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Floyd.
27th July 2005, 07:00
Rodriguez, what a legend. One of my favourite beat poets; every song reads like a poem.

I only own Cold Fact (CD) and Alive (tape) but I want to own Alive on LP and if any of you have it and are willing to part with it or know where to find a copy please contact me and we can negotiate a price.

Do you own any of these?

Albums
Cold Fact March 1970 (USA, 1971 in South Africa)
Coming From Reality November 1971
After The Fact 1976 re-issue of Coming From Reality in South Africa only
At His Best 1977 compilation album with 3 previously unreleased tracks released in Australia and New Zealand only
Alive 1981 live album recorded in 1979 and released in Australia and New Zealand only
The Best Of Rodriguez 1982 re-issue of At His Best in South Africa only
Live Fact 1998 live album recorded during the 1998 South African tour
Singles
I'll Slip Away/ You'd Like To Admit It (Impact 1031) August 1967 released as Rod Riguez. Promo only?
Inner City Blues/ Forget It (Sussex SUX 204) 1970 (USA)
To Whom It May Concern/ I Think Of You (Sussex SUX 234) 1970 (USA)
To Whom It May Concern/ I Think Of You (A&M 7SX-1008) 1972 (Brazil)
Sugar Man/ Inner City Blues (Blue Goose BGMS 002) 1977 (Australia)
Climb Up On My Music/ To Whom It May Concern (Blue Goose MS 309) 1978 (Australia)
Sugar Man/ Tom Cat by Muddy Waters (13 Amp Records AMP7001) April 2002 (UK)

If so which ones? Raid your parent record collections please all Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans.

Just to illustrate some of the mans brilliance here are the lyrics to the album Cold Fact:

Cold Fact
Lyrics taken from album back cover and South African CD booklet with corrections by Brian Currin.

SUGAR MAN
3:45
Sugar man, won't you hurry
'Cos I'm tired of these scenes
For a blue coin won't you bring back
All those colors to my dreams.

Sugar man met a false friend
On a lonely dusty road
Lost my heart when I found it
It had turned to dead black coal.
Silver, magic ships you carry
Jumpers, coke, sweet Mary Jane

Sugar man you're the answer
That makes my questions disappear
Sugar man 'cos I'm weary
Of those double games l hear

ONLY GOOD FOR CONVERSATION
2:25
My pocket don't drive me fast
My mother treats me slow
My statue's got a concrete heart
But you're the coldest ***** I know

In the factory that you call your mind
Graveyard thoughts of stone
A master thief I wouldn't enter there
You've nothing I would care to own, so help me

You're pretending that you got it made
I know you know you know no truth
You're still serving cookies and kool-aid
You're so proper and so cute

My pocket don't drive me fast
My mother treats me slow
My statue's got a concrete heart
But you're the coldest ***** I know, so help me

CRUCIFY YOUR MIND
2:30
Was it a huntsman or a player
That made you pay the cost
That now assumes relaxed positions
And prostitutes your loss?
Were you tortured by your own thirst
In those pleasures that you seek
That made you Tom the curious
That makes you James the weak?

And you claim you got something going
Something you call unique
But I've seen your self-pity showing
And the tears rolled down your cheeks.

Soon you know I'll leave you
And I'll never look behind
'Cos I was born for the purpose
That crucifies your mind.
So con, convince your mirror
As you've always done before
Giving substance to shadows
Giving substance ever more.

And you assume you got something to offer
Secrets shiny and new
But how much of you is repetition
That you didn't whisper to him too.

THIS IS NOT A SONG IT'S AN OUTBURST: OR THE ESTABLISHMENT BLUES
2:05
The mayor hides the crime rate
council woman hesitates
Public gets irate but forget the vote date
Weatherman complaining, predicted sun, it's raining
Everyone's protesting, boyfriend keeps suggesting
you're not like all of the rest.

Garbage ain't collected, women ain't protected
Politicians using people, they've been abusing
The mafia's getting bigger, like pollution in the river
And you tell me that this is where it's at.

Woke up this moming with an ache in my head
Splashed on my clothes as I spilled out of bed
Opened the window to listen to the news
But all I heard was the Establishment's Blues.

Gun sales are soaring, housewives find life boring
Divorce the only answer smoking causes cancer
This system's gonna fall soon, to an angry young tune
And that's a concrete cold fact.

The pope digs population, freedom from taxation
Teeny Bops are up tight, drinking at a stoplight
Miniskirt is flirting I can't stop so I'm hurting
Spinster sells her hopeless chest.

Adultery plays the kitchen, bigot cops non-fiction
The little man gets shafted, sons and monies drafted
Living by a time piece, new war in the far east.
Can you pass the Rorschach test?

It's a hassle is an educated guess.
Well, frankly I couldn't care less.

HATE STREET DIALOGUE
2:30
Woman please be gone
You've stayed here much too long
Don't you wish that you could cry
Don't you wish I would die.

Seamy, seesaw kids
Childwoman on the skids
The dust will choke you blind
The lust will choke your mind.

I kiss the floor, one kick no more
The pig and hose have set me free
I've tasted hate street's hanging tree
I've tasted hate street's hanging tree.

Instrumental

I kiss the floor, one kick no more
The pig and hose have set me free
I've tasted hate street's hanging tree
I've tasted hate street's hanging tree.

The inner city birthed me
The local pusher nursed me
Cousins make it in the street
They marry every trick they meet.

