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" If it hadn't been for record people like Ralph Peer, the Chess brothers, and Alan Lomax, then life would've been unbelievably dull, and I would've been sacking groceries somewhere and probably, at this point, running a little 7-Eleven down by the airport. "

Ry Cooder

People

Airport

Chess

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" I've listened to blues my whole life. I know it, I play it, I understand it. "

" 'Geronimo' was a huge amount of work. That involved 80-piece orchestras and Indians and Tuvans and all kinds of crazy people on that thing. That's a real circus, that score. "

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

" 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. "

" 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! "

" Country hillbilly music I love. Always have. "

" 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

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

" It all started back in '69 when I worked with Jack Nitzche on 'Performance.' That was my first experience of doing soundtracks, and I've enjoyed doing them ever since. "

" 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. "

" 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'm not interested in making folkloric records, but I like to push the traditional format around so that familiar patterns get knocked on the head. "

" I'm a man of peace. "

Ry Cooder

Man

Peace

" I'm used to music as a tool, taking the various elements and then making something completely new out of them. And writing film music is the perfect opportunity to do that, because you can look at the film and then just let your imagination soar. "

" I can't help what people write or think. If somebody thinks I'm a serious archivist, they're wrong. That's been a problem. It's a shame people take that attitude, because it affects how they listen to the music. It's a big mistake to treat any pop music that way. "

" 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. "

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

Ry Cooder

Sound

Need

" I always like spoken word records. "

Ry Cooder

Always

Records

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

" 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. "

" The biggest inspiration I had was to take norteno soul music and fuse it with Mexican music. It was my great big idea to do that. "

" Travelling is hard. I'm no traveller. I hate flying, and I hate hotels. "

" The thing I always found about the gospel music was that it reached further into your being if you like, your mind. It takes hold of you - especially if you sing it and play it. "

Ry Cooder

You

Always

" It's tremendously expensive to make a record on the basis of writing checks. "

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

" It's good to see more young people playing instruments. "

Ry Cooder

People

Playing

" All I know is, I play the guitar, beat it out, and sing a song that has some damn resonance that we feel as musicians. We send it out and people get it, and that's a good thing. "

" 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

" I used to sneak gospel tunes into my old records, just as kind of a personal thing. "