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Richard Fariña (March 8, 1937, Brooklyn, NY -- April 30, 1966, Carmel, California) was was an influential and important folk musician and novelist, and a figure in both the counter culture scene of the early- to mid-sixties as well as the budding folk rock scene of the same time.

He is best known for his novel Been Down So Long It Seems Like Up To Me. The book was published in 1966 two days before his death in a motorcycle accident, and has become somewhat of a cult classic among those who follow sixties and counterculture literature. His lifestyle was one of a beatnik combined with that of a hippie. He was a proponent of using substances such as LSD and other mind altering drugs.

He was born in Brooklyn in New York City and went to the prestigous Brooklyn Tech High School where he earned an academic scholarship to Cornell University, which he first entered as an engineering student. While he was there he published a few short stories for some of the local literary magazines as well as for magazines such as The Transatlantic Review and Mademoiselle. Since his death his work has been kept alive by friend and literary confidant Thomas Pynchon who wrote an introduction to a recent paperback version of Been Down... as well as well as dedicating Gravity's Rainbow (a novel hailed by many scholars and critics as among the most important American novels of all time) to Richard's memory.

As a musician, Fariña's primary instrument was the mountain dulcimer. He married Mimi Baez, younger sister of Joan Baez, in 1963. Mimi Fariña was a fine singer and guitarist in her own right, and the couple worked as a duo. Most of Fariña's recorded output is under the aegis of Richard and Mimi Fariña.

Fariña was a close friend of Bob Dylan -- their friendship is the topic of a book by David Hadju called Positively Fourth Street. Some observers have, however, speculated that Dylan's philipic ballad Positively 4th Street was directed at Fariña, and that Fariña's bitter song Morgan The Pirate was a response directed at Dylan. (Numerous other targets for these songs have been suggested, though, and the true identities involved, if indeed any, will probably never be known.)

Due to his short life, Fariña's musical output was limited. He released three albums, one posthumously (all under the name Richard and Mimi Fariña). Fariña, like Dylan and others at this time, was considerd a protest singer, and a number of his songs are overtly political. Several critics have considered Fariña to be one the top talents to emerge from the 1960's Greewich Village folk music scene. ("If Richard had survived that motorcycle accident, he would have easily given Dylan a run for his money." -- Ed Ward). His best-known song is probably Pack Up Your Sorrows.

External Links

Richard and Mimi Fariña website

• 1937 births
• American singers
• Folk singers
• Male singers
• Musical activists
• Singer-songwriters