If somehow you could pack up your sorrows....

July 20, 2001 10:09 AM

If somehow you could pack up your sorrows.... Mimi Farina dies at 56. I read Richard Farina's book a while back, but it wasn't until this year that I heard Richard & Mimi singing. In my alternate reality, Richard doesn't die, and writes a dozen more books including one with his pal Tom Pynchon; Mimi isn't eclipsed by her older sister, and the two keep singing for another 30 years.
posted by idiolect (3 comments total)

Mimi and Richard Farina's song "Michael, Andrew, and James" still sends chills up my spine.
posted by maurice at 11:06 AM on July 20, 2001

I had heard of Bread and Roses before, but knew nothing about Mimi Farina until hearing David Hajdu discuss his book on Fresh Air on 7/10 (cue it to 20:00.) He mentioned that she had been ill for quite a while, and that Joan Baez had given up performing to stay at her side. They played a bit of "Pack Up Your Sorrows" and the harmony was haunting. I wish she had continued her musical career, but she obviously made a huge impact in other ways.
posted by gimli at 11:39 AM on July 20, 2001

I thought it was a touch ironic that at the end of the NPR story about Mimi Farina's death they chose to play a clip of Joan Baez singing with Mimi doing the harmony (instead of Mimi singing solo or with Richard Farina). Even in death she is overshadowed by her sister.
posted by briank at 11:45 AM on July 20, 2001