Richie Havens cover of I Can't Make It Anymore-anybody know this?

[Auburn Annie]

I just came across the following reference in a record review which reads: "Havens settles into Gordon Lightfoot's desolate anthem of mental and physical impotence, I Can't Make It Anymore, and the hush is deafening." I've seen this song mentioned in connection with other Havens albums such as MIXED BAG (1966/67 - produced by John Court). Anybody heard GL do this live in concert?

[Suzi]

I have that song covered by Richie Havens, Fresh Air, Original Cast, McKendree Spring and Spyder Turner. Alas, I have yet to hear Gordon sing it.

[TheWatchman]

quote:Originally posted by Auburn Annie:
"Havens settles into Gordon Lightfoot's desolate anthem of mental and physical impotence."
<p>What is that supposed to mean? Doesn't sound very positive to me.

[notsocooldude]

I have to declare that I am not Richie Havens number 1 fan. He absolutely murdered Harry Chapin's WOLD. So I dread to think what he would do to a Lighfoot song. Quite frankly, I would sooner not know.

[Suzi]

I am not familiar with Richie Havens either. So, I can not comment on his cover of the Chapin song. But, I thought his rendition of the Lightfoot tune was just outstanding. Very much worth a listen.

[Rob1956]

I always thought Havens had some talent, but besides his cover of "Here Comes the Sun"
I have never heard him do much that's distinctive. Vocally, he's pretty limited. I think his main claim to fame, as it were, was an apperance at Woodstock.

[violet Blue Horse]

Richie Havens covered I Can't Make it Anymore back in 1967 on the Album Mixed Bag. Unfortunately, I've yet to hear it. I discovered Havens in 1994 when he released Cuts to the Chase. I've been a fan ever since. His cover of Darkness Darkness was the first time I ever truly heard the lyrics of that song, and I was blown away by it. He is an excellent song writer as well, but some of his cover versions of other's songs are amazing to me. I'd love to hear his cover of Lightfoot's song.


quote:Originally posted by Rob1956:
I always thought Havens had some talent, but besides his cover of "Here Comes the Sun"
I have never heard him do much that's distinctive. Vocally, he's pretty limited. I think his main claim to fame, as it were, was an apperance at Woodstock.



------------------
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.

--R.W. Emerson

[Suzi]

VBH - e-mail me.

[LAM3346E]

Always liked Richie Havens. Was particularly
intrigued by his guitar playing....the fingering. But Violet, I agree....he blows
me away, also.

------------------
lam

[BILLW]

I don't want to slip and reveal my age (I'll be 50 on May 13, 2003, oops) but I must admit I was really there (at age 16) and saw Havens' performance at Woodstock. He's fine if that's your taste but all things considered I prefer Gordon Lightfoot in a nice dry seat... (and when the movie came out we went to see it three times to see if we could spot ourselves: no pics of me but one of the people climbing the towers and getting yelled out to get down was one of my travelling companions...)

Bill http://www.corfid.com/ubb/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by BILLW (edited December 31, 2002).]

[MajorSirGerryPending]

Lam. I play a little guitar (must get a bigger one) and am intrigued by alternate tunings and the associated fingerings. Richie Havens does have a style. He seems to tune his guitar to a chord, D something or other, and frets mostly with his thumb picking up 7ths & 9ths with his index and middle fingers. Pretty effective.

[LAM3346E]

MajorSirGerryPending,

Yes! I believe you've got that right!! It's the fretting with his thumb that intrigued me from way back. I play a little, too,....
very little, *lol*, but I really could never figure out what he was doing. Thanks!

------------------
lam

[This message has been edited by LAM3346E (edited December 31, 2002).]

[Le Grande Fromage]

Rickcee. You are almost right, but not quite. Major Sir Gerry has the right idea.
http://www.richiehavens.com/GUITA001.jpg
This is a picture of Richie freting a major chord. He has the guitar tuned to open D. He is at the 5th fret. Playing a G chord. I think we can agree he is using his thumb.

[on-susan's-floor]

Check out the sample on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0 00001FOM/qid=1042840622/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-0788660-6657438?v=glance&s=music (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001FOM/qid=1042840622/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-0788660-6657438?v=glance&s=music)

...and the words from Wayne's site:
http://www.lightfoot.ca/icantmak.htm

I Can't Make It Anymore
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I get too low with no reason
You say it's the moon or maybe the season
But something's not the same and I won't let my mind believe
Baby something's wrong, all the feeling's gone
I can't make it anymore, I can't make it anymore

Lately I don't feel much like talking
Instead of going home I just go out walking
And thinking too much and not longing for your touch
Baby something's changed, I don't feel the same
I can't make it anymore, I can't make it anymore

Don't know the reason why, but I just can't lie
When I feel this way, there are things that I must say
Can't make it anymore, I can't make it anymore
I can't make it anymore, I can't make it anymore

Oh anymore
Where did we go wrong, where do I belong
Let me find out when did it all begin
Why I'm leaving you, why our love is through
I can't make it anymore, I can't make it anymore



[This message has been edited by on-susan's-floor (edited January 17, 2003).]

