Quotes from Ry Cooder

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

Having my son on drums has made a huge difference. I can't stress this strongly enough, in terms of the groove space and style that Joachim gave me to instinctively play what I felt in a more free way, rather than feeling constricted. That's true on record and on stage.

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

When the real world intrudes on your musical fantasies, I get put out.

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.

The '50s was the golden age of music all over the world for some crazy, 'X-File'-like reason I can't quite understand.

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.

With country, it's hard to penetrate the thick layers of commercialism that have been applied like shellac coatings over the real thing.

A microphone has a certain range. It's not as good as your ears, but it will capture an enclosed space, the harmonic content in a room. Nice old tube mikes do that pretty well. And that's a good sound.

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

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.

American global economic imperialism is a fact. It's a known fact. It's a simple fact.

Chavez Ravine is the dawn of Chicano consciousness.

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

Having my son on drums has made a huge difference. I can't stress this strongly enough, in terms of the groove space and style that Joachim gave me to instinctively play what I felt in a more free way, rather than feeling constricted. That's true on record and on stage.

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.

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

Music creates complicity, and then you feel less isolated.

Music is all starting to sound alike in the modern era. Afro-pop sounds exactly like L.A. pop - there's no difference, no ambience, no real resonance.

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

Musicians understand each other through means other than speaking.

Nat King Cole - I listen to him a lot.

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.

People respond to any good you can do in music.