Fred Neil (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) folk singer-songwriter

Fred Neil

Fred Neil (Cleveland, 16 marzo 1936 – St. Petersburg, 7 luglio 2001) è stato un cantautore statunitense.  

Biografia

Nato in Ohio ma cresciuto in Florida, inizia l'attività musicale come autore di brani per artisti famosi, tra questi Candy Man scritto per Roy Orbison. Collabora dal 1961 con Vince Martin, col quale pubblicherà il primo album Tear Down the Walls (Elektra), nel 1964.
Pubblica il secondo album nel 1965 Bleecker & MacDougal dove fonde il folk con elementi blues.
Nel 1966 esce il suo terzo album, Fred Neil, contenente i suoi brani più famosi: Everybody's Talkin' (poi reinterpretato da Harry Nilsson ed usato nella colonna sonora del film Un uomo da marciapiede, vincitore di un Grammy) e The Dolphins, brano dedicato al mare che fu in seguito reinterpretato da diversi artisti, tra i quali Tim Buckley. L'album è diventato oggetto di culto per l'innovativa rilettura del folk e del blues in chiave psichedelica e free form, influenzando non solo i nuovi cantautori del Greenwich Village, ma anche la scena "acida" californiana che di lì a poco sarebbe esplosa.
Era molto schivo e non amava fare tour promozionali. A metà degli anni 70 si ritirò dalle scene per dedicarsi alla salvaguardia dei suoi amati delfini.
È morto nel 2001 a causa di un cancro.

Discografia

Album studio

• 1964: Tear Down the Walls (Elektra) con Vince Martin
• 1965: Bleecker & MacDougal (Elektra) ripubblicato nel 1970 come A Little Bit of Rain
• 1966: Fred Neil (Capitol) ripubblicato nel 1969 come Everybody's Talkin'
• 1968: Sessions (Capitol)

Album dal vivo

• 1971: The Other Side of This Life (Capitol)

Raccolte

• 1986: The Very Best of Fred Neil (See for Miles)
• 2003: Do You Ever Think of Me? (Rev-Ola)
• 2004: The Sky Is Falling: The Complete Live Recordings 1965-1971 (Rev-Ola)
• 2005: Echoes of My Mind: The Best of 1963-1971 (Raven)
• 2008: Trav'lin Man: The Early Singles (Fallout)

FredNeil

 

Frederick Neil (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an American folk singer-songwriter in the 1960s and early 1970s. He did not achieve commercial success as a performer and is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material – particularly "Everybody's Talkin'", which became a hit for Harry Nilsson after it was used in the film Midnight Cowboy in 1969. Though highly regarded by contemporary folk singers, he was reluctant to tour and spent much of the last 30 years of his life assisting with the preservation of dolphins.

