Quotes from Sixto Rodriguez

I always like to say that you've got to... use all your talent.

Rock 'n' roll is a crazy world, and it's how things work out you can't predict.

I like Detroit.

I'm born and bred out of Detroit. Detroit is an interesting place. You've got to be from somewhere.

Solomon was a musician and David was a musician, so it's a profession that I take seriously.

I did a lot of heavy-lifting - construction, demolition, that kind of thing. Dusty, dirty work.

All my life, I never gave up on music and though there was a lot of disappointment for some that the commercial thing never happened, it has never been a disappointment for me.

I live below my means. I think that's a good discipline because you never can tell.

Was 'Crucify Your Mind' dedicated to anybody? No, it was a generalization. 'A Most Disgusting Song' is like that, too.

I play by ear - I'm self-taught. And so everything I do is through that technique.

In the '60s and '70s, a protest song was a genre in music.

I don't necessarily want a higher education, I want a wider education. I want to know everything and experience everything.

I'm a musical political, I tend to stick to what I see happening outside my front door.

Where other people live in an artificial world, I feel I live in the real world. And nothing beats reality.

You want to know the secret of life? It is to breathe in and out. And the mystery of life? You never know when it is going to end.

The social realism of ' Establishment Blues' or 'Like Janis,' are what I chose to use to express what was happening in the U.S. and what was happening to me personally.

It took me 10 years to get a four-year degree, but I graduated.

That late success has happened is OK. I'm grounded. I use my seniority to my advantage. That's helped me out. Who'd have thought? So, yeah. I'm a lucky guy.

I loved the Woody Guthrie tradition of speaking about what's happening to the country.

Musicians do music for the girls. We do music for the money. We do music for the recognition, for the rock and roll history. But we also do it because it's fun.

I loved Jimmy Reed, the chord changes, the lyrics.

There's no shame in hard work.

I have fun with words.

I'm a worker, but I think that all workers get an idea of what to do to get free. Any kind of bondage, even economic bondage, is slavery.