Fred Neil - Faretheewell (Fred's Tune) Lyrics

A great song .so true .

Gorgeous.XX

Sweetness. Beautiful.

Criminally underrated.

mercy... he fills my emptiness

Odetta said it best: "There are two voices I heard in my life that no microphone can possibly capture. Paul Robeson is one, and the other is Fred Neil."

👍🏻😍

Every time I hear Fred Neil sing it instantly puts me back to the first time I heard him sing so many, many years ago. He was one of a kind. So much emotion in his songs.

This is really nice man

The 6 people who disliked this must have their ears painted on!

I love Fred, and this has to be one of the most charming songs ever

Vaporfolk

Beautiful. I love Fred Neil.

Check out Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan who both recorded it as "Dink's Tune."

Jeff Williams - Good call, sir, Dylan's cover is probably my favourite record ever.

Amazing

I'm happier than a clam to read about so many You Tubers having good taste commenting on Fred Neil. from what i gather Fred wasn't willing to play the fame game and have him and family paraded for interviewers' cameras. he was a rebel . he wished nothing more than to serenade a pod of downtrodden dolphins down road from his home at some Sea World. Like every other creature on Earth these dolphins came to love Fred and his music. Indeed it was their only reason to live. while Fred's main purpose in this life was to make their lives more tolerable. other than that I know his son is on cover of album with him . "I'm not here for Sorpranos.not here for GTA5. I'm here for Neil!"

This man. This man. No comparison. if I had wings.

Difficult to add anything...just turn down the lights, sit back etc....

+Mary Kate Daniiher - It took 3 yrs for your comment to reach that spot where we all are vulnerable. Farethewell, Lady!

I can't think of another voice with this comfort level, other than Nat Cole. This is a priceless treasure, which I have enjoyed for over 40 years now. Neil was the secret musical influence behind many of the "biggies" that everyone knows about. How cool.

The Beetles wanted to meet him. They asked him to come to them. He refused. Way to go Fred, he was far more real than them!

You've described well this timeless tune! Heard it first time in '69 and I still get mushy lissnin' to it today (in 10 days I'll be 87!)

Happy Birthday Rene!
I've only just found Mr. Fred Neil, although I did hear him in an episode of the Sopranos tv show and it made a huge impression. I didn't know the song or who sung/composed it. I just heard a hauntingly deep baritone voice singing an amazingly potent song.
It was "Dolphins", and I came to Fred through hearing Tim Buckley do a version live on a British tv show, a week or two ago!

You can blatently tell Tim Buckley's totally copied this with his song Buzzing Fly . . .

Loved him and always will.  Nobody does it better!

I recently replace an old folk book that I must have left after one of my many moves, The Face of Folk Music, text Robert Shelton, photos David Gahr.  First thing I looked up was to see what they said about Fred Neil.  To my surprise he was not mentioned in the book at all while some mentioned were not as well-known and definitely not as good a performer.  If the author was still alive I would have contacted him to ask why Neil was left out but he died about 10 years ago.  To me, it seemed like an intentional put-down and I wondered whether they had had a falling out or something.  

One of my favorite songs of all time

This is a masterpiece- its really a shame that so many people in my age dosnt know what music really is..

What Fred Neil song isn't?

You're one lucky person to have known Fred.
I consider his songs and music to be some of the best there ever was..
His voice just resonates through you....It's so wonderful...
Hold those memories tight to you....They are precious.

I became a big Fred Neil fan long, long ago.

I am a singer.....and Fred is one of the best I've ever heard.

Search his songs on UTUBE and see what I mean.....incredible!

I used be a good friend of Fred's back in the day..Greenwich Village scene.......the Night Owl Cafe 1962....In later years I used to play this late at night and become very nostalgic.....(Dave Van Ronk was my next door neightbor...LOL)

That was a time and place I treasure, too.Lot of musicians went through the Night Owl - for the change in the basket and a free burger.

Dave Van Ronk also did Dink's song and although the Lomaxes unearthed this song in early 1900s, there may have been an African American singer-Dink- who was responsible for words and music. I never got to se Fred Neil perform in the village but saw Dave Van Ronk perform many many times . You are lucky to have seen Neil perform and be a neighbor at one time of Van Ronk.

My old friend Freddy. That deep voice, those beat up red boots....

We need more of everything from the 60s......

We need some of that Spirit-of-Innocence...

I bought this Album way back circa 1977 thinking it contained Nilson's "Everybody's Talkin" version from Midnight Cowboy. I was disappointed when I discovered it wasn't that. In My first Apartment around 1984 I discovered the Gem that this Album was after replaying it in its entirety. "Farethewell" stole my heart and soul and CRUSHED me when I finally got to 'listen" for real! Thank You Mr Neil. The song still crushes me to pieces EVERY time I listen.

