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" 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

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" Being the front guy is a hard job. "

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

Ry Cooder

Job

Problems

" 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 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

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

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

Ry Cooder

The Most Important

Music

" R&B and all that stuff was always very spare and spontaneous. Nobody made those records under solid gold situations. It was just in and out, and you didn't labor over the thing. I like music like that. "

" Critics don't sell records, unfortunately. No one reads what they write anyway. "

" 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 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. "

" I keep my mind on track, and I don't get mad, and I don't get frustrated. Well, I do... but creative work, it's a way of controlling all that. "

" Promoters don't book you 'cause they like you; they do it 'cause there's good business to be done. "

Ry Cooder

Business

You

" I wanted to be a car pinstriper, but there was nobody to teach me how to do it. So I said, 'Music's good too. I'll do that maybe, since I can't work out how to do this pinstriping.' "

" Country hillbilly music I love. Always have. "

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

" You have to be able to improvise and respond to what's going on around you. Then you might get a good piece of work done. "

" If you're taught to hate and fear a people or a country, and it works, it's because of your ignorance of that country. You have no contact with it, nor do you know what you're hating and fearing. "

" 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'm a great lover of ballads. "

" I'm sort of an osmotic fellow. "

Ry Cooder

Sort

Fellow

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

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

" After all is said and done and institutions fail, people still have some ability to care for each other. "

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

" Politics runs on power and money and on ignorance. "

" 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

" What kills music in films is when it's done as performance, drawing attention to the fact that someone's in the background playing it. "