American - Musician | January 21, 1941 - April 22, 2013
I came up in Brooklyn singing doo-wop music from the time I was 13 to the time I was 20. That music served a purpose of keeping a lot of people out of trouble, and also it was a passport from one neighborhood to another.
Richie Havens
MusicTimePurposePeopleSinging
Many times, people have come up to me after singing some songs, and they'd say, 'Richie, do you know what you did?' And I'd say, 'What?' And they'd go, 'I wrote these songs down for you to sing, and you sang them all in a row.' But that's the kind of communication that happens, you know.
CommunicationPeopleMeSingingYou
I started out by myself, but it eventually turned into a trio by the mid-'60s - a conga drum and another guitarist. And that's been mostly what I've worked with most of the time.
TimeMyselfDrumOutTrioStarted
My right wrist is connected to the left foot. You know, if the left foot doesn't work, the right wrist doesn't work, and that's really the truth.
WorkTruthYouKnowConnectedRight
My mother's family came from the British West Indies. And my father's family came from, well, my father's father came from the Montana/South Dakota area. They were Blackfoot Indian.
FamilyFatherMotherWestBritish
I actually grew up with people from all over the world. There wasn't enough of a difference to feel different from anybody else. Their grandmother hollered at me like my grandmother hollered at all the kids when anybody did anything wrong. And their parents did the same thing.
ParentsPeopleMeWorldFeelEnough
I haven't seen my face since I started growing my beard, which was when I was a teenager, almost; I never shaved. So I don't really know what I look like.
BeardFaceLookGrowingKnowNever
I believe we have a double in every country. There's something about that that is probably a commonness that we don't make note of. That maybe there's only a cast for so many faces, and we live everywhere.
LiveBelieveCountryI BelieveFaces
I don't get sick. I can't afford to get sick.
SickGetAfford
I eat once a day if I remember, and I try never to go to sleep.
DaySleepRememberGoTryNever
I saw the Village as a place you could escape to, to express yourself. When I first went there, I wrote and performed poetry. Then I drew portraits for a couple of years. It took a while before I thought about picking up a guitar.
YourselfPoetryThoughtGuitarYou
I must have played every college and university at least three times, and that goes for most of the clubs. I'd be on the road six days a week, go home and change bags, and then be gone for another six days.
ChangeHomeCollegeRoadWeekThree
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict Richie Havens quotes