Richard & Mimi Fariña
Richard George Fariña (Brooklyn, 8 marzo 1937 – Carmel, 30 aprile 1966) è stato uno scrittore e cantautore statunitense.Fu una figura di rilievo nel panorama della controcultura della prima metà degli anni sessanta e nella nascente scena folk rock.
Giovinezza
Fariña nacque a Brooklyn in una famiglia di origini cubane e irlandesi. Dopo aver frequentato la Brooklyn Technical High School, studiò prima ingegneria e poi letteratura inglese alla Cornell University. In quel periodo pubblicò brevi racconti per riviste letterarie locali come Transatlantic review e Mademoiselle, e divenne amico intimo di Thomas Pynchon e Peter Yarrow. Dopo essere stato sospeso per aver partecipato a una manifestazione studentesca contro le regole repressive del campus, lasciò definitivamente l'università appena prima della laurea, nel 1959.Produzione artistica
Tornato a New York, Fariña iniziò a frequentare il Greenwich Village, luogo di incontro di numerosi artisti, poeti e cantanti folk. Lì fece amicizia con Tommy Makem e conobbe Carolyn Hester, che poco dopo sposò. Nel settembre del 1961, durante la registrazione del terzo album di Carolyn Hester, Richard incontrò un ancora sconosciuto Bob Dylan, che suonava l'armonica a bocca in alcuni brani del disco, con cui strinse una profonda amicizia.Nella primavera del 1962, in Europa, Fariña incontrò Mimi Baez, sorella minore di Joan Baez. Poco dopo la Hester ottenne il divorzio e Richard sposò Mimi, che aveva 17 anni, nell'aprile del 1963. Si trasferirono a Carmel, in California, dove scrissero delle canzoni e debuttarono in coppia al Big Sur Folk Festival nel 1964, per poi pubblicare il loro primo album, Celebrations For a Grey Day.
A causa della sua breve vita, Fariña - in cui critici hanno visto uno dei migliori talenti della scena folk del Greenwich Village - ha potuto realizzare con la moglie solo tre album, uno dei quali postumo. Tra le loro canzoni più note ci sono Pack up Your Sorrows e Birmingham Sunday, quest'ultima incisa da Joan Baez e utilizzata come colonna sonora del documentario 4 Little Girls di Spike Lee.
Al momento della morte, Fariña stava lavorando anche ad un album per Joan Baez che alla fine non fu pubblicato. Due delle canzoni del disco furono incluse nell'album postumo del cantautore, mentre un altro, una cover di Pack up Your Sorrows, scritta da Fariña con la terza sorella Baez, Pauline Marden, fu pubblicata come singolo nel 1966. Diverse canzoni di Richard Fariña sono state inoltre incise in Inghilterra dai Fairport Convention. Tra queste Reno, Nevada e The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood.
Fariña è noto anche per il suo romanzo Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me, pubblicato nel 1966. La storia, basata principalmente sulle esperienze universitarie e i viaggi compiuti dall'autore, è un racconto picaresco ambientato nel West, a Cuba durante la Rivoluzione, e in una università newyorkese. Il libro è ben presto diventato un classico tra gli appassionati della controcultura degli anni sessanta. Da Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me è stato tratto un film nel 1971.
Morte
Il 30 aprile 1966, due giorni dopo la pubblicazione del romanzo, Fariña partecipò ad una presentazione in una libreria di Carmel Valley Village. Poche ore dopo, nel corso di una festa per il ventunesimo compleanno della moglie Mimi, Richard incontrò un ospite che era arrivato in motocicletta, e i due decisero di andare a fare un giro. Nel tragitto, probabilmente a causa dell'eccessiva velocità, il guidatore perse il controllo e la moto uscì di strada. Richard Fariña morì sul colpo, mentre l'amico che era alla guida riuscì a sopravvivere.Secondo varie testimonianze, Richard e Mimi avevano litigato lasciando la libreria perché lui non le aveva fatto un regalo di compleanno. Fu solo dopo qualche giorno che Mimi, tornando a casa, trovò i fiori, ormai appassiti, che il marito le aveva fatto spedire mentre erano alla presentazione del libro.
Il dolore della sorella per la morte del marito e la sua successiva storia d'amore con Milan Melvin sono raccontati da Joan Baez nella canzone Sweet Sir Galahad.
