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".
The Wind Cries Mary
Xavier Rudd Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the clowns have all gone to bed
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
Footsteps dressed in red
And the wind whispers Mary
A broom is drearily sweeping
Up the broken pieces of yesterdays life
Somewhere a queen is weeping
And the wind, it cries Mary
The traffic lights, they turn, uh, blue tomorrow
And shine their emptiness down on my bed
The tiny island sags down stream
'cause the life that lived is,
Is dead
And the wind screams Mary
Uh-will the wind ever remember
The names it has blow in the past?
And with this crutch, its old age, and its wisdom
It whispers no, this will be the last
And the wind cries Mary
Xavier Rudd's rendition of Jimi Hendrix's The Wind Cries Mary is a poignant and thought-provoking piece about the fragility of life and the inevitability of change. The first verse speaks of a sense of melancholy after a party, as the happiness that once seemed so tangible is now reduced to a faint memory. The second verse speaks of the mundane tasks of daily life - sweeping up broken pieces and weeping queens, juxtaposed with the broader existential questions that plague us. The third verse speaks of the passage of time and the death of a way of life - the traffic lights that once shone brightly now seem empty, the tiny island sags under the weight of what once was. The wind, personified as Mary, cries for what has been lost, for the names and lives that it has blown away. And yet, the wind also whispers with a certain finality, recognizing that this is the last time it will blow these names.
The lyrics suggest a sense of disillusionment and despair, but also a certain acceptance of the impermanence of life. The wind, Mary, becomes a metaphor for the fleeting nature of existence, blowing through our lives and leaving little trace behind. The song is a reminder to seize the day, to appreciate the moments of happiness when they come, and to recognize that all things must eventually pass.
Line by Line Meaning
After all the jacks are in their boxes
Once everyone has done what they were supposed to do and gone to bed
And the clowns have all gone to bed
And all the distractions and entertainments have ceased
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
You can hear someone who appears to be happy, but is actually not doing well, walking down the street
Footsteps dressed in red
The footsteps belong to someone who is pretending to be happy, but is actually in pain
And the wind whispers Mary
The wind carries a sad and mournful message
A broom is drearily sweeping
Someone is doing a difficult and tedious job
Up the broken pieces of yesterdays life
Cleaning up the remains of what has already happened
Somewhere a queen is weeping
Someone in a position of power and privilege is experiencing great sadness
Somewhere a king has no wife
Someone who should have a partner is alone and unhappy
And the wind, it cries Mary
Again, the wind carries a mournful message
The traffic lights, they turn, uh, blue tomorrow
A shift is coming, but it may not be positive
And shine their emptiness down on my bed
This shift may leave the artist feeling empty and alone
The tiny island sags down stream
Things are getting worse, and even small things are impacted
'Cause the life that lived is, is dead
Things have changed so much that the way of life that existed before is gone
And the wind screams Mary
Once again, the wind is carrying a mournful message
Uh-will the wind ever remember
The artist is questioning whether the world will remember what has happened
The names it has blow in the past?
Whether or not the world will remember the people who have been affected by these changes
And with this crutch, its old age, and its wisdom
The wind is old and wise, but its message is still sad
It whispers no, this will be the last
The world is changing irrevocably, and things will never be the same
And the wind cries Mary
Once again, the wind carries a mournful message
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JIMI HENDRIX
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind