Let's All Share The Leftover Wine

Original Released on LP Buddah BDS 5066 
(US, September 1970)

There have been a number of bashful comparisons between Melanie and Bob Dylan, and it is worth using this convenience to suggest that if Dylan is the seer of this generation then Melanie is the archetypal mother earth. Whereas Dylan is revered for his social analysis Melanie's lyrics and melodies are powerful to their simplicity of direction. Firmly she points towards peace and all that implies. But whereas this is certain, there is greater scope for deeper interpretation. There are many ways to travel, and the meaning behind her words depends very much on the listener. All the tracks, excluding "Peace Will Come", are recorded live in New York, and the effects of audience participation call to mind the membership of the Plastic Ono Band - we're all part of it. The sentiments behind "I Don't Eat Animals" and "Peace Will Come" are expressed with childish simplicity that leaves them vulnerable to attack, embarrassingly so if one happens to agree to some extent, and yet Melanie is far from a delightful moron, as her ability to satirise in "Psychotherapy" clearly shows (from a 1970 British review)

ORIGINAL LINER NOTES:

As the concert drew to an end and the audience began to fear that each song would be the last, the flood began. Shadowy figures in beads and fringe flowed down the carpeted aisles of Carnegie Hall. They swirled onto the bright stage eddying silently around the singer hunched over her guitar. Few of them touched her. One gave her beads for her hair. Another wept and whispered, “Don’t leave us”. Long ago she had told them, “You gotta get close to it all,” and they had left their isolated seats and came down the aisle for that purpose – simply to be close. She drew strength from them and sang on until she had no more songs. When she rose to leave some of them embraced her, and tears were exchanged. Hands reached from cufflinked sleeves and pulled her backstage where the people who handle her business arrangements congratulated her on a good night’s work. Wine was served. What happened on the stage that night was too delicate an event to register on magnetic tape. For those of us who were there, the sounds on this record can only remind us of what was felt. We all have to share the Leftover Wine. (Margie English)