Discografia
- 1963 - Dick Fariña & Eric Von Schmidt (Folklore Records) con Eric Von Schmidt
- 1965 - Celebrations for a Grey Day (Vanguard Records) con Mimi Fariña
- 1965 - Reflections in a Crystal Wind (Vanguard Records) con Mimi Fariña
- 1968 - Memories (Vanguard Records) con Mimi Fariña
Richard George Fariña (March 8, 1937 – April 30, 1966) was an American folksinger, songwriter, poet and novelist.
Early years and education
Fariña was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Cuban and Irish descent. He grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and attended Brooklyn Technical High School. He earned an academic scholarship to Cornell University, starting as an engineering major, but later switching to English. While at Cornell he published short stories for local literary magazines and for national periodicals, including Transatlantic Review and Mademoiselle. Fariña became good friends with Thomas Pynchon, David Shetzline, and Peter Yarrow while at Cornell. He was suspended for alleged participation in a student demonstration against campus regulations, and although he later resumed his status as a student, he dropped out in 1959, just before graduation.Ascent on Greenwich Village folk scene
Back in Manhattan, Fariña became a regular patron of the White Horse Tavern, the well-known Greenwich Village tavern frequented by poets, artists, and folksingers, where he befriended Tommy Makem. It was there that he met Carolyn Hester, a successful folk singer. They married eighteen days later. Fariña appointed himself Hester's agent; they toured worldwide while Fariña worked on his novel and Carolyn performed gigs. Fariña was present when Hester recorded her third album at Columbia studios during September 1961, where a then-little-known Bob Dylan played harmonica on several tracks. Fariña became a good friend of Dylan's; their friendship is a major topic of David Hajdu's book, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña.Fariña then traveled to Europe, where he met Mimi Baez, the teenage sister of Joan Baez, in the spring of 1962. Hester divorced Fariña soon thereafter, and Fariña married 17-year-old Mimi in April 1963. Thomas Pynchon was the best man. They moved to a small cabin in Carmel, California, where they composed songs with a guitar and Appalachian dulcimer. They debuted their act as "Richard & Mimi Fariña" at the Big Sur Folk Festival in 1964 and signed a contract with Vanguard Records. They recorded their first album, Celebrations for a Grey Day, in 1965, with the help of Bruce Langhorne, who had previously played for Dylan. During the brief life of Richard Fariña, the couple released only one other album, Reflections in a Crystal Wind, also in 1965. A third album, Memories, was issued in 1968, after his death.
Fariña, like Dylan and others of this time, was considered a protest singer, and several of his songs are overtly political. Several critics have considered Fariña to be a major folk music talent of the 1960s. ("If Richard had survived that motorcycle accident, he would have easily given Dylan a run for his money." – Ed Ward).
His best-known songs are, "Pack Up Your Sorrows" and "Birmingham Sunday", the latter of which was recorded by Joan Baez and became better known after it became the theme song for Spike Lee's film, 4 Little Girls, a documentary about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.
At the time of his death, Fariña also was producing an album for his sister-in-law, Joan Baez. She ultimately decided not to release the album, however, though two of the songs were included on Fariña's posthumous album, and another, a cover version of Fariña's "Pack Up Your Sorrows", co-written by Fariña with the third Baez sister, Pauline Marden, was released as a single in 1966; it has since been included in a number of Baez' compilation albums.
On April 27, 1968, Fairport Convention recorded a live version of "Reno Nevada" for French TV programme Bouton Rouge, featuring vocals by Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews. They then recorded the song for a BBC session later in the same year, this time with Dyble's replacement in the band Sandy Denny, subsequently included on the album Heyday. Denny also recorded "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" for her album Sandy. Matthews later recorded "Reno Nevada" and "Morgan the Pirate" for his album, "If You Saw Thro' My Eyes"; other Farina compositions appeared on subsequent Matthews solo albums and on recordings by Matthews' band, Plainsong.
Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me
Fariña is known for his novel, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me, originally published by Random House in 1966. The title comes from the Furry Lewis song "I Will Turn Your Money Green" ("I been down so long/It seem like up to me"). The novel, based largely on his college experiences and travels, is a comic picaresque novel, set in 1958 in the American West, in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution, and mostly at Cornell University (called "Mentor University" in the novel). The protagonist is Gnossos Pappadopoulis, who enjoys dope, feta cheese, Red Cap ale and retsina, attacks authority figures with anarchic glee and lusts after the girl in the green knee-socks while searching for the right karma. The book has become something of a cult classic among fans of 1960s and counterculture literature. Thomas Pynchon, who later dedicated his book Gravity's Rainbow (1973) to Fariña, described Fariña's novel as "coming on like the Hallelujah Chorus done by 200 kazoo players with perfect pitch... hilarious, chilling, sexy, profound, maniacal, beautiful, and outrageous all at the same time."Death
On April 30, 1966, two days after the publication of his novel, Fariña attended a book-signing ceremony at a Carmel Valley Village bookstore, the Thunderbird. Later that day, while at a party to celebrate his wife Mimi Fariña's twenty-first birthday, Fariña saw a guest with a motorcycle, who later gave Fariña a ride up Carmel Valley Road, heading east toward the rural Cachagua area of Carmel Valley.At an S-turn the driver lost control. The motorcycle tipped over on the right side of the road, came back to the other side, and tore through a barbed wire fence into a field where a small vineyard now exists. The driver survived, but Fariña was killed instantly. According to Pynchon's preface to Been Down..., the police said the motorcycle must have been traveling at 90 miles per hour (140 km/h), even though "a prudent speed" would have been 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).
