Growing up in a family of seven children in Torquay, Victoria (Australia), near the famous surfing location Bells Beach, Rudd showed a keen interest in music. While primary school-aged, Rudd used his mother's vacuum cleaner as a makeshift didgeridoo and he began playing his brother's guitar. He also played saxophone and clarinet as a child.
Before launching his solo career, Rudd began playing music as part of the band 'Xavier and the Hum'. In 2004, Rudd released Solace, his first album to be distributed by a major label.
Rudd's music is compassionate and always manages to render emotion in his fans. His songs include stories of the mistreatment of the indigenous people of his homeland; they tell of humanity, spirituality or the environment. The songs are written and sung with compassion and they urge the celebration of life.
Rudd is skilled with a variety of instruments, include guitar, shaker, didgeridoo, Weissenborn slide guitar, Tongue drum, stomp boxe, djembe, harmonica, ankle bells, and slide banjo. It's an experience to watch him perform his songs live, as he plays the guitar, digeridoo and various percussion instruments simultaneously, using a unique stage setup. But the real magic comes when he opens his mouth and his soulful voice spills upon his audience.
Rudd recalls that when he was 10, his dad took him to see Paul Simon’s Graceland tour. “I remember seeing it and knowing that that was what I was gonna do,” he says. “I had no doubt. It sort of made sense, because I’d always lived in my head, in this world of song that was my own little secret. But to see that show and that whole thing happening, I sort of felt comfortable as a human, and thought.” He learned to play the digeridoo, the 50,000-year-old wooden trumpet of the Aboriginal people, by practising on a vacuum cleaner pipe.
As a teenager, Rudd really got into songwriting. He started performing at his school, with solo gigs following. He drew inspiration from artists such as Leo Kottke, Ben Harper, Natalie Merchant and multi-instrumentalist David Lindley, as well as music from diverse sources, such as Hawaii and Native American music.
As with most solo artists, Rudd has experimented playing in a band. Though it was a short- lived experiment, as Rudd quickly found that it wasn't the right way to go for him. “What I do now is just more me,” he says. “And it sounds full.”
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“It’s all about peace and happiness,” he says of his performances. “That’s sort of the blanket that seems to sort of settle in the room, or on the venue when I play, but I sort of feel not solely responsible. I don’t really feel like it’s me and the audience. I feel like it’s all of us, one big connection and I just happen to be channeling the energy through music. It comes from the audience and channels through me and I put it back in the audience.”
“My music is about good spirit. I’m so lucky to be able to do what I do. I’m so blessed to be able to be able to travel around and play music and connect with so many people in so many places in so many cultures. It’s a gift of life as a musician.”
After the failure of his marriage in 2009, Rudd was supported in his grief and recovery by new South African bandmates, bassist Tio Moloantoa and percussionist Andile Nqubezelo. Rudd had met Moloantoa and Nqubezelo performing at the 2008 Wiesen Nuke Festival in Austria. Rudd described his connection with Moloantoa and Nqubezelo as musical, spiritual and emotional—"I feel like they were sent to me," he said.
In 2010 Rudd bought 20 hectares of property at Koonyum Range, Mullumbimby, the location was the inspiration for the name of the album Rudd would release with Moloantoa and Nqubezelo, titled "Koonyum Sun", as Xavier Rudd & Izintaba. The album moved away from the heavier sound of Rudd's 2008 album "Dark Shades of Blue" to a more up-beat style.
"Nanna", the 2015 album Rudd released as Xavier Rudd & the United Nations champions cultural understanding and condemns racism and intolerance. It features a diverse group of musicians from Australia, South Africa, Samoa, Germany, Ireland, and Papua New Guinea.
In 2018, Rudd released "Storm Boy".