[chillywilsa]

The title of a Gordon Lightfoot-composed song that he never recorded!(according to him when I spoke with him back stage at a concert in Cleveland a few years ago)...it was recorded by Ritchie Havens (on Verve-Forecast "Mixed Bag" LP and on 45) and by Spyder Turner on an M-G-M 45...if you don't know this song you MUST locate...is GREAT and I wish GL had recorded himself...he said he "never got around to it"...but I neglected to ask him how he thought Havens had heard it to know he wanted to record it?!?

[SilverHeels]

quote:Originally posted by fortyfivesfrank:
The title of a Gordon Lightfoot-composed song that he never recorded!(according to him when I spoke with him back stage at a concert in Cleveland a few years ago)...it was recorded by Ritchie Havens (on Verve-Forecast "Mixed Bag" LP and on 45) and by Spyder Turner on an M-G-M 45...if you don't know this song you MUST locate...is GREAT and I wish GL had recorded himself...he said he "never got around to it"...but I neglected to ask him how he thought Havens had heard it to know he wanted to record it?!?


I have the Ritchie Havens version. http://www.corfid.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Borderstone]

Thr Spyder Turner version was actually released as a single and made the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at about #97,if I recall what I read at the downtown library. Gotta get it! http://www.corfid.com/ubb/smile.gif

------------------
"A knight of the road,going back to a place where he might get warm." ;) - Borderstone

[DMD3]

Can someone post the lyrics? Sounds like it would describe my life.(Not my entire life, just some).

[DMD3]

Can someone post the lyrics? Sounds like it would describe my life.(Not my entire life, just some).

[johnfowles]

quote:Originally posted by DMD3:
Can someone post the lyrics? Sounds like it would describe my life.(Not my entire life, just some).
Hey Duncan have you ever heard of Google or visited Wayne Francis's site?? shame on you!!
try:- http://www.lightfoot.ca/icantmak.htm
And/Or http://spikesmusic.spike-jamie.com/folk/gl3/I-CANT-MAKE-IT-ANY-MORE.pdf



------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

[johnfowles]

quote:Originally posted by DMD3:
Can someone post the lyrics? Sounds like it would describe my life.(Not my entire life, just some).
Hey Duncan have you ever heard of Google or visited Wayne Francis's site?? shame on you!!
try:- http://www.lightfoot.ca/icantmak.htm
And/Or http://spikesmusic.spike-jamie.com/folk/gl3/I-CANT-MAKE-IT-ANY-MORE.pdf



------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

[DMD3]

quote:Originally posted by johnfowles:
Originally posted by DMD3:
Can someone post the lyrics? Sounds like it would describe my life.(Not my entire life, just some).
Hey Duncan have you ever heard of Google or visited Wayne Francis's site?? shame on you!!
try:- http://www.lightfoot.ca/icantmak.htm
And/Or http://spikesmusic.spike-jamie.com/folk/gl3/I-CANT-MAKE-IT-ANY-MORE.pdf



I've been to that site before! And yup, the song is about just what I thought it'd be about, breakup.

[DMD3]

quote:Originally posted by johnfowles:
Originally posted by DMD3:
Can someone post the lyrics? Sounds like it would describe my life.(Not my entire life, just some).
Hey Duncan have you ever heard of Google or visited Wayne Francis's site?? shame on you!!
try:- http://www.lightfoot.ca/icantmak.htm
And/Or http://spikesmusic.spike-jamie.com/folk/gl3/I-CANT-MAKE-IT-ANY-MORE.pdf



I've been to that site before! And yup, the song is about just what I thought it'd be about, breakup.

