Roller Skate Song 'Brand New Key' By Melanie Schekeryk Is Still A Good Tune

Feb 06, 2020 by apost team

The 1970s was a great decade for music. With the Summer of Love taking place and disco becoming popular, music was going through a changing phase that would see elements like funk, soul, and salsa take international stage. 

Roller skating rinks became very popular around this time as well, and they would later incorporate music and lighting systems just like discotheques, which at the time were starting to reign supreme as nightlife establishments.

The songs that were released during this transformation period in popular culture reflected the vibe of the times, and "Brand New Key" by Melanie Safkas, an early pop queen who transitioned from folk and soft rock is one example.

It is a straight pop tune written from the point of view of a young girl who gets around on roller skates, but she feels that her life would improve if an older boy she likes, who just happens to have the keys to a car, would just pay attention to him.

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The song's lyrics tell the story of a girl who skates onto a boy's house wearing her new rollerskates, but the boy just never seems to be home.

"I rode my bicycle past your window last night
I roller-skated to your door at daylight
It almost seems like you're avoiding me
I'm okay alone, but you've got something I need

Well, I've got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I think that we should get together
And try them on to see," the lyrics go.

When Safkas recorded "Brand New Key," she was already a successful musician who had performed at Woodstock, but this was the song that propelled her to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.

The song also made it to the top of the Australian and Canadian charts, and it helped her boost her career as an American folk music artist on the level of Joan Baez and Janis Joplin. She easily switched off from folk to pop and to rock before becoming the legendary Melanie, still performing sporadically at the age of 73.

What is your favorite tune from the 70s? Let us know in the comments - and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!