Her catchy ode to roller skates made her the No. 1 female vocalist in the early 1970s, but Melanie (just Melanie) says her biggest hit is unlike most of her songs.

When she wrote “Brand New Key (The Roller Skate Song),” Melanie says she never imagined it’d go anywhere. But her husband, who is also her producer, knew it was destined to be big.

And it wasn’t just the 80 million people who bought the record who loved it. Melanie says Elton John later told her that hearing that song made him realize that music could be a little “ridiculous,” inspiring him to write “Crocodile Rock.”

Melanie is still writing and releasing music and touring, only now she’s got her family along for the ride. All three of her now-grown children are professional musicians.

Melanie looks back on her career that has taken her from some of the biggest festivals in music history to a close relationship with the late Johnny Cash.

She talks her about new tribute album to the man in black and explains why, after years of rejecting, even she can admit that her biggest hit is, in fact, cute.