[Thaler]

Does anyone know if there is a Gord version of his I Can't Make it Anymore, and if not, why?.....Richie Havens has been a marvelous part of my music library, but nothing approaches his 2nd album, Mixed Bag, and on it is that Lightfoot tune....having gone thru all of Gord's albums thru the years, I was expecting at some point to hear his version of the song...maybe years later so as not to shadow Richie and his cover of the song, but I've not heard it..
what say you, you Learned Lightfoot Scholars???
Barry

[Baz]

Does anyone know if there is a Gord version of his I Can't Make it Anymore, and if not, why?.....Richie Havens has been a marvelous part of my music library, but nothing approaches his 2nd album, Mixed Bag, and on it is that Lightfoot tune....having gone thru all of Gord's albums thru the years, I was expecting at some point to hear his version of the song...maybe years later so as not to shadow Richie and his cover of the song, but I've not heard it..
what say you, you Learned Lightfoot Scholars???
Barry

[chillywilsa]

I had the good fortune to meet Gord backstage in Cleveland about 5 years ago and asked him about that song (I also have it on a 45 by Havens & by Spyder Turner-MGM)..Gord said he NEVER RECORDED IT! I asked why and he said he just "never got around to it". I wish I'd asked him how Havens/Turner had heard it if GL didn't record it????? but I neglected to ask that question..Next time I will!

[Auburn Annie]

Havens probably heard it live - it's an early Lightfoot song, one Gord likely sang in the coffeehouses in Toronto and in New York. There was a LOT of cross-pollination in the early 60s among musicians.

[Thaler]

Annie, I think you're right.......songs were picked up often via coffee house....(off of Gord for a second, but I was at a place just north of NYC, Turning Point, and I was there to see Kenny Rankin...who does some super covers of Gord songs, btw, and I sat down, turned, and behind me was Richie Havens...very good friends with Kenny...Richie was kind enough to ask me to contact his office for a concert series I had, thru his and my friendship with Peter Yarrow, but the concert series concluded without his participation....I'm hoping to resurrect that series, we had some wonderful folks performing)

Back to the song, let's see if, with his health returned, Gord will give us THE version of I can't make it anymore!!!!.....Pass the word to him, those of you who have more direct contact with him

[Baz]

Annie, I think you're right.......songs were picked up often via coffee house....(off of Gord for a second, but I was at a place just north of NYC, Turning Point, and I was there to see Kenny Rankin...who does some super covers of Gord songs, btw, and I sat down, turned, and behind me was Richie Havens...very good friends with Kenny...Richie was kind enough to ask me to contact his office for a concert series I had, thru his and my friendship with Peter Yarrow, but the concert series concluded without his participation....I'm hoping to resurrect that series, we had some wonderful folks performing)

Back to the song, let's see if, with his health returned, Gord will give us THE version of I can't make it anymore!!!!.....Pass the word to him, those of you who have more direct contact with him

[NowAndThen]

speaking of cross-pollination and richie havens.... I was at a RH show in Denver a few months ago, and he spoke of a young man back in the very early 60's who really liked a song that RH wrote and wondered if RH would sell it to him. That's why you see Bob Dylan's name instead of Haven's name as the author of ... "All Along the Watchtower"

[mreddie]

speaking of cross-pollination and richie havens.... I was at a RH show in Denver a few months ago, and he spoke of a young man back in the very early 60's who really liked a song that RH wrote and wondered if RH would sell it to him. That's why you see Bob Dylan's name instead of Haven's name as the author of ... "All Along the Watchtower"

[Thaler]

never heard that, re All Along Watchtower...will ask Richie about that, or Peter Yarrow, very close friend to Richie...interesting...
Barry

[Baz]

never heard that, re All Along Watchtower...will ask Richie about that, or Peter Yarrow, very close friend to Richie...interesting...
Barry

[Yuri]

Gordon Lightfoot At Woodstock ‘69
….well not really. But his unreleased song ‘I Can’t Make It Anymore’ was reverberated across Yasgar’s Farm on the second day of festivities when Richie Havens opened.

Auburn Annie previously posted about this song back in 2002 but no sound/video clips were offered in the thread.

http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=15937&highlight=richie+havens

Below is the clip of his Woodstock performance on August 15th, 1969. Richie’s unique style certainly makes it hard to recognize this as Gord’s composition.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpfpFKzA4h8&feature=kp

Below is the same song performed by Spyder Turner. I believe Spyder’s claim to fame was his contributing some tunes to the ‘Stand By Me’ movie soundtrack. Quite a different interpretation of the same material.

YouTube - Northern Soul - Spyder Turner - I Can't Make It Anymore

[Jesse Joe]

Hey Yuri,

How are you doing man, this is a great find, The people were lovely in "69" at Yasgur's Farm.(flower people) And to see that turntable playing the 45, listening to music now a days has sure change a lot. Seem so simple back then.

Always did like Richie Havens and his guitar playing... Thanks for posting this mu good man. :)

[charlene]

two VERY different takes! wow - I'd have to say I prefer Richie Havens version..only because I can't hear the other version in my head with Lightfoot's voice boppin' along to that beat..
I'll have to show lisa the record player and how it worked and how her old mother listened to music "back in the day"...
;)

[Nightingale]

Yuri,
thanks for those...very nice and a lot of interest value. I like both versions and even though they are quite different from one another, they both appeal to me.

