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
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York, United States, the son of an Irish mother, Theresa Crozier, and a Cuban father of
Galician origin, also named Richard Fariña. He grew up in the
Flatbush
Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park to the nort ...
neighborhood of Brooklyn and attended
Brooklyn Technical High School
Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is a public specialized high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is on ...
. He earned an academic scholarship to
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
, starting out 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
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...
,
David Shetzline, and
Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow (May 31, 1938 – January 7, 2025) was an American singer and songwriter who found fame as a member of the 1960s folk music, folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary along with Paul Stookey and Mary Travers. Yarrow co-wrote (with Lenny Lipton ...
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
On returning to Manhattan, Fariña became a regular patron of the
White Horse Tavern, the well-known
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
tavern frequented by poets, artists, and folksingers, where he befriended
Tommy Makem
Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an Irish folk music, folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, tin whistle, l ...
. It was there that he met
Carolyn Hester
Carolyn Sue Hester (born January 28, 1937) is an American folk singer and songwriter. She was a figure in the early 1960s American folk music revival.
Biography
Hester's first album was produced by Norman Petty in 1957. She made her second a ...
, a successful folk singer. They married 18 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
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
played the harmonica on several tracks. Fariña became a good friend of Dylan; 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 travelled to Europe, where he met
Mimi Baez, the teenage sister of
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...
, in the spring of 1962. Hester divorced Fariña soon thereafter, and Fariña married 17-year-old Mimi in April 1963.
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...
was the best man. They moved to a small cabin in
Carmel, California, where they composed songs with a guitar and
Appalachian dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of t ...
. They debuted their act as "Richard & Mimi Fariña" at the
Big Sur Folk Festival in 1964 and signed a contract with
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the so ...
. They recorded their first album, ''Celebrations for a Grey Day'' (released under the name Mimi & Richard Fariña), in 1965, with the help of
Bruce Langhorne, who had previously played for Dylan. During Richard's life, 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. In early 1966, Richard and Mimi Fariña appeared as the sole guests on Episode 16 of
Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...
's short-lived
UHF television program ''
Rainbow Quest''.
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
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
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
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
's film ''
4 Little Girls'', a documentary about the
16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. "
Birmingham Sunday" was also recorded by
Rhiannon Giddens in 2017, on her album
''Freedom Highway''. He also wrote "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood", which was recorded by
Sandy Denny
Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as " guably the pre-eminent British folk-rock sin ...
.
At the time of his death, Fariña was producing an album for his sister-in-law Joan Baez. She ultimately decided not to release the album. 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 been included in a number of Baez's compilation albums.
''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
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
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
picaresque novel
The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for ' rogue' or 'rascal') is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish but appealing hero, usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrup ...
, set in 1958 in the
American West
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau
As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...
, in
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
during the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...
, and mostly at Cornell University (called Mentor University in the novel). The protagonist is Gnossos Pappadopoulis, who enjoys dope,
paregoric, feta cheese, Red Cap ale and
retsina
Retsina () is a Greek white (or rosé or very rarely red) resinated wine, which has been made for at least 2,000 years. Its unique flavor is said to have originated from the practice of sealing wine vessels, particularly amphorae, with Aleppo ...
; attacks authority figures with anarchic glee; and lusts after the girl in the green knee-socks while searching for the right karma. The book became a cult classic among fans of the 1960s and
counterculture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...
literature.
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...
, 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
The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a ''buzzing'' timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (itself a membranophone), one of a class of instruments that modify the player's v ...
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 , even though "a prudent speed" would have been .
Fariña was buried in a simple grave, its marker emblazoned with a
peace sign
A number of peace symbols have been used many ways in various cultures and contexts. The dove and olive branch was used symbolically by early Christians and then eventually became a secular peace symbol, popularized by a ''Dove'' lithograph ...
, at Monterey City Cemetery in
Monterey, California
Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...
.
Legacy
* On April 27, 1968,
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...
recorded a live version of "Reno Nevada" for French TV programme ''Bouton Rouge'', featuring vocals by Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews. They recorded the song for a BBC session later in the same year, this time with Dyble's replacement in the band
Sandy Denny
Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as " guably the pre-eminent British folk-rock sin ...