Biography

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Neil was exposed to music at an early age, travelling around the US with his father, who was a representative for Wurlitzer jukeboxes. Neil was one of the singer-songwriters who worked out of New York City's Brill Building, a center for music industry offices. While composing at the Brill Building for other artists, Neil also recorded six mostly rockabilly-pop singles for different labels as a solo artist. He wrote songs that were taken by early rock and roll artists such as Buddy Holly ("Come Back Baby" 1958) and Roy Orbison ("Candy Man" 1961).
Fred Neil with his 12 string guitar and spectacularly deep baritone voice, was considered the King of the McDougal Street/ Greenwich Village folksingers. He was a major influence there on dozens including Tim Buckley,[16] Stephen Stills,[17] David Crosby and Joni Mitchell.[citation needed] His most frequently cited disciples are Karen Dalton, Tim Hardin, Dino Valenti, Vince Martin, Peter Stampfel of the avant-folk ensemble the Holy Modal Rounders, John Sebastian (the Lovin' Spoonful),[17] Gram Parsons,[18] Jerry Jeff Walker, Barry McGuire,[17] and Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane). When Bob Dylan came to New York, his first gig was playing backup harmonica for Fred Neil. Neil met Vince Martin in 1961, and they formed a singing partnership; his first LP, Tear Down The Walls (1964) was recorded with Martin. During 1965 and 1966 Neil was joined on many live sets by the Seventh Sons, a trio led by Buzzy Linhart on guitar and vibes. Neil released Bleecker & MacDougal on Elektra Records in 1965, reissued in 1970 as A Little Bit of Rain. His album Fred Neil, released in 1967, relaunched in 1969 as Everybody's Talkin', was recorded during his residencies in Greenwich Village and Coconut Grove, Florida, with one session taking place in Los Angeles.
After "Everybody's Talkin'", Neil's best-known songs are "The Other Side of this Life" and "The Dolphins", which were later recorded by several artists, including Linda Ronstadt, It's a Beautiful Day, The The, Billy Bragg, Beth Orton, and Tim Buckley, and The Jefferson Airplane for whom Neil was a major influence. Neil was a frequent visitor to The Jefferson Airplane's Haight Ashbury House at 2400 Fulton Street. Neil reminded Grace Slick of Winnie the Pooh, her name for him was "Poohneil" The Airplane song "The Ballad or You and Me and PoohNeil" was written for Fred Neil. Neil was teacher and mentor to the Airplane's Paul Kantner. A.
Blues and folk singer Lisa Kindred credits Neil with being her mentor in the early 1960s.
Interested in dolphins since the mid-1960s, when he began visiting the Miami Seaquarium, Neil and Ric O'Barry founded the Dolphin Research Project in 1970, an organization dedicated to stopping the capture, trafficking and exploitation of dolphins worldwide. Increasingly involved in that pursuit, Neil progressively disappeared from the recording studio and live performance, with only occasional performances in the rest of the 1970s.

Later life and death

Neil left Woodstock in the mid-1970s and spent his remaining decades on the shores of southern Florida, involved in the Dolphin Project. Following a guest appearance with Stephen Stills at New York City's Madison Square Garden in 1971, Neil began a long retirement, performing in public mostly at gigs for the Dolphin Project Revue in Coconut Grove. He played a benefit show for the Revue in Tokyo in 1977.^{[citation needed]} He performed with his core group of John Sebastian on harmonica, Harvey Brooks on bass, and Pete Childs on guitar at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1975. Michael Lang, one of the organizers of the 1969 Woodstock Festival and a habitué of Coconut Grove in the 1970s, tried unsuccessfully to release this as a live LP. Neil's last public performance was in 1981, at an outdoor concert at the Old Grove Pub in Coconut Grove, where he joined Buzzy Linhart for one song and stayed onstage for the rest of the set.
Many of Neil's 1970s recordings remain unissued, including a 1973 session with Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist John Cipollina and some Woodstock recordings with guitarist Arlen Roth. In a later interview, Ric O'Barry claimed that Neil recorded two albums of cover songs in 1977 and 1978 but that they had been buried by Columbia Records. According to Barry, he produced the first of the recordings in the sessions in Miami. Neil was joined by Pete Childs on guitar, John Sebastian on harmonica, and Harvey Brooks on bass. The second album was more fully arranged, with Neil accompanied by the New York session band Stuff and some old friends, including Slick Aguilar. The songs on these albums were written by Bobby Charles, John Braheny, Bobby Ingram, Billy Joe Shaver, and Billy Roberts (composer of "Hey Joe").
Neil died of natural causes from skin cancer in 2001.