Fariña is buried in a simple grave, its marker emblazoned with a peace sign, at Monterey City Cemetery, in Monterey, California
Mimi Baez Fariña, nata Margarita Mimi Baez (Palo Alto, 30 aprile 1945 – Mill Valley, 18 luglio 2001), è stata una cantautrice e attivista statunitense.
Era figlia del fisico Albert Baez e sorella della cantautrice folk Joan Baez.
Biografia
Nel 1963, all'età di 17 anni, sposò lo scrittore, musicista e compositore Richard Fariña, con cui realizzò diversi influenti album folk, tra cui Celebrations for a Grey Day (1965) e Reflections in a Crystal Wind (1966). Dopo la morte del marito (avvenuta per un incidente motociclistico nel 1966, il giorno del ventunesimo compleanno di Mimi), la cantautrice sposò Milan Melvin e continuò ad esibirsi, a volte realizzando album e tour con la sorella Joan o con il cantautore folk Tom Jans.Nel 1974, Mimi Fariña fondò Bread and Roses (Il pane e le rose), una organizzazione non profit con lo scopo di portare musica e intrattenimento gratuito in ospedali, case di cura e prigioni, inizialmente nella zona della Baia di San Francisco e più tardi su scala nazionale. L'organizzazione è tuttora attiva, e realizza circa 500 spettacoli all'anno. La denominazione Bread and Roses deriva dall'omonima poesia del 1911 di James Oppenheim, comunemente associata allo sciopero del 1912 delle lavoratrici e dei lavoratori tessili di Lawrence, nel Massachusetts.
Sebbene abbia continuato a cantare anche successivamente, incidendo un album nel 1985 ed eseguendo sporadici concerti, Mimi Fariña dedicò la maggior parte del proprio tempo all'associazione. Nei tardi anni ottanta, tenne una serie di concerti di beneficenza e di protesta insieme a Pete Sears. Molte performance erano incentrate sulla questione dei diritti umani nell'America Centrale, soprattutto riguardo alle guerre civili ordite dagli Stati Uniti in Guatemala e El Salvador. In una occasione i due musicisti tennero un concerto sui binari di una ferrovia abbandonata nei pressi di una base navale californiana. Circondati dai militari, Mimi Fariña e Pete Sears suonarono per le persone che stavano protestando contro il rifornimento di armi statunitensi alle truppe governative salvadoreñe.
Mimi Fariña morì di una rara forma di cancro del sistema endocrino nel luglio 2001 all'età di 56 anni.
RICHARD & MIMI FARINA ~ Pack Up Your Sorrows ~ - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4LbU8w7Th4
PACK UP YOUR SORROWS
(Richard Fariña / Pauline Marden)
Judy Collins
Also recorded by :
Joan Baez; Johnny Cash; Barbara Dane; Richard & Mimi Fariña;
Carolyn Hester; Peter Keane; James King; Peter, Paul, & Mary;
Bruce Robinson; Loudon Wainwright III.
No use crying, talkin to a stranger
Naming the sorrow you've seen
Too many sad times, too many bad times
Nobody knows what you mean
But if somehow you could pack up your sorrows
And give them all to me
You would loose them, I know how to use them
Give them all to me
No use rambling, walking in the shadows
Trailing a wandering star
No one beside you, no one to hide you
And nobody knows who you are
No use gambling, running in the darkness
Looking for a spirit that's free
Too many long times, too many wrong times
And nobody knows what you see
No use roaming, lying by the roadside
Seeking a satisfied mind
Too many highways, too many byways
And nobody's walking behind
Copyright 1964 Vogue Music c/o the Welk Music Group)
Mimi and Richard Farina House Un American Blues Activity Dream ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znUHAXfL3J4
28 set 2012 - Caricato da realdinho
from Rainbow Quest hosted by Pete Seeger, originally broadcast Saturday, February 26, 1966 about two ...
