rodriguez - sugarman


Ken Gargett

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local station played the doco - 'searching for sugarman'.

also read a bit re the whole thing.

until the doco, i had no idea he was huge in south africa. but what is more interesting to me is that i had no idea he was not huge in the states, late 70's and 80's. not just 'not huge' but near unknown. crazy stuff.

in australia back then, he was massive. you simply did not go to a party and not hear his music half the night (and if my mates and i were there, the other was every chance of bruce, bob and neil young). i remember sneaking into a concert of his at festival hall in brizzy (where everyone played a few decades ago).

not many songs actually reduce me to tears but i remember the first time i heard 'cause', just sitting and near sobbing. i still tear up a bit every time i hear it (and rodriguez has long been one of the very few singers who ever gets to interrupt the bruce-around on my CD player). i have put a u-tube clip of that song for anyone who has not heard it. get out your hankies.

i know the doco has created some interest in him in the states but i'd be very interested if any of our members from the states who were around late 70's and early 80's can shed any light.

was he simply unknown?

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I grew up in the 70's and 80's in the US (Arizona), and I never heard of Rodriguez until the movie Sugarman came out.

quite amazing. as he was american, we all just assumed he was huge in the states. for us, for a time, he was as big as the stones, bee gees, a few others.

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Watched the doco last year. I couldn't help but think about what I had missed out on growing up. But then you need to think about what he missed out on. Great music. No wonder he was and likely still is so popular over there and in Africa.

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Great doco and great music. I've been listening to Rodriguez for a while now and people at work told me about this doco and are now fans of his music, which is great!

Cause is my favourite song too, agree with you Ken, the lyrics are quite powerful. They released an album of the soundtrack from the doco which is a good compilation of his music too, great smoking music!

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Saw the doco too Ken. At 47yo I think I just missed him here in Australia and never really knew anything about him. But downloaded a few songs from iTunes afterwards. I especially like 'Can't get away'. Avoided 'cause' - I have a tendency to cry anyway after a few drinks.peace.gif

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Great documentary, too bad that the director committed suicide. I wonder will always be my favorite song of his. Lived in Detroit my whole life and never heard of him until I saw the doc. Now you see his stuff here and there. Still, to me he was on par with Dylan.

Tom

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  • 3 weeks later...

Before my time, but love his music. I saw him in concert in Cape Town last year and it was a great show. You could really feel the love South Africans have for him

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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