A dime, a dollar they're all the same
When a man comes in to bust your game
The turn key comes, his face a grin
Locks the cell I'm in again.

I kiss the floor, one kick no more
The pig and hose have set me free
I've tasted hate street's hanging tree
I've tasted hate street's hanging tree
I've tasted hate street's hanging tree
I've tasted hate street's hanging tree...

FORGET IT
1:50

But thanks for your time
Then you can thank me for mine
And after that's said
Forget it.

Don't be inane
There's no one to blame
No reason why
You should stay here
And lie to me.

Don't say anymore
Just walk out the door
I'll get along fine
You'll see.

But thanks for your time
Then you can thank me for mine
And after that's said
Forget it.

If there was a word
But magic's absurd
I'd make one dream come true.

It didn't work out
But don't ever doubt
How I felt about you.

But thanks for your time
Then you can thank me for mine
And after that's said
Forget it.

INNER CITY BLUES
3:23
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.

7 jealous fools playing by her rules
Can't believe her
He feels so in between, can't break the scene
It would grieve her
And that's the reason why he must cry
He'll never leave her.

Crooked children, yellow chalk
writing on the concrete walk
Their King died
Drinking from a Judas cup,
looking down but seeing up
Sweet red wine
'Cos Papa don't allow no new ideas here
And now you hear the music
but the words don't sound 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.

Going down a dusty, Georgian side road
I wonder
The wind splashed in my face
can smell a trace
Of thunder.

I WONDER
2:30
I wonder how many times you've been had
And I wonder how many plans have gone bad
I wonder how many times you had sex
I wonder do you know who'll be next
I wonder l wonder wonder I do

I wonder about the love you can't find
And I wonder about the loneliness that's mine
I wonder how much going have you got
And I wonder about your friends that are not
I wonder I wonder I wonder I do

I wonder about the tears in children's eyes
And I wonder about the soldier that dies
I wonder will this hatred ever end
I wonder and worry my friend
I wonder I wonder wonder don't you?

I wonder how many times you been had
And I wonder how many dreams have gone bad
I wonder how many times you've had sex
And I wonder do you care who'll be next
I wonder I wonder wonder I do

LIKE JANIS sometimes incorrectly listed as JANE S. PIDDY
2:32
And you measure for wealth by the things you can hold
And you measure for love by the sweet things you're told
And you live in the past or a dream that you're in
And your selfishness is your cardinal sin.

And you want to be held with highest regard
It delights you so much if he's trying so hard
And you try to conceal your ordinary ways
With a smile or a shrug or some stolen cliche.

'Cos emotionally you're the same basic trip
And you know that I know of the times that you've slipped
So don't try to impress me, you're just pins and paint
And don't try to charm me with things that you ain't.

And don't try to enchant me with your manner of dress
'Cos a monkey in silk is a monkey no less
So measure for measure reflect on my said

And when I won't see you then measure it dead.

'Cos don't you understand, and don't you look about
I'm trying to take nothing from you
So why should you act so put out for me?

GOMMORAH (A NURSERY RHYME)
2:20
Come on down and see me
You know my name well
I'm everything you've read
I've got it to sell.

The ladies on my street
Aren't there for their health
Welfare checks don't pave
The road to much wealth.

The cats and the rat things
Go bump through the night
They'll come do a dance thing
Just turn off your light.

Gommorah is a nursery rhyme
You won't find in the book
It's written on your city's face
Just stop and take a look.

A story of pure hate
With pictures between
A tale for your kids
To help them to dream.

Sleep now little children
Don't lose your way
'Cos tourists don't see things
In the clearness of day.

Gommorah is a nursery rhyme
You won't find in the book
It's written on your city's face
Just stop and take a look.

RICH FOLKS HOAX
3:05
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 think 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.

JANE S. PIDDY sometimes incorrectly listed as LIKE JANIS
2.54
Now you sit there thinking feeling insecure
The mocking court jester claims there is no proven cure
Go back to your chamber, your eyes upon the wall
'Cos you got no one to listen, you got no one to call

And you think I'm curious

Drifting, drowning in a purple sea of doubt
You wanna hear she loves you,
but the words don't fit the mouth
You're a loser, a rebel, a cause without

But don't think me callous

Dancing Rosemary, disappearing sister Ruth
It's just your yellow appetite
that has you choking on the truth
You gave in, you gave out, outlived your dream of youth

And I can't get jealous

So go on, you'll continue with your nose so open wide
Knocking on that door that says Hurry come inside
But don't bother to buy insurance 'cos you've already died

And you can't be serious

I saw my reflection in my father's final tears
The wind was slowly melting, San Francisco disappears
Acid heads, unmade beds, and you Woodward world queers

I know you're lonely
I know you're lonely
I know you're lonely...

Spoken:
Thanks for your time
And you can thank me for mine
And after that's said
Forget it.

Bag it, man

(Okay)

All lyrics written by Rodriguez except "Gommorah" and "Hate Street Dialogue" by Harvey/Coffey/Theodore

He toured Australia in 79 and Alive is just a live concert from the tour basically I'd like to hear stories from if you or your parents saw him.

Here's the official fan site: http://www.sugarman.org/

Floyd.
8th August 2005, 06:01
*bump*

I have Cold Fact. Have found a copy of Alive on vinyl and have half of it payed for and am currently downloading 'Coming From Reality' so if anybody is interested just dig up that PM me for my soulseek username.