Richard Fariña

Richard Fariña
Fariña
Born	Richard George Fariña (1937-03-08)March 8, 1937 New York City,U.S.
Died	April 30, 1966(1966-04-30)(aged 29) Carmel, California,U.S.
Occupation	Author composer singer
Genre	Folk
Literary movement	Counterculture
Notable works	Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me
Spouse	Carolyn Hester ​ ​ (m.1960;div.1962)​ Mimi Baez ​ (m.1963)​

Richard George Fariña(SpanishIPA:/ˈfariɲa/;March 8, 1937 – April 30, 1966)was an Americanfolksinger,songwriter, poet and novelist.

Early years and education

Fariña was born inBrooklyn,New York, United States,the son of an Irish mother, Theresa Crozier, and a Cuban father ofGalicianorigin, also named Richard Fariña.He grew up in theFlatbushneighborhood of Brooklyn and attendedBrooklyn Technical High School.He earned an academic scholarship toCornell University,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, includingTransatlantic ReviewandMademoiselle.Fariña became good friends withThomas Pynchon,David Shetzline,andPeter Yarrowwhile 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 theWhite Horse Tavern,the well-knownGreenwich Villagetavern frequented by poets, artists, and folksingers, where he befriendedTommy Makem.It was there that he metCarolyn Hester,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-knownBob Dylanplayed the harmonica on several tracks. Fariña became a good friend of Dylan; their friendship is a major topic ofDavid 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 metMimi Baez,the teenage sister ofJoan Baez,in the spring of 1962. Hester divorced Fariña soon thereafter, and Fariña married 17-year-old Mimi in April 1963.Thomas Pynchonwas the best man. They moved to a small cabin inCarmel,California, where they composed songs with a guitar andAppalachian dulcimer.They debuted their act as "Richard & Mimi Fariña" at theBig Sur Folk Festivalin 1964 and signed a contract withVanguard Records.They recorded their first album,Celebrations for a Grey Day(released under the name Mimi & Richard Fariña),in 1965, with the help ofBruce 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 ofPete Seeger's short-livedUHF televisionprogramRainbow Quest.

Fariña, like Dylan and others of this time, was considered aprotest singer,and several of his songs are overtly political. Several critics have considered Fariña to be a majorfolk musictalent 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 forSpike Lee's film4 Little Girls,a documentary about the16th Street Baptist Church bombingin Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. "Birmingham Sunday"was also recorded byRhiannon Giddensin 2017, on her albumFreedom Highway.He also wrote "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood", which was recorded bySandy Denny.

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 novelBeen Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me,originally published byRandom Housein 1966.The title comes from theFurry Lewissong "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 apicaresque novel,set in 1958 in theAmerican West,inCubaduring theCuban Revolution,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 andretsina;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 andcountercultureliterature.Thomas Pynchon,who later dedicated his bookGravity's Rainbow(1973) to Fariña, described Fariña's novel as "coming on like theHallelujah Chorusdone by 200kazooplayers with perfect pitch... hilarious, chilling, sexy, profound, maniacal, beautiful, and outrageous all at the same time. "

Death

Fariña's tombstone.

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 wifeMimi 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 ruralCachagua areaof 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 toBeen 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 was buried in a simple grave, its marker emblazoned with apeace sign,at Monterey City Cemetery inMonterey, California.

Legacy

• On April 27, 1968,Fairport Conventionrecorded a live version of "Reno Nevada" for French TV programmeBouton 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 bandSandy Denny,subsequently included on the albumHeyday.Denny also recorded "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" for her 1972 albumSandy.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 albumTigers Will Survive,and other Fariña compositions appeared on subsequent Matthews solo albums and on recordings by Matthews' band Plainsong.
• South Carolina-based rock bandA Fragile Tomorrowcovered a version of Mimi and Richard's song "One Way Ticket" on their 2015 releaseMake Me Over.Their version is a collaboration with Joan Baez andIndigo Girls.BrothersDom 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 novelGravity's Rainbowis dedicated to Richard Fariña.
• Richard Barone's 2016 albumSorrows & Promises: Greenwich Village in the 1960scontains Barone's interpretation of Fariña's "Pack Up Your Sorrows" performed as a duet withNellie McKay.
• In Richard Linklater's movieSlacker,Fariña is described as a "young truth with balls," who could "think and fuck at the same time" (along withRichard Feynman,Italo Balbo,et al.), which is why "history buried him."
• OnJimmy Buffett's 1973 albumA 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 poetKenneth Patchen.

Bibliography

• Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me(1966)
• Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone(1969)

Further reading

• Positively Fourth StreetbyDavid Hajdu,North Point Press

External links

• Richard and Mimi Fariña websiteArchivedJanuary 21, 2022, at theWayback Machine
• Pynchon on Fariña
• The Road Where Richard Fariña Died?
• Negatively 4th Street (archived)
• A few original letters written by Richard Fariña