OK, so I'm 'that guy' for downloading a wikipedia page into a forum post.
Sue me! It's the price you pay for becoming educated.
You Freudian types with post-midlife-crisis libidoes might want to skip immediately to the "Controversies" section . . . and those of you who like to poke fun at the mind-scrambledness of psychadelic songwriters won't want to miss where she explains her "inspiration" for the song. Too good!
Brand New KeyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Brand New Key"
Single by
Melaniefrom the album
Gather MeReleasedOctober 1971
GenreFolk,
popLength2:26
LabelNeighborhoodProducer(s)Peter Schekeryk
CertificationGold"
Brand New Key" is a
pop song written and sung by
folk music singer
Melanie (Melanie Safka-Schekeryk), which became a
novelty success during 1971–72. Initially a track of Melanie's album
Gather Me, it was known also as "
The Rollerskate Song" due to its chorus. It was her greatest success, scoring No. 1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart during December 1971 and January 1972.
Billboard ranked it as the No. 9 song of 1972.
[1] It also scored No. 1 in
Canada and
Australia and No. 4 on the
UK Singles Chart. Melanie's version of the song was featured in the 1997 movie
Boogie Nights as well as the 2010 movie
Jackass 3D and an episode of
Helix.
The single was produced by Melanie's husband, Peter Schekeryk.
Overview[edit]
The song is sung from the viewpoint of a girl with
roller skates trying to attract the attention of a boy:
I got a brand new pair of roller skates,You got a brand new key.I think that we should get together and try them out, to see ...The roller skates in question would have been old-style children's
quad skates, which were clamped to the soles of ordinary leather-soled shoes. The clamps were tightened with a special "key" that was basically a very simple
socket wrench. If the key was lost or misplaced, a pair of pliers (preferably needle-nosed) or other tool could usually substitute, though at some inconvenience. Although the lyrics claim that the roller skates are "brand new", the girl has presumably either lost her key, or the boy of the song is now in possession of it, the key being "brand new" as well:
I roller skated to your door at daylight [...]I'm okay alone, but you got something I need.In an interview with rock music journalist Ray Shasho on July 22, 2013, Melanie described what she claimed was the inspiration of "Brand New Key": "I was fasting with a 27-day fast on water. I broke the fast and went back to my life living in
New Jersey and we were going to a flea market around six in the morning. On the way back …and I had just broken the fast, from the
flea market, we passed a
McDonald's and the aroma hit me, and I had been a vegetarian before the fast. So we pulled into the McDonald's and I got the whole works … the burger, the shake, and the fries … and no sooner after I finished that last bite of my burger …that song was in my head. The aroma brought back memories of roller skating and learning to ride a bike and the vision of my dad holding the back fender of the tire. And me saying to my dad …“You’re holding, you’re holding, you’re holding, right? Then I’d look back and he wasn’t holding and I’d fall. So that whole thing came back to me and came out in this song."
[2]Controversy[edit]
Many listeners detect sexual
innuendo in the lyrics, with the key in its lock thought to symbolize
sexual intercourse, or in phrases such as "I go pretty far" and "I've been all around the world".
Melanie has acknowledged the possibility of detecting sexual innuendo in the song, without confirming or denying the intent:
“"Brand New Key" I wrote in about fifteen minutes one night. I thought it was cute; a kind of old thirties tune. I guess a key and a lock have always been
Freudian symbols, and pretty obvious ones at that. There was no deep serious expression behind the song, but people read things into it. They made up incredible stories as to what the lyrics said and what the song meant.
In some places, it was even banned from the radio.My idea about songs is that once you write them, you have very little say in their life afterward. It's a lot like having a baby. You conceive a song, deliver it, and then give it as good a start as you can. After that, it's on its own. People will take it any way they want to take it.
[3]