Richard P. "Richie" Havens (born January 21, 1941; died April 22, 2013) was an American folk singer and guitarist. He is best remembered for his intense, rhythmic guitar style (often in open tunings), soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
Born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Havens moved to Greenwich Village in 1961 in time to get in on the folk boom then taking place. Havens had a distinctive style as a folksinger
Four years of hard work!This month of May we celebrated four years on the air. We continue working on the dissemination of this wonderful instrument, thank you for participating in our story!
This is the first song on Richie’s album Mixed Bag 2, which was originally released in 1974. At the time of writing (December 2010) it has just been re- released after being unavailable for many years. Despite being of a different generation my son had always liked this song when he listened to my old vinyl copy (now sadly lost but replaced with a new cd) and this prompted me to attempt my own version in Open D tuning. I have used Richie’s chord fingerings and this is what I have come up with so far. It is still a work in progress but is satisfying to play and sing. Any improvements would be welcomed.
Tuning DADF#AD
I = Index finger M = Middle finger T = Thumb L = Little finger
Chords for the song
Bminor DADF#AD I T T T M M Fret 9 Thumb bars top 3 bottom 3 strings 9th fret Index finger holds down 3rd string 8th fret Middle finger holds down 1st and 2nd strings 9th fret
A DADF#AD
T T T T T T Fret 7 Thumb bars bottom all strings 7th fret
G DADF#AD
T T T T T T Fret 5 Thumb bars all strings 5th Fret
E DADF#AD
T T T T T T Fret 2 Thumb bars all strings 2nd Fret
E suspension DADF#AD
T T T T T Fret2 Thumb bars top 5 strings 2nd fret
Intro
BmAGA
Try using the following strumming pattern for most of the song to begin with:-
D DU DU for each chord with a slight emphasis on the single Downs.
The Song
BmAGA Ooh child things are gonna get easier
BmAE Esuspension Ooh child things’ll get better
BmAGA
Ooh child things are gonna get easier
BmAEEsus Ooh child things’ll be brighter
GAGA Some…….day we’ll put it together and we’ll get it all done
GAGEEsus Some…….day when your head is much lighter
GAGA Some……day we’ll walk in the rays of the beautiful sun
GAGEEsus Some…….day when the world will be brighter
Ooh child things are gonna get easier Ooh child things’ll get better
Guitar only next line BminorAGABminorAEEsus
Some…….day we’ll put it together and we’ll get it all done Some…….day when your head is much lighter
Some…….day we’ll walk in the rays of the beautifulsun Some…….day when the world will be brighter
(Softer) Ooh child things are gonna get easier Ooh child things’ll get better
Ooh child things are gonna get easier Ooh child things’l l get better