I was standing on the sidewalk, had a noise in my head
There were loudspeakers babbling, but nothing was said
There were twenty-seven companies of female Marines
There were presidential candidates in new Levi jeans
It was the red, white and blue planning how to endure
The fife, drum and bugle marching down on the poor
God bless America, without any doubt
And I figured it was time to get out
Well, I have to b'lieve that in-between scenes, good people
Went and got 'em done in the sun, good people
Tourist information said to get on the stick
You ain't moving 'til you're grooving with a Cubana chick
So I hopped on a plane, I took a pill for my brain
And I discovered I was feeling all right
When I strolled down the Prado, people looked at me weird
Who's that hippy, hoppy character without any beard?
Drinking juice from papayas, singing songs to the trees
Dancing mambo on the beaches, spreading social disease
Now the Castro convertible was changing the style
A whole lot of action on a blockaded isle
When along come a summons in the middle of night
Saying, "Buddy, we're about to indict"
When I went up on the stand with my hand, good people
You've got to tell the truth in the booth, good people
Started out with information kind of remote
When a patriotic mother dragged me down by the throat
"When they ask you a question, they expect a reply!"
Doesn't matter if you're fixin' to die
There were loudspeakers babbling, but nothing was said
There were twenty-seven companies of female Marines
There were presidential candidates in new Levi jeans
It was the red, white and blue planning how to endure
The fife, drum and bugle marching down on the poor
God bless America, without any doubt
And I figured it was time to get out
Well, I have to b'lieve that in-between scenes, good people
Went and got 'em done in the sun, good people
Tourist information said to get on the stick
You ain't moving 'til you're grooving with a Cubana chick
So I hopped on a plane, I took a pill for my brain
And I discovered I was feeling all right
When I strolled down the Prado, people looked at me weird
Who's that hippy, hoppy character without any beard?
Drinking juice from papayas, singing songs to the trees
Dancing mambo on the beaches, spreading social disease
Now the Castro convertible was changing the style
A whole lot of action on a blockaded isle
When along come a summons in the middle of night
Saying, "Buddy, we're about to indict"
When I went up on the stand with my hand, good people
You've got to tell the truth in the booth, good people
Started out with information kind of remote
When a patriotic mother dragged me down by the throat
"When they ask you a question, they expect a reply!"
Doesn't matter if you're fixin' to die
Well, I was lying there unconscious, feeling kind of exempt
When the judge said that silence was a sign of contempt
He took out his gavel, banged me hard on the head
He fined me ten years in prison and a whole lot of bread
It was the red, white and blue making war on the poor
Blind mother Justice on a pile of manure
Say your prayers and the Pledge of Allegiance every night
And tomorrow you'll be feeling all right
Uh-huh-huh
Credits
Writer(s): Richard Farina
Copyright: WB Music Corp.
When the judge said that silence was a sign of contempt
He took out his gavel, banged me hard on the head
He fined me ten years in prison and a whole lot of bread
It was the red, white and blue making war on the poor
Blind mother Justice on a pile of manure
Say your prayers and the Pledge of Allegiance every night
And tomorrow you'll be feeling all right
Uh-huh-huh
Credits
Writer(s): Richard Farina
Copyright: WB Music Corp.
Artista: Richard Fariña
Album: Memories
Data di uscita: 1968
Lyrics to A Swallow Song
Come wander quietly and listen to the wind
Come near and listen to the sky Come walking high above the rolling of the sea
And watch the swallows as they fly.
There is no sorrow like the murmur of their wings
There is no choir like their song
There is no power like the freedom of their flight,
While the swallows roam alone
Do you hear the calling of a hundred thousand boys?
Hear the trembling in the stone?
Do you hear the angry bells ringing in the night?
Do you hear the swallows when they've flown?
And will the breezes blow the petals from your hand?
And will some loving ease your pain?
And will this silence drive confusion from your soul?
And will the swallows come again?
Come near and listen to the sky Come walking high above the rolling of the sea
And watch the swallows as they fly.
There is no sorrow like the murmur of their wings
There is no choir like their song
There is no power like the freedom of their flight,
While the swallows roam alone
Do you hear the calling of a hundred thousand boys?
Hear the trembling in the stone?
Do you hear the angry bells ringing in the night?
Do you hear the swallows when they've flown?
And will the breezes blow the petals from your hand?
And will some loving ease your pain?
And will this silence drive confusion from your soul?