I would never guess that Gordon Lightfoot wrote that song. :)

[charlene]

Richie Havens has died at 72.. http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1559103/richie-havens-folk-and-woodstock-legend-dead-at-72

The man who opened the 1969 Woodstock festival, died on Monday morning from a sudden heart attack at his home in New Jersey, according to his publicist. He turned 72 in January.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA51wyl-9IE&feature=youtu.be

[charlene]

Jenney found this great live version of the tune written by Lightfoot for and about Richie. "I Can't Make It Anymore" They both shared Albert Grossman as an agent in the 60's.
I liked his version of Dylan's "Just Like A Woman" too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_Bag Richie Havens - I Can't Make it Any More - YouTube

[charlene]

http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=14117

[charlene]

1978 concert-free download for a limited time: http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/richie-havens/concerts/bottom-line-february-16-1978.html?utm_source=CVNL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=130423

[jj]

Jenney found this great live version of the tune written by Lightfoot for and about Richie. "I Can't Make It Anymore" They both shared Albert Grossman as an agent in the 60's. [/url]

sad news.... always loved that open tuning/thumb wrap style

yeah, i remember Annie posting the video 3 or 4 years back... a keeper!

http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=20103&highlight=Havens

[imported_Next_Saturday]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/arts/music/richie-havens-guitarist-and-singer-dies-at-72.html?smid=pl-share



By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Richie Havens, who marshaled a craggy voice, a percussive guitar and a soulful sensibility to play his way into musical immortality at Woodstock in 1969, improvising the song “Freedom” on the fly, died on Monday at his home in Jersey City. He was 72.

The cause was a heart attack, his agent, Tim Drake, said.

Mr. Havens embodied the spirit of the ’60s — espousing peace and love, hanging out in Greenwich Village and playing gigs from the Isle of Wight to the Fillmore (both East and West) to Carnegie Hall. He surfaced only in the mid-1960s, but before the end of the decade many rock musicians were citing him as an influence. His rendition of “Handsome Johnny” became an anti-Vietnam War anthem.

He moved beyond his ’60s triumphs to record more than two dozen albums, act in movies, champion environmental education and perform in 1993 at the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton. In 2003, the National Music Council gave him its American Eagle Award for his place in the nation’s musical heritage. Kidney surgery forced him to stop touring last year.

For the baby-boomer generation, he will live forever on the stage of the Woodstock festival, which he had the honor to open because the folk-rock band Sweetwater, the scheduled opening act, was stuck in traffic. Mr. Havens and his guitarist and drummer arrived by helicopter. They had been scheduled to go on fifth.

Mr. Havens started with “Minstrel From Gault” a few minutes after 5 p.m. on Aug. 15, 1969. He was originally supposed to play four songs, but other performers were late, so he played on. He later said he thought he had played for two hours and 45 minutes, but two bands followed him before sunset, around 8 p.m., so that was impossible.

But Mr. Havens played 10 songs, including Beatles songs. His impassioned improvisation was pitch perfect for the generation watching him, most of whom saw it later in a documentary on the festival. His clarion encore “Freedom” — made up on the spot and interspersed with the spiritual “Motherless Child” — sounded a powerful if wistful note.

“ ‘Freedom’ came from a totally spontaneous place,” Mr. Havens said.

Richard Pierce Havens was born on Jan. 21, 1941, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, where he grew up. He was the eldest of nine children. His father made Formica tables for a living and played piano with various bands. His mother worked for a bookbindery.

He began singing with street-corner doo-wop groups when he was about 12. At 14 he joined the McCrea Gospel Singers. He was recruited by a street gang, and he dropped out of high school. He spent the rest of his life educating himself, and was proud of the results.

In his late teens Mr. Havens migrated to Greenwich Village, where he wandered the clubs working as a portrait artist. After a few years he discovered folk music, and he was soon playing several engagements a night at clubs like Why Not? and the Fat Black Pussycat.

His hands were very large, which made it difficult to play the guitar. He developed an unorthodox tuning so he could play chord patterns not possible with conventional tunings. The style was picked up by other folk and blues singers.

“A person looking at him might think he was just flailing about,” the guitarist Barry Oliver said in the magazine Guitar Player. “But the way he flailed about was so musical, and it went perfectly with what he was portraying. He’s a good example of not having to have to be a technically perfect guitarist in order to come across.”