Sounds like incredible times...the early '60's, I find, seems to posses an aura about it....I remember being 15 in '72, staring at a copy of Freewheelin Bob Dylan, listening him sing about President Kennedy callin' him up....my life was never the same!! Later. came Fred Niel, much later.....but once you're there, it's like the junk he was on...you need it!

Classic folk song "Dink's Song" sung by the great Fred Neil with that beautiful album cover photograph. Great argument for vinyl'

A lot of his songs were adaptable for folk rock arrangements like the Byrds did w/ Dylan.

Yes. But adapting a Fred Neil song for folk is like adapting The Godfather for a TV series.

@Cervicconstruction , so beautiful said

His voice vibrates my soul.

What a voice. Soul, soul, soul. Blues, blues, blues. One of the most respected singer/song writers in the village days. He escaped the temptations of new york and ended up working in dolphin protection. Over 45 years listening to him and he never fails to move me. Fashions in music come and go and many from the 60's turned out to be only of their time. Fred is timeless.

@BluesYourAss Yeah. I have to say that the Sixties in general was the most amazing time in terms of space travel, clothes, music, style, politcal expression, etc....and I feel so lucky to have been there and experienced these memorable times and people.. Of course, many of them are gone now, but I'll always remember those precious, special memories. Are you a musician? Or are you a fan of the any of the people mentioned?

You certainly like the sound of your own voice lady.

@BluesYourAss You know, Tim Hardin was my boyfriend for awhile in 1962, I met him when we both worked at The Playhouse Cafe......also, my roommate and I lived across the hall from Dave Van Ronk when Dylan was living with him..but never saw or met Dylan there. I knew Fred Neil and many of the others. It was the folk scene on Third and Macdougal in 1962-63....everyone was friends...

The child he embraces is truly beautiful. Is that his own child? I love his vocalization, it is unique to him. Is this man still living? His voice is like the deep purr of a large cat.

This song will forever remind me of my Greenwich Village Days...1961-62. Freddy was in love with my beautiful, blond roommate...he wore those broke down red boots ....Tim Hardin ....Dylan...Dave Van Ronk.......the Cafe Wha..The Ketltle of Fish....The Playhouse Cafe......the Night Owl....and the times and music were extraordinary....those amazing days are gone forever....

Those times live in our memories, lady Mary Kate, and when we play Fred's tunes & turn-on the sensitive young ones who's Soul is open to be touched by this timeless music

great artist

unbelievable to hear Fred Neil again. What a voice. what a song writer. First heard him visiting NYC in 1967-I was young (19)naive and he totally blew me away. God bless you Fred.

Najpiękniejszy utwór świata.

So beautiful!! Thanks so much!

So beautiful! Thank you!

One of the most beautiful and moving songs ever recorded, the same goes for Little Bit of Rain and his version of The Water is Wide from the Bleecker & MacDougal album

@Cervicconstruction very nice.

love this tune. It helped me through some tough times in my life...

@arigatomrrobato Hey don't taze me Bro!!!!

haha I've been looking for the original, well not the original but an early version of this song since I heard Jeff Buckley do it on live at Sin-e'
Good stuff

@35mm35 - I'm not doggin' you about this, but if there were more voices like Fred's we wouldn't appreciate them - I guess it's the fact that some voices are exceptional that moves us, no? I see references to Tim Buckley posted here - same thing with him. Nina Simone, too.

Thanks for posting this - sounds like you pulled it from vinyl? I bought the collection "The Many Sides of Fred Neil" - this is on it, but I don't think they used the most up-to-date digital. It sounds great, but a bit "cold," like some of the early cd recordings.

what a voice!

Wonderful interpretation of the song!
Listening to Fred's singing in this song also sheds some light on why Tim Buckley started singing in a low register the way he did.

I know! I was just saying that. it's all britney and american idol.

immortal

I was upset that a freind had given me something and then asked for it back.Seemed rather strange and I was somewhat pissed with him till I dialed up ole Niel here and he put it into perspective for me.If my freind needed that to make him happy than in giving it back it will make me happy.
I remembered that we come in with nothing and we leave with nothing.All we have is those around us who make us whole.

tjohnn good news some one has.

i know, that song has been in my head forever

YESS, Jeff buckley did a cover of this on the legacy edition of Live at Sin-E'.
But it called it Dinks song, so happy to have found the original

This tune and The Dolphins are two of my favorite Fred Neil songs from way back. Just beautiful in melody and lyric.

He never reached the fame of his peers, but his tune, Everybody's Talking, was a big hit (for someone else!).

my favorite fred neil song, and i think the favorite of more than a few people i once knew...aah such memories!
thanks so much for posting this!

Vin Scelsa just played it. What a magnificent voice! Brings me to tears.

This jewel is virtually unknown. A hidden treasure only Fred Neil fans know about. But this could be a good thing - the power of this song may be too much for the ordinary citizen.