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no one talks about him on here and i've been listening to his music more and more lately so here's a thread on rodriguez!
sixto rodriguez was born on july 10th 1942 in michigan, although his his parents had immigrated from mexico. he grew up in detroit and still lives there to this day.
though he was working as an excavation and demolition worker, he began writing music. in 1967 he released his song 'i'll slip away' as a single, then released two albums under the professional name rodriguez: 'cold fact' (1970) and 'coming from reality' (1971).
unfortunately, his music career never took off and he barely sold any copies of his albums at all so he left the music industry in 1975 after his record label dropped him. he was halfway through writing a third album that he never finished.
cw // reference to drugs in lyrics
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while rodriguez is a great musician, he's a better poet and his lyrics are really what he's known for. they deal with both external social/political issues and personal experiences and relationships. here are some examples:
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while rodriguez is a great musician, he's a better poet and his lyrics are really what he's known for. they deal with both external social/political issues and personal experiences and relationships. here are some examples:
his lyrics are complex without being pretentious, they make the songs so real and personal while conveying universal feelings at the same time. his lyrics have even been compared to bob dylan's.
despite never having any fame in the us, he had become incredibly famous in south africa unbeknownst to him. no one's exactly sure how his records made it there, but he was as big as the beatles and probably more influential because his songs were used as anti-apartheid anthems.
i'm not south african so i really don't know much about his popularity and influence there but if you're interested in that part of his story i really recommend looking into it! the documentary 'searching for sugar man' (the thing that introduced me to him) explains it very well.
since 1997 (when he first discovered his fame in south africa) he's done tours and concerts in north america, south africa, australia, and europe; and he's still performing to this day! i think he went to australia in 1979 and 1981 to perform but i'll have to fact-check that.
his most popular songs are 'i wonder', 'sugar man', and 'crucify your mind'. they're a great place to start if you want to get into his music.
end of thread!! i am by no means an expert so please let me know if i got anything wrong.