Mr. Havens signed with the influential manager Albert Grossman and got a record deal with the Verve Forecast label. Verve released “Mixed Bag” in 1967, which featured “Handsome Johnny,” which he wrote with the actor Louis Gossett Jr.; “Follow,” which became one of his signature songs; and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman.”

In 1971, he released the only single that would put him in the Top 20, a soulful rendition of George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun.” His music had a new burst of popularity in the 1980s, and he found success as a jingle writer and performer for Amtrak, Maxwell House Coffee and the cotton industry (“The fabric of our lives”). He acted in a few movies, including “Hearts of Fire” (1987), which starred Bob Dylan.

Mr. Havens devoted considerable energy to educating young people on ecological issues. In the mid-1970s he founded the Northwind Undersea Institute, an oceanographic children’s museum on City Island in the Bronx. He later created the Natural Guard, an environmental organization for children, to use hands-on methods to teach about the environment.

This seriousness of purpose showed in many areas of his life. “I’m not in show business,” he said. “I’m in the communications business.”

Carrie Lombardi, Mr. Havens’s publicist, said his family wanted to keep information about survivors private, but she did say that they include four daughters and many grandchildren. He was married many years ago.

Mr. Havens played many songs written by Mr. Dylan, and he spent three days learning his epic “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” A man who heard him practicing it stopped him on the stairs as he headed for the dressing room of a nightclub, and told him it was the best he’d ever heard the song sung.

“That’s how I first met Bob Dylan,” Mr. Havens said.

Daniel E. Slotnik contributed reporting.

[imported_Next_Saturday]

The Lightfoot song, "I Can't Make it Anymore" RICHIE HAVENS - I CAN'T MAKE IT ANYMORE - YouTube

[jj]

hey, this sad news thread is popping up everywhere...maybe it should be in the Covers section too, lol

http://www.corfid.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=26767

[JohninCt.]

This is sad news. I remember some years ago when Richie lived here in Ct., and he had his sailboat in the same marina in Guilford as I had my boat. He was a very friendly and always smiling man when I saw him. He, and his unforgetable voice will be missed for sure.

[Borderstone]

Sorry I'm late in paying tribute.

I can only add that even though I was only 1 when Woodstock happened,I've wacthed that film many,many times since and no question that Richie Havens got things off on the right foot that day.

Amazing to think such a prolific musician (who that day also pretty much became an icon),could only have one song make the top 40. "Here Comes The Sun". Overall,I know that's not necessarily important but it could have at least been one of his own songs.

"Handsome Johnny" (if not for radio censors) sure sounds like it could have been a number one record to me (both live and studio versions). As for " I Can't Make It Anymore",not only did Havens cover it but so did Spyder Turner. (Turner had it on a 45rpm,Havens didn't.

I last saw Havens on PBS about 1 year & 1/2 ago,singing a very sad song called •
THE GREAT MANDALA (THE WHEEL OF LIFE) . Practically made me cry.

RIP Richie Havens.

[charlene]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pepOfd_Why4

[charlene]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQZkKVW1geE

[Islandgirl1]

I believe I posted this here @ CORFID a few years ago... here's the Woodstock performance which you can find @ YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpfpFKzA4h8

When I first watched this I was touched by Richie Haven's performance & the fact that it was written & composed by Gordon Lightfoot.

[charlene]

It might be in another thread - I saw these few and merged them.the Woodstock footage is further up at an earlier date. When I'm scanning thru the site archives if I see topics posted over the years I am merging them to make searches easier and keep the thread going in chronological order.. Your post isn't in these ones I merged tho...if I find it and there's more replies I will merge it.When merging threads they automatically go into chrono order..

[jj]

it's confusing enough trying to follow the non-merged threads, lol

so when you merge them, it brings them back to the top?

[charlene]

yep

[charlene]

Richie would have been 75 today..

[charlene]

LIGHTFOOT: I Can't Make It Anymore (The Original Demo) - YouTube

[JohninCt.]

WOW... you actually found the song with Gordon singing it. 5 Stars for you, and thank you very much. You are the essential Gordon Lightfoot master.

[ColoradoSue]

Yeah, I'm baaaaack!

Soooo, It looks like the PW reset finally works (woot! woot!)
So glad that this forum is still going strong. I sure miss Gordy but have many awesome memories of him.

I love Gordy's demos. I have "Remember Me"/"Daisy Doo" - Jello Biafra sold it to me (of all people! LOL!). He even delivered it to me at the radio station I was working at during that time. Nice guy.

[ColoradoSue]

What a beautiful, touching version of Gordy's song. My husband and I saw Ritchie Havens perform at the Boulder Theatre here in Colorado. He was very awesome. God Bless Ritchie.