Legacy

Neil gained public recognition in 1969, when Nilsson's recording of "Everybody's Talkin'" was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy; the song became a hit and won a Grammy Award. He was one of the pioneers of the folk rock and singer-songwriter musical genres, his most prominent musical descendants being Tim Buckley, Stephen Stills, David Crosby and Joni Mitchell.^{[citation needed]} His most frequently cited disciples are Karen Dalton, Tim Hardin, Dino Valenti, Vince Martin, Peter Stampfel of the avant-folk ensemble the Holy Modal Rounders, John Sebastian (the Lovin' Spoonful), Gram Parsons, Jerry Jeff Walker, Barry McGuire, and Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane).^{[citation needed]} Some of Neil's early compositions were recorded by Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison. He played guitar on the demo version of Bobby Darin's 1958 hit "Dream Lover" and was a demo singer on a late-1950s Elvis Presley movie soundtrack session.^{[citation needed]}
In Neil's obituary in Rolling Stone, Anthony DeCurtis wrote, "So why is Neil a hero to David Crosby? Because back when Crosby was an aspiring folkie who just arrived in New York, Neil bothered to take an interest in him, just as he did for the young Bob Dylan, who backed Neil on harmonica at the Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. 'He taught me that everything was music,' Crosby says."
In his memoir, Richie Havens recalled Neil and his then-partner Vince Martin making an entrance through the audience, without microphones, and getting the audience up and clapping by relying only on their harmonious vocals.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

• 1964: Tear Down the Walls (Elektra) with Vince Martin
• 1965: Bleecker & MacDougal (Elektra), reissued in 1970 as A Little Bit of Rain
• 1967: Fred Neil (Capitol), reissued in 1969 as Everybody's Talkin' 
• 1967: Sessions (Capitol)
• 1971: Other Side of This Life (Capitol), live and alternate versions

Compilations

• 1986: The Very Best of Fred Neil (See for Miles)
• 1998: The Many Sides of Fred Neil (Collectors' Choice)
• 2003: Do You Ever Think of Me? (Rev-Ola)
• 2004: The Sky Is Falling: The Complete Live Recordings 1965–1971 (Rev-Ola)
• 2005: Echoes of My Mind: The Best of Fred Neil 1963–1971 (Raven)
• 2008: Trav'lin' Man: The Early Singles (Fallout)

Anthologies including tracks by Neil

• 1963: Hootenanny Live at the Bitter End (FM)
• 1964: A Rootin" Tootin' Hootenanny (FM)
• 1964: World of Folk Music (FM)

Selected songs

• "Candy Man"
• "Everybody's Talkin'"
• "Ba-di-da"
• "Tear Down the Walls"
• "The Dolphins"
• "Green Rocky Road"
• "The Other Side of This Life"
• "Country Boy & Bleecker Street"
• "That's the Bag I'm In"
• "Blues on the Ceiling"
• "Wild Child in a World of Trouble"
• "FareTheeWell"
• "Just A Little Bit Of Rain"

 

 

 

 

Fred Neil - Candy Man - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnbizieS4PM

 

Lyrics

Come on baby, let me take you by your hand
Come on sweet thing, let me take you by the hand
Can't you see, I wanna be your candy, candy
Your candy man?

Come on sweet thing, I love your honey lovin', your honey lovin' ways
Come on sweet thing, I love your honey lovin', your honey lovin' ways
Can't you see, your for me, I wanna be your candy, candy
Your candy man?

Go there

Come on sweet thing, I gonna treat you right
Making candy kisses now, every single night
Candy man, candy man, candy, candy, candy

Can't you see, I wanna be, talk about your candy, candy
Your candy man?
Candy man, candy man, candy man, candy man
Candy man, candy man, candy man, candy man

Songwriters: John S Hurt

Candy Man lyrics © Wynwood Music Co. Inc.

