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" I give up on pop music. As far as a commercial entity, as far as pop music goes, I quit; I absolutely throw in the towel. I can't handle it. I can't do it. I can't be what they need you to be. "

Ry Cooder

Handle

Need

Quit

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" Music creates complicity, and then you feel less isolated. "

" If every song is in the past tense, that's a drag, so you have to predict the future. "

" 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've been wanting an ice cream truck forever. "

" 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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" People who aren't as interested in recorded music as they used to be will say, 'Oh, 'Buena Vista?' Loved it.' And I'll say, 'Well, how about any of my other recent records. I've been doing some pretty good ones. You like those?' And they go, 'Huh?' "

" 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

" Back in the early '70s, when Susie and I were first married, we had a little house that we rented, and we used to have parties. People would come, and they wouldn't leave. I used to get so tired. I'd put on the Stanley Brothers, 'Songs for the Good People,' and the house would clear in five minutes. It was not liked; it was alien. It was weird. "

" I always like spoken word records. "

Ry Cooder

Always

Records

" Chavez Ravine is the dawn of Chicano consciousness. "

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

" I love listening to gospel records. "

" That's what records do: represent a compressed, heightened version of the sound. Because of the compression of the tubes and microphones and the wax, it's magic! "

" The ocean is very comfortable. I could never live inland. "

" I'm a great lover of ballads. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I think I'm more relaxed; I think I'm more philosophical. I don't get worried as much as I used to about things. "

" 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. "

" I always loved country gospel from back when I was a teenager in high school and started listening to bluegrass quite a lot. "

" Uncle Dave Macon was a great balladeer and banjo player from the early part of the 19th century... He would take a social problem or something that he was looking at and make up a clever little song about it, you know, in a language everyone understood, a man of the people. "

" To me, the essence of the music is the most important thing. "

Ry Cooder

The Most Important

Music

" If you're white working with non-white people, you will be branded as a colonialist by some people, regardless of your efforts or intentions. "

" I don't understand the public, but I do believe the public is oversold and underrated every day. Give the people something interesting, something to chew on, I say. "