Before Buffalo Springfield, Furay performed with Stills in the nine-member group, the Au Go Go Singers (Roy Michaels, Rick Geiger, Jean Gurney, Michael Scott, Kathy King, Nels Gustafson, Bob Harmelink, and Furay & Stills), the house band for the famous Cafe Au Go Go in New York.
In the late 1960s he formed the country-rock band Poco with Jim Messina and Rusty Young. The band failed to live up to Furay's expectations, with a disenchanted Messina and Randy Meisner leaving the band .Furay himself grew frustrated at the failure of Poco and he too departed .In 1974 he joined the The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. It was during this time that Al Perkins, the band's pedal steel guitar player, introduced Furay to Christianity. Although Souther, Hillman, Furay's self-titled first album was certified Gold and yielded the top thirty hit with "Fallin' in Love" in 1974, the group could not follow up on that success, and poor record sales eventually led to its demise.
Furay then formed The Richie Furay Band with Jay Truax, John Mehler, and Tom Stipe, releasing the album I've Got a Reason in 1976, which reflected Furay's newfound beliefs. To support the release of this album Furay formed an alliance with David Geffen and Asylum Records. Furay assured Geffen that his album would be Christian influenced but would not be an attempt to preach his newfound beliefs. "I've Got a Reason" did, however, establish Furay as a pioneer in Christian Rock. The title track of his third album, the secular "I Still Have Dreams", became a mild radio hit in 1979. Overall, his albums failed to chart satisfactorily, and, compounded with the strain of two tours during the late 1970s wearing on him and his family, he hung up his rock and roll shoes in favor of a call to the ministry.
Since the early 1980s, Furay has been senior pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Broomfield, Colorado, a non-sectarian Christian church in the Denver area. He continues to perform as a solo artist, and very occasionally with Poco. He toured as an opening act for America and Linda Ronstadt during the Summer of 2006. The 2006 release of his latest CD The Heartbeat of Love returns Furay to his early country-rock roots with a contemporary flair.
In 2007 he toured with a new formation of the Richie Furay Band. At the Boulder and Bluebird Theatres in Colorado they recorded a double live CD ALIVE. The ALIVE set covers 29 songs of Furay's career. The Richie Furay band continued to tour through 2008 and 2009. Furay appeared with Poco for several shows in early 2009. At the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California in the Spring of 2009, Furay and the current Poco lineup were joined onstage by original members Jimmy Messina and George Grantham and former bass player Timothy B. Schmidt reuniting the Poco lineup that achieved the most critical acclaim.
On October 23, 2010, he reunited with surviving Buffalo Springfield bandmates Stephen Stills and Neil Young for a set at the 24th annual Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California.
Richie regrouped with Buffalo Springfield for a 2011 tour, headlining 2011 Bonnaroo with them. In July 2011, Furay announced on his Facebook page that he would be touring with Buffalo Springfield in early 2012, ending speculation there would be a 2011 fall tour with them.
From 2011 to 2015, Furay collaborated with The Piedmont Brothers Band as lead vocalist of some songs recorded in the album PBB III (2011), Back to the Country (2013) and A Christmas Piedmont (2015).
Furay appeared on the April 2013 Carla Olson album Have Harmony, Will Travel. They sang the Gene Clark (of the Byrds) classic "She Don't Care About Time" with Richard Podolor (producer of Souther Hillman & Furay) on mandolin and latter day Byrd John York on guitar.
In 2015 Furay released his CD "Hand in Hand".
Bittersweet Love
Richie Furay Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It suddenly caught me and I'm doin' it again
Wonderin' why you and I can't be friends, oh but then.
If you tried, it seems I'd have known when
But there ain't no more, you've shut the door, it's the end.
But we had cryin' and sighin' every day
Bittersweet love, how we fell to its prey
And you know that cryin' and sighin' ain't the way.
Oh baby, maybe someday we'll understand
Where the love we saw, dreams and all fit in the plan, mmm.
Bittersweet love, one that called us to play
But we had cryin' and sighin' every day
Bittersweet love, how we fell to its prey
And you know that cryin' and sighin' ain't the way.
Oh baby, maybe someday we'll understand
Where the love we saw dreams and all fit in the plan, my my.
The lyrics of Richie Furay's song "Bittersweet Love" explore the aftermath of a failed relationship. The singer is struggling to come to terms with why the relationship ended and wonders if things could have been different if they had tried harder. Despite the pain and sadness caused by the breakup, the singer recognizes that the love they shared was bittersweet - a combination of both joy and sorrow.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the conflicting emotions the singer feels about the relationship. While they enjoyed each other's company and had fun together, there was also a lot of crying and sighing due to the difficulties they faced. The singer acknowledges that this is not a sustainable or healthy way to love someone. However, there is a sense of hopefulness conveyed in the final lines of the song. The singer suggests that perhaps one day they will understand why the relationship didn't work out and where it fits into the grand plan of their lives.
Overall, "Bittersweet Love" is a poignant and introspective song about the complexities of human relationships. It portrays the highs and lows of love, the confusion and heartache of a breakup, and the hope that someday things will make sense.
Line by Line Meaning
It suddenly caught me and I'm doin' it again
I am caught up in the emotion of our past relationship once again
Wonderin' why you and I can't be friends, oh but then.
I am confused about why we cannot just be friends despite our history
If you tried, it seems I'd have known when
If you had made an effort, I would have noticed it before things fell apart
But there ain't no more, you've shut the door, it's the end.
Our relationship has come to a complete end, and you have decided to move on
Of a bittersweet love, oh one that called us to play
Our relationship was sweet in some ways, but ultimately led to pain
But we had cryin' and sighin' every day
Our relationship was filled with sadness and heartache
Bittersweet love, how we fell to its prey
Our relationship was a victim of the bittersweet nature of love
And you know that cryin' and sighin' ain't the way.
We should not have had to suffer so much in our relationship
Oh baby, maybe someday we'll understand
Perhaps one day we will be able to make sense of what happened
Where the love we saw, dreams and all fit in the plan, mmm.
We will be able to understand how our dreams and our love fit together
Bittersweet love, one that called us to play
Our relationship was a mixture of happiness and sadness
But we had cryin' and sighin' every day
Our relationship was filled with tears and pain
Bittersweet love, how we fell to its prey
We were both caught up in a love that was both good and bad
And you know that cryin' and sighin' ain't the way.
We should have been able to enjoy our relationship without so much heartache
Oh baby, maybe someday we'll understand
Perhaps one day we will make sense of what happened between us
Where the love we saw dreams and all fit in the plan, my my.
We will be able to understand where our love and all of our dreams fit in the grand scheme of things
Contributed by Caleb M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.