Fariña, described Fariña's novel as "coming on like the Hallelujah Chorus done by 200 kazoo players with perfect pitch... hilarious, chilling, sexy, profound, maniacal, beautiful, and outrageous all at the same time." Death On April 30, 1966, two days after the publication of his novel, Fariña attended a book-signing ceremony at a Carmel Valley Village bookstore, the Thunderbird. Later that day, while at a party to celebrate his wife Mimi Fariña's twenty-first birthday, Fariña saw a guest with a motorcycle, who later gave Fariña a ride up Carmel Valley Road, heading east toward the rural Cachagua area of Carmel Valley. At an S-turn the driver lost control. The motorcycle tipped over on the right side of the road, came back to the other side, and tore through a barbed wire fence into a field where a small vineyard now exists. The driver survived, but Fariña was killed instantly. According to Pynchon's preface to Been Down..., the police said the motorcycle must have been traveling at , even though "a prudent speed" would have been . Fariña is buried in a simple grave, its marker emblazoned with a peace sign, at Monterey City Cemetery in Monterey, California. Legacy On April 27, 1968, Fairport Convention recorded a live version of "Reno Nevada" for French TV programme Bouton Rouge, featuring vocals by Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews. They recorded the song for a BBC session later in the same year, this time with Dyble's replacement in the band Sandy Denny, subsequently included on the album Heyday. Denny also recorded "The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" for her 1972 album Sandy. Matthews later recorded "Reno Nevada" and "Morgan the Pirate" for his album "If You Saw Thro' My Eyes" as well as "House of Un-American Blues Activity Dream" for his album Tigers Will Survive, and other Fariña compositions appeared on subsequent Matthews solo albums and on recordings by Matthews' band Plainsong. South Carolina-based rock band A Fragile Tomorrow covered a version of Mimi and Richard's song "One Way Ticket" on their 2015 release Make Me Over. Their version is a collaboration with Joan Baez and Indigo Girls. Brothers Dom Kelly, Sean Kelly, and Brendan Kelly of A Fragile Tomorrow are third cousins of Richard and had wanted to cover his music with Baez. Joan Baez's song "Sweet Sir Galahad" commemorates Fariña's death, the grieving of his widow Mimi, and Mimi's eventual recovery and remarriage. Thomas