Many of his songs reflect on the alienation of the inner-city poor
Rodriguez was bigger than The Beatles in 1970s apartheid South Africa. In this special tribute to the Mexican-American singer-songwriter who died recently, the Mail & Guardian explores the politics, mores and sounds that made him massive then, and also what makes him still relevant today.
It was in the smoky bars of Detroit, where the downside of industrialisation burdened the air, that Rodriguez had started to tell stories