Melanie (last name: Safka) performed in the rain at Woodstock on the first day of the festival (August 15, 1969). Before her performance, many in the crowd participated in a ceremony where they lit candles, many of which were still burning when Melanie took the stage. Melanie was so moved by the sight of candles in the rain that she wrote this song to commemorate it.
The Edwin Hawkins Singers backed Melanie on this track. They got a deal with Melanie's label Buddah Records in 1969 when "Oh Happy Day," recorded in church and sold as part of an album to raise money for the choir, started getting airplay on various radio stations. A gospel group, they brought a vibrant, spiritual feel to this song.
Regarding the song and the era in which it was written, Melanie told Songfacts: "There was, without getting into it, a strong force going against it, and who would want to look at that? The powers that be do not want a bunch of free happy beings running the planet, end of story, 'nuff said. But here it is, a literal visual of the world that was. Black and white harmony, unity and power. This WAS the world! The dream? You may say I'm a dreamer... candles in the rain."
Safka was pretty much unknown when she did the Woodstock show, so much so that her mother had to drive her to the festival from their home in Elberon, New Jersey. Her mother even tried to board the helicopter that took Melanie to the stage, but they couldn't fit her.
Safka also had no idea how big Woodstock would be, and it took her a while to figure out that the horrendous traffic they encountered was coming from the show.
"People really connected quickly with me and it instantly resonated with 500,000 people at that one moment," she said. "I walked on the stage an unknown person and walked off a celebrity."
This song helped sparked (pun intended) the tradition of fans holding up open flames during concerts. We can trace that tradition back to the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in 1969, when the crowd lit matches and opened their lighters for John Lennon and Eric Clapton. As Melanie's star grew, so did the story behind this song, and fans began bringing candles to her concerts. When BIC introduced their disposable lighter in 1973, that became the flame of choice.
