The way the counter-culture from the 1968-75 has been buried is actually kind of astonishing when you think about it. The values were absorbed to a small degree by the general population but a materialism and celebrity culture have taken over. The internet age is also quite isolating to the degree that we couldn't have another Beatles or Bob Dylan today anyway, because the message is diluted against the stream of competing memes and infotainment. This is most likely a purposeful strategy on the part of TPTB to pacify public opinion. Rodriguez is made into product too, but the message in the lyrics is strong enough to counter that commodification. I've read that his lyrics were really too strong for radio in 1970 and that's the main reason he didn't get almost any airplay at the time. I've also read that Hollywood is considering making a film about Rodriguez's life story with Johnny Depp in the lead. Pretty crazy, and somehow I doubt it will happen. But it would bring more attention to Detroit and Rodriguez's message, so that would be good I guess.
I'll Slip Away is about ending a relationship, but it's also generally a "drop out-tune in" song about making one's own values in the world.
And you can keep your symbols of success
Then I'll pursue my own happiness
And you can keep your clocks and routines
Then I'll go mend all my shattered dreams
Maybe today, yeah
I'll slip away
Detroit is the "city of victims", and Rodriguez is an ambassador from the working class, from the every day world of life lived in labour, in creativity. What has happened in Detroit is indicative of the general apathy and neglect people in power have for the suffering poor. for the quality of our daily lives. America's social fabric is torn and fraying and all we get from Washington is stale-mate politics in the House and a puppet show of empty words and no action. The inner city blues have been around ever since there were cities, capitalism creates a victimised class, it requires it. America the melting pot has changed to a pressure cooker. Detroit is being left to rot by our new economy, and the cancer is spreading. We turn our back on Detroit, we turn our back on the poor. And they say it's a Christian nation.
Going down a dirty inner city side road
I plotted
Madness passed me by, she smiled hi
I nodded
Looked up as the sky began to cry
She shot it
Met a girl from Dearborn, early six o'clock this morn
A cold fact
Asked about her bag, suburbia's such a drag
Won't go back
Cos Papa don't allow no new ideas here
And now he sees the news, but the picture's not too clear
Mama, Papa, stop
Treasure what you got
Soon you may be caught
Without it
The curfew's set for eight
Will it ever all be straight
I doubt it
image source: tidal magazine
When I saw Searching for Sugarman I had also been rereading Suttree by Cormac McCarthy. Suttree takes place in another desolate city, McAnally Flats (Mechanicsville) in Knoxville, TN, by a fetid river under a relentlessly blazing sun. Set in the 50s it focuses on the drunks and misfit rebels who, like Rodriguez, refuse to take the straight road. Now clearly the comparison is not so direct, Rodriguez is much less alienated than the character Suttree, he worked, had children, wrote these great songs. Suttree, on the other hand, is trapped with his own dark despair, plagued by existential questions which remain unanswerable. But what they do have in common is an abiding acceptance of the world, of their lots in life. The surprise surrounding Rodriguez has focused on his quiet acceptance of his recognition, and also his fierce belief in his life lived in poverty and hard-labour. But why should he not be proud of who he is and what he has done in his life? Our materialistic, celebrity-driven culture only focuses on success, but what about living, what about our day-to-day lives? This is the existential fact of time passing which is embodied in Rodriguez's story, as well as in the character of Suttree. There is an excellent essay online by John Rothfork called Redemption as Language in Cormac McCarthy's Suttree which examines the book in light of pre-Socratic philosophy, Meister Echkart, and Camus. A quote there from Eckhart reminded me of Rodriguez:
"A disinterested man, pure in heart, has no prayer, for to pray is to want something from God, something added that one desires, or something that God is to take away. The disinterested person, however, wants nothing, and neither has he anything of which he would be rid. Therefore he has no prayer, or he prays only to be uniform with God…. When the soul achieves this, it loses its identity, it absorbs God and is reduced to nothing…. Nothing helps toward this end like disinterest."
This is the secret that Rodriguez knows, he is at peace because he has detached himself from needs. Like Suttree, its not that he doesn't feel for the world, but rather he has come to see that all men are equal, that life itself is enough and full of riches if we know how to look. Just let his lyrics speak again:
Rick Folks Hoax
The moon is hanging in the purple sky
The baby's sleeping while its mother sighs
Talking 'bout the rich folks
Rich folks have the same jokes
And they park in basic places
The priest is preaching from a shallow grave
He counts his money, then he paints you saved
Talking to the young folks
Young folks share the same jokes
But they meet in older places
So don't tell me about your success
Nor your recipes for my happiness
Smoke in bed
I never could digest
Those illusions you claim to have going
The sun is shining, as it's always done
Coffin dust is the fate of everyone
Talking 'bout the rich folks
The poor create the rich hoax
And only late breast-fed fools believe it
So don't tell me about your success
Nor your recipes for my happiness
Smoke in bed
I never could digest
Those illusions you claim to have going
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