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Old 12-28-2002, 07:16 PM   #1
Auburn Annie
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Default Richie Havens cover of I Can't Make It Anymore-anybody know this?

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?
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Old 12-28-2002, 09:18 PM   #2
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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.
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Old 12-28-2002, 11:00 PM   #3
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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.

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Old 12-29-2002, 07:17 AM   #4
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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.
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Old 12-29-2002, 11:10 AM   #5
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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.
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Old 12-29-2002, 12:53 PM   #6
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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.
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Old 12-30-2002, 12:06 AM   #7
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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.




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Old 12-30-2002, 08:42 AM   #8
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VBH - e-mail me.
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Old 12-30-2002, 05:18 PM   #9
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Always liked Richie Havens. Was particularly
intrigued by his guitar playing....the fingering. But Violet, I agree....he blows
me away, also.

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Old 12-31-2002, 09:10 AM   #10
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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

[This message has been edited by BILLW (edited December 31, 2002).]
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Old 12-31-2002, 03:18 PM   #11
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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.
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Old 12-31-2002, 05:00 PM   #12
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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!

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[This message has been edited by LAM3346E (edited December 31, 2002).]
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Old 01-17-2003, 03:55 PM   #13
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Rickcee. You are almost right, but not quite. Major Sir Gerry has the right idea.

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.
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Old 01-17-2003, 05:00 PM   #14
on-susan's-floor
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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

...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).]
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Old 05-17-2004, 05:24 AM   #15
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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?!?
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Old 05-17-2004, 05:42 AM   #16
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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.
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Old 05-17-2004, 05:47 AM   #17
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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!

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Old 05-17-2004, 12:26 PM   #18
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Can someone post the lyrics? Sounds like it would describe my life.(Not my entire life, just some).
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Old 05-17-2004, 12:26 PM   #19
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Can someone post the lyrics? Sounds like it would describe my life.(Not my entire life, just some).
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Old 05-17-2004, 12:54 PM   #20
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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/f...T-ANY-MORE.pdf



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Old 05-17-2004, 12:54 PM   #21
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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/f...T-ANY-MORE.pdf



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starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot
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Old 05-18-2004, 12:28 PM   #22
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quote:Originally posted by 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/f...T-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.
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Old 05-18-2004, 12:28 PM   #23
DMD3
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quote:Originally posted by 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/f...T-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.
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Old 05-26-2004, 12:06 PM   #24
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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
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Old 05-26-2004, 12:06 PM   #25
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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
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