Artist: Fred Neil

Album: Bleecker & MacDougal

Released: 1965

Genre: Rock

 

 

 

Fred Neil - Everybody's Talkin' - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBAOjKBLpqo

 

Lyrics

Everybody's talkin' at me
I don't hear a word they're sayin'
Only the echoes of my mind

People stoppin', starin'
I can't see the faces
Only the shadows of their eyes

I'm goin' where the sun keeps shinin'
Through the pourin' rain
Goin' where the weather suits my clothes
Bankin' off of the northeast wind
Sailin' on a summer breeze
Skippin' over the ocean like a stone

I'm goin' where the sun keeps shinin'
Through the pourin' rain
Goin' where the weather suits my clothes
Bankin' off of the northeast wind
Sailin' on a summer breeze
Skippin' over the ocean like a stone

Everybody's talkin' at me
I can't hear a word they're sayin'
Only the echoes of my mind

And I won't let you leave my love behind
No, I won't let you leave my love behind
I won't let you leave my love behind

Songwriters: FRED NEIL

Everybody's Talkin' lyrics © Third Palm Music, THIRD STORY MUSIC INC, BMG PLATINUM SONGS OBO THIRD PALM MUSIC

Artist: Fred Neil

Album: Fred Neil

Released: 1966

Genres: Folk Rock, Folk

 

 

 

 

Ba-De-Da - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu_x4UTQ5K0

 

Testo

I get so tired
Hangin' around this town
All this old city life
Should bring us fellow down

Badada dada
Dadada dada
Dadada dada
Ba-de-da

I get so tired
Trying to sleep at night
All this old city life
They keep on burning bright

Badada dada...

I get so tired
Hangin' around this town
All this old city life
Should bring us fellow down

Badada dada...

Songwriters: Fred Neil

Artista: Fred Neil

Album: Fred Neil

Data di uscita: 1966

Genere: Folk rock

 

Fred Neil & Vince Martin-Tear Down the Walls - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=317vwHcJwHM

▶ 2:42

Feb 4, 2010 - Uploaded by yukonnoka

Fred Neil and Vince Martin. ... Fred Neil & Vince Martin-Tear Down the Walls. yukonnoka. Loading ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fred Neil - Dolphins (HQ) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8g_j5y2OK4

 

 

Lyrics

Sometimes I think about Saturday's child
And all about the times when we were running wild
I've been out searching for the dolphins in the sea
Ah, but sometimes I wonder, do you ever think of me

This old world will never change the way it's been
And all the ways of war won't change it back again
I've been out searchin' for the dolphin in the sea
Ah, but sometimes I wonder, do you ever think of me

This old world will never change

Lord, I'm not the one to tell this old world how to get along
I only know that peace will come when all our hate is gone
I've been a-searchin' for the dolphins in the sea
ah, but sometimes I wonder, do you ever think of me.

Songwriters: Frederik Nordsoe Schjoldan / Kristian Leth / Fridolin Nordsoe Schjoldan

The Dolphins lyrics © BMG Gold Songs, Warner/Chappell Music Denmark A/S

Artist: Fred Neil

Album: Fred Neil

Released: 1966

Genres: Folk Rock, Dance/Electronic

 

 

 

Fred Neil - Green Rocky Road - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gTAet4APj0

 

 

Lyrics

Keep on talkin' 'bout
Green rocky road
Promenade in green
Who do you love
Who do you love
Who do you love

Mary runnin' to the one
Don't you stumble don't you fall
Don´t you hollow don't you shallow
When you hear me singin' come runnin' out

Green rocky road
Promenade in green
Who do you love
Who do you love
Who do you love

When I go to Baltimore
I got no cap on my floor
I said I got no cap on my floor
When I go to Baltimore

Sing Green rocky road
Promenade in green
Tell me who do you love
Who do you love
Who do you love

See the bluebird in the sky
He don´t walk but he just fly
If you ever touch the ground
Well I know he'll die
You see the bluebird fly me in the sky

Green rocky road
Promenade in green
Tell me who do you love
Who do you love
Who do you love

Who do you love

Songwriters: Fred Neil

Green Rocky Road lyrics © THIRD STORY MUSIC INC, THIRD STORY MUSIC, INC.

Artist: Fred Neil

Album: Fred Neil

Released: 1966

Genre: Folk Rock