Richie Havens quotes

Richie Havens was an American musician and singer-songwriter, renowned for his intense and soulful voice. Best known for opening the historic Woodstock Festival, his music blended folk, blues, and jazz influences. He captivated audiences with powerful performances and heartfelt interpretations of classic songs. Here are 20 of his quotes:

Woodstock was both a peaceful protest and a global celebration.

Richie Havens

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.

Richie Havens

Woodstock happened in August 1969, long before the Internet and mobile phones made it possible to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere. It was a time when we weren't able to witness world events or the horrors of war live on 24-hour news channels.

Richie Havens

Music is the major form of communication. It's the commonest vibration, the people's news broadcast, especially for kids.

Richie Havens

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.

Richie Havens

I remember the first time I was booked into a jazz club. I was scared to death. I'm not a jazz artist. So I got to the club and spotted this big poster saying, 'Richie Havens, folk jazz artist.' Then I'd go to a rock club and I'm billed as a 'folk rock performer' and in the blues clubs I'd be a 'folk blues entertainer.'

Richie Havens

Live Aid was a baby Woodstock, a child of Woodstock, which I call Globalstock.

Richie Havens

Everything I want to do, and to accomplish, is on the other side of the universe. That's peace of mind, energy, freedom. And I'm making myself ready to go, joyfully and willingly. I think I'm ready to be everybody's friend, and to do anything for anybody. It's heavy.

Richie Havens

The direction for my music is heaven, of course. We gear all things to the realm of heaven - which is the mind, the organized mind.

Richie Havens

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

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.

Richie Havens

I eat once a day if I remember, and I try never to go to sleep.

Richie Havens

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.

Richie Havens

I'm not in show business; I'm in the communications business. That's what it's about for me.

Richie Havens

I opened the Woodstock Festival even though I was supposed to be fifth. I said, 'What am I doing here? No, no, not me, not first!' I had to go on stage because there was no one else to go on first - the concert was already two-and-a-half hours late.

Richie Havens

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.

Richie Havens

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.

Richie Havens

I don't get sick. I can't afford to get sick.

Richie Havens