Ballerina 2:21 RTLB
How Can I Help You To Say Goodbye 4:30
Another thing is the overlap between the albums released between 1987 and 1993.
It starts with Melanie's Dutch 1987 release, which sees 8 new songs and 2 re-recorded
songs:
1987 Melanie
Rock And Roll Heart 4:11 new
To Be A Star 4:09 new
Another Lie 3:25 new
Cyclone 3:08 rerecorded
Roadburn 2:44 rerecorded
On The Lamb From The Law 2:16 new
Wonderer 3:01 new
Show You 3:13 new
It's A Fine World 4:49 new
Window Pane 3:59 new
Two years later an album is released in the UK, which features 4 new songs, 4 repeats
from the 1987 album and one from her 1983 album Seventh Wave (although the song featured
is NOT the same as on the Dutch version of Seventh Wave!), and two reworkings of
older songs:
1989 Cowabonga
Racing Heart 4:28 new
What Have They Done To The Rain ** 3:27 new
Show You 3:26 rerecorded/mixed?
Ruby Tuesday * 3:58 rerecorded
To Be A Star 4:12 repeat from 1987
On The Lamb From The Law 2:17 repeat from 1987
Another Lie 3:28 repeat from 1987
Prematurely Grey 3:06 new
Window Pane 4:01 repeat from 1987
Chosen Few 4:12 new
Lovin' The Boy Next Door 3:22 repeat from 1983
Again, two years later, a CD is released in the USA with only 3 new songs, 6 repeats
from Cowabonga and 2 reworked songs:
1991 Precious Cargo
Undertow * 3:53 new
Rock and Roll Heart 5:34 rerecorded
Ruby Tuesday ** 4:00 repeat from 1989
Tonights The Kind Of Night 5:48 new
Lovin' the Boy Next Door 3:22 repeat from 1983 and 1989
Prematurely Gray 3:07 repeat from 1989
What Have They Done To The Rain # 3:26 repeat from 1989
Show You 3:27 repeat from 1989
Chosen Few 4:13 repeat from 1989
Window Pain 3:35 remixed
Hard Rain *** 5:17 new
Finally, two years later, Freedom Knows My Name is released in the USA and at the same
time Silence Is King is released in Europe. Freedom Knows My Name leaves out two songs
from Silence Is King, so for this part I use the latter; it features 6 new songs,
3 repeats from Precious Cargo and 2 rerecorded songs.
1993 Silence Is King
Estate Sale * 3:37 new
Silence Is King ### 4:13 new
I Will Get Over ## 3:45 new
In My Rock And Roll Heart 5:35 repeat from 1991
Hard Rain ** 5:18 repeat from 1991
Gone With The Wind ## 3:33 new
Detroit Or Buffalo #### 4:55 rerecorded
Fallen Angel ## 2:59 new
Wear It Like A Flag ## 3:44 new
Undertow **** 3:53 repeat from 1991
Some Day I'll Be An Old Record *** 3:10 rerecorded
Putting all this information together gets:
Rock And Roll Heart 4:11 1987
To Be A Star 4:09 1987, 1989
Another Lie 3:25 1987, 1989
Cyclone 3:08 1987
Roadburn 2:44 1987
On The Lamb From The Law 2:16 1987, 1989
Wonderer 3:01 1987
Show You 3:13 1987
It's A Fine World 4:49 1987
Window Pane 3:59 1987, 1989
Racing Heart 4:28 1989
What Have They Done To The Rain ** 3:27 1989, 1991
Show You (new) 3:26 1989, 1991
Ruby Tuesday * 3:58 1989, 1991
Prematurely Grey 3:06 1989, 1991
Chosen Few 4:12 1989, 1991
Lovin' The Boy Next Door 3:22 1983, 1989, 1991
Undertow * 3:53 1991, 1993
Rock and Roll Heart (new) 5:34 1991, 1993
Tonights The Kind Of Night 5:48 1991
Window Pain (new) 3:35 1991
Hard Rain *** 5:17 1991, 1993
Estate Sale * 3:37 1993
Silence Is King ### 4:13 1993
I Will Get Over ## 3:45 1993
Gone With The Wind ## 3:33 1993
Detroit Or Buffalo #### 4:55 1993
Fallen Angel ## 2:59 1993
Wear It Like A Flag ## 3:44 1993
Some Day I'll Be An Old Record *** 3:10 1993
Cowabonga only features one song not available anywhere else (Racing Heart) and Precious
Cargo only two songs (Tonight's The Kind Of Night (rerecorded for Silver Anniversary) and the
reworked Window Pain)... makes you wonder, especially because Racing Heart has now been
rerecorded for inclusion on Lowcountry (1997), using a brand new title: Be The Sky!
Lowcountry also features rerecordings of If My Heart Should Lose Its Way (from Unchained
Melanie), On The Lam From The Law (Melanie 1987 and Cowabonga), Rock And Roll Heart
(Melanie 1987, Precious Cargo and Freedom Knows My Name) and Freedom Knows My Name (Freedom
Knows My Name, Silver Anniversary and Old Bitch Warrior).
And to just mention two more overlaps: Nickel Song on Seventh Wave (1983) is the same as
the one on Photograph (1976) and Record Machine on Unchained Melanie (1996) is
the same as Someday I'll Be An Old Record on Silence Is King (1993).
4. ADDRESSES:
For information on Safka:
CBT Records
1020 15th Street Suite 20G
Denver, CO 80202
USA
(303)-818-3295
Dutch contact:
Wilma van Gend
Gageldijk 77 c8
3602 AJ Maarssen
The Netherlands
tel: (030)2614936
Booking for Melanie:
e-mail: Melanie_Safka@bigfoot.com
My address:
Johan Dijkhuis
Stephensonstraat 21
9727 GK Groningen
The Netherlands