Set Me Free
Xavier Rudd Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Built on hopeless foundations of lies and deceit
We stand in this river completely unknown
The sacred Lake Tahoe has truth in it's flow
Ancestors work slowly with things we must see
and I feel it has come, my time for release
Will you set me free
Will you set me free
I know what I know, and I see what I see
Will you set me free
I feel it has come, my time for release
Will you set me free
Let me fly
and I sink down below, the surface is rage
Holding on to a boulder, surrender with grace
and I think of my first-born, these times and his place
and his beauty and wisdom and all gentle ways
Watches over his brother, like the lion he is
and he knows what he knows, and he sees what he sees
Would you set me free
The feel it has come, my time for release
Will you set me free
and I know what I know, and I see what I see
would you set me free
and I feel it has come, my time for release
Will you set me free
Let me fly
Young lazy French kid who ruined our world
With the ways of his father passed through his bones
Was it once was it twice was it nothing at all
It was inside my temple it was inside my home
and I look in this mirror with patience and grief
and I know what I know, and I see what I see
Would you set me free
and I feel it has come, my time for release
Will you set me free
and I know what I know, and I see what I see
Would you set me free
Let me fly
My feel it has come, my time for release
Will you set me free
Let me fly
Gave my heart to you
Gave me soul to you
Gave it all to you
on my knees
Gave my heart to you
Gave me soul to you
Gave it all to you
on my knees
Rising up (set me free), falling down
Rising up, falling down
Rising up (set me free), falling down (let me fly)
I feel it has come, my time for release
Will you set me free
In Xavier Rudd's "Set Me Free," the singer portrays his longing for freedom and release from the burden of past mistakes and crisis. The song's lyrics contain vivid imagery and emotions that reflect past hurts and struggles, as well as hopeful optimism and faith in the healing power of nature and ancestral wisdom. The song mentions a place called Reno, which is associated with lies and deceit, symbolizing the negative influences that can stifle growth and progress. The reference to the sacred Lake Tahoe represents a place of clarity and truth in contrast to the confusion and chaos of Reno.
The singer's introspection leads him to acknowledge his mistakes and seek forgiveness, both from others and himself. He contemplates his son's well-being and expresses his hope that the next generation will learn from the past's mistakes and create a better future. The lyrics also convey a sense of urgency and determination to break free from the past and embrace life's opportunities, to rise up and fall down, and to seek redemption and peace.
Overall, the song "Set Me Free" is a poignant reflection of the human experience's struggles and desperations that resonate across cultures and time. It speaks to the importance of acceptance, forgiveness, and self-awareness as roads to freedom and healing.
Line by Line Meaning
This place called reno, things unforseen
This location named Reno has unexpected circumstances and unknown events.
Built on hopeless foundations of lies and deceit
This area has a basis that is despairing due to falsehood and dishonesty.
We stand in this river completely unknown
We are in this river clueless of what may come.
The sacred Lake Tahoe has truth in it's flow
Lake Tahoe holds honesty in its current and is considered sacred.
Ancestors work slowly with things we must see
Our predecessors meticulously act on things that we have to witness.
and I feel it has come, my time for release
I sense that the time for my liberation has arrived.
Will you set me free
Are you going to free me?
I know what I know, and I see what I see
I am aware of what I am conscious, and I perceive what I notice.
Let me fly
Allow me to soar.
and I sink down below, the surface is rage
I am falling beneath; the top of the water has an intense anger.
Holding on to a boulder, surrender with grace
Clutching a rock, I submit with elegance.
and I think of my first-born, these times and his place
I recall my eldest child, the moment, and his position.
and his beauty and wisdom and all gentle ways
And his attractiveness, intelligence, and nonviolent demeanor.
Watches over his brother, like the lion he is
He takes care of his sibling just like the king of the jungle.
Would you set me free
Could you liberate me?
Young lazy French kid who ruined our world
A young, indolent French child who destroyed our planet.
With the ways of his father passed through his bones
The actions of his dad transmitted through his veins.
Was it once was it twice was it nothing at all
Was it once or maybe twice, or was it nonexistent?
It was inside my temple it was inside my home
It was inside my mind, and it was within my abode.
and I look in this mirror with patience and grief
As I stare at this mirror, I have calmness and sorrow.
Let me fly
Allow me to soar.
Gave my heart to you
Gave my affection to you.
Gave me soul to you
Gave my essence to you.
Gave it all to you
I surrendered everything to you.
on my knees
While on my knees.
Rising up (set me free), falling down
Ascending (liberate me), descending.
I feel it has come, my time for release
I think that it is my moment to be liberated.
Let me fly
Allow me to soar.
Contributed by Andrew F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.