Welch schöne Worte, die mir Facebook in die Timeline gespült hat:
For almost 40 years Rodriguez was the Holy Grail for me but I didn’t know it. In 1970, WCAM in Camden, NJ went with a nighttime Underground Radio format – an odd choice for an AM station. The deejays could play whatever they wanted and one night I heard a spooky song sung by a guy who sounded like a cross between James Taylor and Jose Feliciano. The lyric appeared to be about drugs and the melody was immediately memorable and haunting. I waited for a back-announcement but that didn’t happen and I never heard the song again. I was pretty sure it was called Candyman and for years I searched record stores for a tune with that title. Nothing. Nothing that sounded remotely like that recording, at least. When the internet arrived I got back on the case. Still nothing, Fast forward to 2008. I’m at Amoeba Records in L.A. and I come across a reissue of an album I recall seeing in the racks back in the day, Cold Fact by Rodriguez. It was on Light In The Attic Records, a label I trusted, so I picked it up. When I got to the underground parking garage I broke the shrink wrap and slipped the CD into my car stereo. Before putting the car into gear the album began and there it was! That song! I couldn’t believe it. The Holy Grail! Turns out it was called Sugarman, not Candyman. It took 38 years but the mystery was finally solved!
Rest In Peace, Sixto Rodriguez. Thank you for the journey. It was totally worth it.
– The Many Moods of Ben Vaughn | Link zum Kommentar
In dem Plattenladen ist er 2008 sogar mit ziemlich großer Band aufgetreten und ich war gerade dabei mir die schöne Aufnahme anzusehen und anzuhören. Inmitten von „Cant’t Get Away“ stieß ich auf den FB-Kommentar. (So ein Algorithmus ist doch etwas Gutes!)
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Dirty, dirty feet from the concert in the grass / I wanted to believe that freedom there could last (Willy Mason)