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" I always have felt that most people don't have the first idea about what musicians, in the traditional sense - I don't mean in the modern media fake way, but traditionally - what they went through, what their lives were like. "

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" Everyone thought my first album would be instrumental, but I didn't want to do it - it took me eight months to make. "

Ry Cooder

First

Everyone

" People have all sorts of expectations which you can't meet. Me, I'm so reclusive I stay away from such things as much as I can. I never go anywhere. "

" Who does this, at age 71, try to put a tour together from scratch? I have to say it's scary at times. But I like a challenge 'cause it keeps you on your toes. "

" I didn't come from a very rigid background, where there's a clan or a tribe or a religion. "

" I had a lot of luck in meeting great musicians who were kind enough to show me things. "

Ry Cooder

Great

Who

" You can play as good as you want, but you have to sing from a place of living. "

" I like the idea that something happens to everybody who comes to L.A. - whether they are Mexican, Irish, black, or hillbillies. You come here, and you leave all your traditions behind. And since there's no traditions here, you just make one up. "

Ry Cooder

Mexican

Leave

" The Woody Guthrie 'Dust Bowl' tunes were really fascinating. "

" I always think you should push your envelope every chance you get. "

" The blues is so expressive - nostalgic but not sentimental, mournful but not pathetic, so humble and close to the earth. It's a nuance-filled thing. "

Ry Cooder

Blues

Earth

" I just feel that music is a great life because it's very rewarding. It's a gratification. You do this for yourself, and you also do this for other people. "

" How many BMWs do you need? How many Rolex watches you gonna wear in your lifetime, for crying out loud? What is it about that kind of desire? I don't understand it. "

" If something grooves and you like the sound, then that's all you need. "

Ry Cooder

Sound

Need

" People who love the applause should have it, but I don't care for it. "

" Beautiful tunes are all very good and fine, and great musicians are always great, but that alone isn't enough. Most folks, when they see movies or hear records, need something that they find pulls them in, draws them in, and appeals to them beyond just the notes. "

" I've done a fair amount of commercials. I did a bunch of Champion spark plug ads and Levi's and Molson Beer. You wouldn't know it. But some of it's damn good. "

" Music is fragile: people die, and it's forgotten. "

" People respond to any good you can do in music. "

" When I made the first album, I was 24, and at that age, you have nothing to say. I just played the music I loved and tried to do it justice. "

" Film work is a job I like to do because I really love to solve problems. "

Ry Cooder

Job

Problems

" The world will always love Cuban music, however it changes. "

" I didn't want tunes that preach heaven: you know, life on Earth is bad and heaven is the only hope we have. I don't quite care for that. I mean, when people sing that stuff, it's good when they do it, but I didn't want to do it. "

" The story of American pop music is the story of failure. The blues, country music, it's not the story of success. People don't win; they lose. "

" Sure, immigrants will do work that no-one else will do. There was even a movie about it - 'A Day Without Mexicans.' "

" I think all the music I do, which ties together, as far as I'm concerned, is fun and entertaining. "

" Santa Monica, where I have always lived, is not a town where you will find storefront Church of God in Christ churches. So, the whole idea of gospel quartet singing is something I never knew existed until I began to hear it on record. "

" I like classical music. I especially like the French composers: Ravel in particular. Debussy. That's so soothing in a nervous world. "

Ry Cooder

Soothing

World

" On any given day, if I play the guitar, I can put myself somewhere. I always thought, 'This is the way you go.' It's like a magic carpet, see? "

" I always thought East L.A. music was so dreamy and languid and kinda greasy. "

" Nat King Cole - I listen to him a lot. "