, subsequently included on the album ''
Heyday
Heyday may refer to:
* ''Heyday'' (The Church album), 1986
* ''Heyday'' (Fairport Convention album), 1987
* Heyday (song), a 2000 song by Mic Christopher
* ''Heyday'' (novel), a historical novel by Kurt Andersen
* Heyday Books, an independent ...
''. Denny also recorded "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" for her 1972 album ''
Sandy''. Matthews later recorded "Reno Nevada" and "Morgan the Pirate" for his album "If You Saw Thro' My Eyes" as well as "House of Un-American Blues Activity Dream" for his album ''Tigers Will Survive'', and other Fariña compositions appeared on subsequent Matthews solo albums and on recordings by Matthews' band Plainsong.
* South Carolina-based rock band
A Fragile Tomorrow covered a version of Mimi and Richard's song "One Way Ticket" on their 2015 release ''Make Me Over''. Their version is a collaboration with Joan Baez and
Indigo Girls
Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duet (music), duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in Primary school, elementary school and began performing together as Secondary school, hig ...
. Brothers
Dom Kelly, Sean Kelly, and Brendan Kelly of A Fragile Tomorrow are third cousins of Richard and had wanted to cover his music with Baez.
* Joan Baez's song "
Sweet Sir Galahad" commemorates Fariña's death, the grieving of his widow Mimi, and Mimi's eventual recovery and remarriage.
* Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel ''
Gravity's Rainbow'' is dedicated to Richard Fariña.
*
Richard Barone's 2016 album ''Sorrows & Promises: Greenwich Village in the 1960s'' contains Barone's interpretation of Fariña's "Pack Up Your Sorrows" performed as a duet with
Nellie McKay
Eleanora Marie McKay (born April 13, 1982) is an English–American singer and songwriter. She made her Broadway debut in ''The Threepenny Opera#United States 2, The Threepenny Opera'' (2006).
Early life and education
McKay was born in London ...
.
* In Richard Linklater's movie ''
Slacker
A slacker is someone who habitually work aversion, avoids work or lacks work ethic.
Origin
According to different sources, the term "slacker" dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the UK, British Gezira Sche ...
'', Fariña is described as a "young truth with balls," who could "think and fuck at the same time" (along with
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of t ...
,
Italo Balbo
Italo Balbo (6 June 1896 – 28 June 1940) was an Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italian fascist politician and Blackshirts' leader who served as Italy's Marshal of the Air Force, Governor-General of Italian Libya and Commander-in-Chief of Italian ...
, et al.), which is why "history buried him."
*On
Jimmy Buffett
James William Buffett (December 25, 1946 – September 1, 2023) was an American singer-songwriter, author, and businessman. He was known for his tropical rock sound and persona, which often portrayed a lifestyle described as "island escapis ...
's 1973 album ''
A White Sport Coat and A Pink Crustacean'', the single "Death of an Unpopular Poet" is claimed by Buffett to have been inspired by Fariña and fellow poet
Kenneth Patchen
Kenneth Patchen (December 13, 1911January 8, 1972) was an American poet and novelist. He experimented with different forms of writing and incorporated painting, drawing, and jazz music into his works, which have been compared with those of Will ...
.
Bibliography
*''
Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me'' (1966)
*''Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone'' (1969)
References
Further reading
* ''Positively Fourth Street'' by
David Hajdu, North Point Press
External links
*
Richard and Mimi Fariña website
The Road Where Richard Fariña Died?A few original letters written by Richard Fariña
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farina, Richard
1937 births
1966 deaths
American people of Galician descent
American folk singers
American male singer-songwriters
20th-century American novelists
Appalachian dulcimer players
Cornell University alumni
Folk music of the American Southwest
Motorcycle road incident deaths
Singers from New York City
Musicians from Brooklyn
People from Greenwich Village
Road incident deaths in California
Vanguard Records artists
Writers from Brooklyn
Novelists from New York City
Elektra Records artists
American writers of Cuban descent
20th-century American singer-songwriters
American male novelists
American male short story writers
Brooklyn Technical High School alumni
20th-century American short story writers
Musicians from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Writers from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Joan Baez
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American male singers
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Singer-songwriters from California