Nothing new here; just an appreciation of two great artists.

Prince sang in June:

Our bodies got used to each other
Now they're used to the sound
of Richie Havens' voice on the vinyl,
spinning round and round, round and round
Sometimes I feel I was born way too late
Shoulda been born on the Woodstock stage

In 1969, Richie Havens opened Woodstock. He was asked to prolong his performance while they waited for other artists to arrive. He'd run out of material and so decided to improvise the song Freedom based around the gospel standard Motherless Child. He played like fire, producing a spine-tingling acoustic performance.

In 1999, thirty years later, Prince opened his May 22 show at Paisley Park with his first ever rendition of (Sometimes I Feel Like A) Motherless Child. He played it several more times that year before dropping it into the middle of the legendary Septimo TV broadcast recorded on November 22. Prince took the standard, wrapped it up in the spirit of Richie Havens and turned it into an electrifying gospel-funk-soul jam, ripping it up on vocals, guitar, even dance moves - all to the beat of Love Thy Will Be Done. It's nothing short of breathtaking. At the end, he softly sings, "Sometimes, just like Richie, I feel like a motherless child."

I wonder if we would have ever got such an incredible performance out of Prince if it hadn't been for Richie.

Totally agree !

Richie Havens performance of this song has always been one of my favorite moments of the legendary Woodstock-concerts......

.......so I was very surprised when I saw Prince's doing an incredible "coverversion" in this Septimo TV Show Exceptional in many ways, maybe in my Top10 list of P-performances !!

I just can recommend to check it out 4 anybody who has not seen this !!

Prince also played Motherless Child in the Piano&Mic show in Paisley Park 2016, didn't he ?

famosA said:

Totally agree !

Richie Havens performance of this song has always been one of my favorite moments of the legendary Woodstock-concerts......

.......so I was very surprised when I saw Prince's doing an incredible "coverversion" in this Septimo TV Show Exceptional in many ways, maybe in my Top10 list of P-performances !!

I just can recommend to check it out 4 anybody who has not seen this !!

Prince also played Motherless Child in the Piano&Mic show in Paisley Park 2016, didn't he ?

THANK YOU 4 the insight!

I love the end of this clip--when Havens walks off while hunched over the guitar, his back just drenched with sweat.

This is one of those lines that I never really thought about--beyond the unhelpful nitpicky thought that obviously Prince was born before Woodstock, so either he was born "too late" or "he should have been born on the Woodstock stage" but not both--but I never really thought about the performance Prince was directing us to think about. I should have done so long before now--so thanks for posting this. Now I'm gonna watch Prince's performance again.

EddieC said:

I love the end of this clip--when Havens walks off while hunched over the guitar, his back just drenched with sweat.

This is one of those lines that I never really thought about--beyond the unhelpful nitpicky thought that obviously Prince was born before Woodstock, so either he was born "too late" or "he should have been born on the Woodstock stage" but not both--but I never really thought about the performance Prince was directing us to think about. I should have done so long before now--so thanks for posting this. Now I'm gonna watch Prince's performance again.

I was amazed at the way Havens ends it. He plays the whole thing as if he's possessed before turning his sweart-drenched back on the audience. I've always thought Prince's performance is stunning, but what Havens did is unparalleled in terms of sheer rawness.

I've always taken the lines, "Sometimes I feel I was born way too late. Shoulda been born on the Woodstock stage," to mean he was born too late to appear on the Woodstock stage for his birth as an artist. Though I guess he was disillusioned with what the music business had become, Prince was the eighties to me, so I feel he was born at the perfect time.

Cool thread. Didnt know about him. Thanks!

Thanks Airth.

Such a magical time we lived in at that time.

I think you are right P was talking about being born too late to be able to appear on stage at Woodstock.

airth said:

EddieC said:

I love the end of this clip--when Havens walks off while hunched over the guitar, his back just drenched with sweat.

This is one of those lines that I never really thought about--beyond the unhelpful nitpicky thought that obviously Prince was born before Woodstock, so either he was born "too late" or "he should have been born on the Woodstock stage" but not both--but I never really thought about the performance Prince was directing us to think about. I should have done so long before now--so thanks for posting this. Now I'm gonna watch Prince's performance again.

I was amazed at the way Havens ends it. He plays the whole thing as if he's possessed before turning his sweart-drenched back on the audience. I've always thought Prince's performance is stunning, but what Havens did is unparalleled in terms of sheer rawness.

I've always taken the lines, "Sometimes I feel I was born way too late. Shoulda been born on the Woodstock stage," to mean he was born too late to appear on the Woodstock stage for his birth as an artist. Though I guess he was disillusioned with what the music business had become, Prince was the eighties to me, so I feel he was born at the perfect time.

Yeah, that's what I finally came up with as an explanation for the line. But I'm picky enough that even though I know what he meant, part of me still refuses to just accept it.