I can feel the future trembling: RIP Richie Havens

Last week the TV news channels like BBC and CNN droned on for hours about the death of Margaret Thatcher, but this week they gave a single minute to the passing of Richie Havens—a gifted singer and songwriter who helped to forge the consciousness of the hippie generation. Since there are unlikely to be any eulogies of Richie on TV, I feel duty bound to rattle on for ten minutes about this heroic person.

With a voice like molten chocolate and fingers that caressed his guitar like no other player, Richie took the straight route to his listeners’ hearts. Though some orchestration was added to his tracks, he was basically a one-man band. His choice of songs was unusual, often choosing to cover well-known songs by other performers. His oh-so-upbeat version of ‘Here Comes the Sun’ for me remains about the only cover of a Beatles song that actually improves on the original. 

(To listen to Richie's version, click here)

And with apologies to Bob Dylan, Steve Stills and Bob Marley, the hardest-hitting protest song I ever heard is Richie’s version of ‘What About Me?’ (written by a now-forgotten band called Quicksilver Messenger Service) on his 1971 album ‘The Great Blind Degree’. I’ll share the lyrics with you here:

What About Me? 

You poison my sweet waters; you chop down my green trees
And the food you feed my children is the cause of that ill disease
My world is slowly falling down and the air is not fit to breathe
And those of us who care enough, we have to do something

Oh, what you gonna do about me
Oh, what you gonna do about me

Your newspapers – they just put you on
They never tell you the whole story
They just put your young ideas down
I was wondering if this was the end of their pride and glory?

Oh, what you gonna do about me
Oh, what you gonna do about me

I work in your factories and I study in your schools
I fill your penitentiaries and your military too
I can feel the future trembling as the word is passed around
If you stick up for what you do believe in, be prepared to be shot down

Oh, what you gonna do about me
Oh, what you gonna do about me

I feel just like a stranger in the land where I was born
And I live just like an outlaw; I'm always on the run
Always on the run, they got me always on the run 

Oh, your soldiers smoke marijuana, you can't put them behind your walls
Because most of what you taught them to do is against most of your laws
We're all fugitives from injustice now but we're going to be free
Because your rules and regulations don't do the things for me.

Oh, what you gonna do about me
Oh, what you gonna do about me

You may be the stronger now, but my time will come around
You keep adding to my numbers as you shoot my people down
I can feel the future trembling as the word is passed around
We are going to stick up for what we do believe in, and we're prepared to be shot down

Oh, what you gonna do about me
Oh, what you gonna do about me

I feel just like a stranger in the land where I was born
And I live just like an outlaw; I'm always on the run
Always on the run, they got me always on the run

To hear Richie's version of this song on YouTube, click here. 

I can feel the future trembling as we try to find our way in this world without people like Richie to show us the way. Rest in peace, brother, rest in peace.