Thanks for your time, Sugar Man
Don’t ever doubt how we felt about you.
US singer and musician Sixto Rodriguez performs on stage during a concert at the Zenith on June 4, 2013 in Paris. AFP PHOTO / PIERRE ANDRIEU (Photo by PIERRE ANDRIEU / AFP)
He was almost the Man that Time Forgot… but while the rest of the world ignored Sixto Rodriguez, young kids (mainly white) in southern Africa and Australia embraced his counter-culture vibe.
Ironically, many of the white conscript soldiers who listened to his inner-city blues and anti-establishment lyrics were anything but rebellious themselves. They couldn’t see any parallels between his ridiculing of the “rich folks” and the disparities in their own, apartheid-ruled society.
ALSO READ: Cold fact: Sugar Man Sixto Rodriguez ‘slipped away’ aged 81
If they had, maybe history may have taken a different turn. It was South Africans who tracked him down after his years in the wilderness, brought him on tour here and jumped-started his stalled career.
An award-wining documentary film made about the phenomenon ensured that Rodriguez became, again, an alternative music icon. His music will go on long after his death this week at the age of 81. Many of his lyrics still ring true today as, across the world, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
But thanks for your time and then you can thank me for mine. And after that’s said Forget it. Thanks. Your fans in this part of the world will never forget you were the soundtrack to our lives. Don’t ever doubt how we felt about you…
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