And will the swallows come again?
Songwriters: FARINA, RICHARD
Publisher: Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Powered by LyricFind
Publisher: Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Powered by LyricFind
Mimi and Richard Farina Bold Marauder - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KbSMYRMbDE
28 set 2012 - Caricato da realdinho
from Rainbow Quest hosted by Pete Seeger, originally broadcast Saturday, February 26, 1966 about two ...
Lyrics to Bold Marauder
Well it's Hi, Ho, Hey...
I am a bold marauder.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a bold marauder.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a white destroyer.
For I will show you silver and gold
and I will bring you treasure.
I will wave a widowing Flag and
I will be your lover.
And I will show you grotto and cave
and sacrificial alter.
And I will show you blood on the stone.
And I will be your mentor.
And night will be our Darlin'
And Fear will be our name.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a bold maruder.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a white destroyer.
For I will lead you out by the hand
and lead you to the Hunter.
And I will show you thunder and steel
and I will be your teacher.
And we will dress in helmet and sword
and dip our tongues in slaughter.
And we will sing the Warrior's Song
and lift the praise of murder.
And Christ will be our Darlin'
and Fear will be our name.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a bold maruder.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a white destroyer.
For I will sour the winds on high
and I will soil the rivers.
And I will burn the grain in the fields
and I will be your mother.
And we will go to ravage and kill
and we show go to plunder.
And I will take a Fury to wife
and I will be your father.
And death will be our Darlin'
and Fear will be our name.
For I will show you silver and gold
and I will bring you treasure.
I will wave a widowing Flag and
I will be your lover.
And I will show you grotto and cave
and sacrificial alter.
And I will show you blood on the stone.
And I will be your mentor.
And night will be our Darlin'
And Fear will be our name.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a bold maruder.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a white destroyer.
For I will lead you out by the hand
and lead you to the Hunter.
And I will show you thunder and steel
and I will be your teacher.
And we will dress in helmet and sword
and dip our tongues in slaughter.
And we will sing the Warrior's Song
and lift the praise of murder.
And Christ will be our Darlin'
and Fear will be our name.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a bold maruder.
And it's i, Ho, Hey...
I am a white destroyer.
For I will sour the winds on high
and I will soil the rivers.
And I will burn the grain in the fields
and I will be your mother.
And we will go to ravage and kill
and we show go to plunder.
And I will take a Fury to wife
and I will be your father.
And death will be our Darlin'
and Fear will be our name.
RICHARD AND MIMI FARINA ~ Reno Nevada ~ - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMDRbxoQIA0
16 ott 2009 - Caricato da Scout4Me1
Richard and Mimi Farina ~RENO NEVADA ~ written by Richard FarinMimi And Richard Farina - Reno Nevada Lyrics
Artist: Mimi And Richard Farina
Album: Miscellaneous
It's a long, long way down to Reno Nevada
And a long, long way to your home
But the change in your pocket is beginning to grumble
And you reap just about what you've sown
You can walk down the street, pass your face in the window
You can keep on fooling around
You can work day and night, take a chance on promotion
You can fall through a hole in the ground
Now there ain't no game like the game you're playing
When you got a little something to lose
And there ain't no time like the the time you been wasting
And you waste just about what you choose
There's a man at the table and you know he's been able
To return all the odds that you lay
Hey, but you can't feed your hunger and you ain't getting younger
And your tongue ain't got nothing to say
And it's a long, long way down to Reno Nevada
And a long, long way to your home
But the change in your pocket is beginning to grumble
And you reap just about what you've sown
You can walk down the street, pass your face in the window
You can keep on fooling around
You can work day and night, take a chance on promotion
You can fall through a hole in the ground
Now there ain't no game like the game you're playing
When you got a little something to lose
And there ain't no time like the the time you been wasting
And you waste just about what you choose
There's a man at the table and you know he's been able
To return all the odds that you lay
Hey, but you can't feed your hunger and you ain't getting younger
And your tongue ain't got nothing to say
And it's a long, long way down to Reno Nevada
And a long, long way to your home
But the ground underneath you is beginning to tremble
And the sky up a above you has grown
There's a time to be moving and a time to be grooving
And a time just for climbing the wall
But the odds have been doubled and it ain't worth the trouble
And you're never going nowhere at all
It's a long, long way down to Reno Nevada
And a long, long way to your home
But the change in your pocket is beginning to grumble
And you reap just about what you've sown
There's a man at the table and you know he's been able
To return all the odds that you lay
Hey, but you can't feed your hunger and you ain't getting younger
And your tongue ain't got nothing to say
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