Talk:Ry Cooder

Untitled
In this documentary, Ry states he performed the Hollywood Bowl at age 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QelyELSju7M. If true, this article should mention what he did musically before the 1960's :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by PlaySharp (talk • contribs) 13:46, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

All great except, that I beleive "Crossroads" to be the most famous film Ry Cooder took participation in.

The Rolling Stones
Ry played on, at least, Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, and Sticky Fingers. He turned down an offer to join the "Greatest Rock and Roll Band on Earth." That might deserve a mention here, no?

I agree. I added the reference to Sister Morphine eschewing a larger edit as it was my first one! How about changing:

"In the 60's, having been brought in to the Sticky Fingers sessions to play the haunting slide guitar on Sister Morphine, Cooder notably taught Keith Richards how to play in the "Open-G" tuning; Richards having used the tuning ever since, including on many of the Stones' greatest songs."

to

"Ry Cooder was a guest session guitarist on several Rolling Stones albums in the 60's; including Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed and (most notably) contributing the haunting slide guitar solo to Sister Morphine on Sticky Fingers. He even turned down an offer to join the Rolling Stones at one point.  Cooder notably taught Keith Richards how to play in the "Open-G" tuning; Richards having used the tuning ever since, including on many of the Stones' greatest songs."

So I did...

NO NO NO....come on guys !!!! I love the Stones too, but his work with them is a speck of fly crap in a tin of black pepper. Get over it!!! He has done so much. He doesn't need his very mimimal work with the Stones front and center here. His work with them is almost insignificant. Yeh I know Keith ripped off his Honky Tonk Woman progression... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.98.15.169 (talk) 18:03, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Chieftains
Someone needs to ass his now CD with the chieftains —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.130.226.152 (talk) 15:57, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

A Meeting By The River
allmusic.com has the release year as 1993, with September 1992 as the recording time. I've therefore changed the year to 1993. SeL 13:05, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Racism
I think that ry cooder is racist because of the term chinito chinito. This is used by many hispanics to insult asians.[The above is not mine. Why is it unsigned. I don't agree, but what was the reference? DrBlues (talk) 02:17, 19 May 2008 (UTC)]DrBlues (talk) 02:18, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

Keith Richards
It would be good to see the whole of what Cooder said about Keith Richards. One thing is certain: Richards already knew the open G tuning Cooder was using for slide. Cooder spurred Richards to go at it again,(and Richards has admitted Cooder's influence - he has though always denied that he first learned it from Cooder, citing Bukka White instead as the one who showed it to Richards). Richards had already been using open E on "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Street Fighting Man" and his use of open G continued in the same vein. Richards innovation was to use open tunings for rythym guitar, taking his cue from Don Everly who had long played open tunings rhytym guitar. As to who came up with the "Honky Tonk Women" intro, that's also murky. Relaying vague rumours won't do: Cooders charges have been contended, and for an encyclopedia entry, those contentions need to be acknowledged, and the sources cited. Also, when did Cooder play with The Stones - was in 68 and 69 or only 69? - Mr Anonyomous

More on Cooder

The following was deleted "Keith Richards has stated in interviews that he took the intro riff to Honky Tonk Women from Cooder, and also plainly stated that he learned all that he could from Cooder."

This needs citation; I'm not aware of single interview where Keith has said this.

As to "Downtown Suzy" being the first time "the open g" tuning was employed, besides needing citation, what it meant by "the open-G tuning"? Keith uses a 5 string open tuning: has Cooder ever played a 5 Sting open-G? Also, yes Keith did say he took all could from Ry Cooder. Keith was obviously in a joking mood while acknowlging his musical debt to Cooder. Likewise he took all he could from Gram Parsons, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, etc ... The context is lost and it is unfairly makes it seem as though Keith is admitting to plagerism. Exaclty what Keith learned from Cooder in the deleted text is either false, unsupported, or unspecified. - Mr Anonymous

Crossroads
The comment "Cooder also stepped in for the recording of the slide guitar parts in the 1986 film Crossroads" seems to downplay Cooder's involvement in this soundtrack; that he produced and wrote/co-wrote 5 tracks as well as the slide guitar work with Vai in the duel. Peter Ritchie 15:52, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * In the sleeve notes to his compilation "The Elusive Light And Sound Vol. 1", Steve Vai states that he performed all the guitar parts except the slide, which was Cooder, and both parts of the last movement (i.e. Vai beats himself at the end). I agree though, Cooder was responsible for the whole score. And the soundtrack does contain the best version of "Crossroad blues" I have ever heard :) Wiki-is-truth 00:38, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Wish he'd kept his slide guitar out of "Buena Vista" he really spoils it there and these lovely old musicians revere him while he ruins their sound..... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.189.183.126 (talk) 17:26, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't see any mention of Arlen Roth's contribution to the Crossroads film. Arlen taught Ralph Macchio how to at least look like he could play guitar. I believe he also played much of the slide on the film. Check out what he says on his website: http://arlenroth.com/crossroads.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.160.5.25 (talk) 12:46, 4 May 2009 (UTC)
 * While true, this is only tangentially related to Ry; belongs on Crossroads page.

In the film credits, he is listed as soundtrack producer; I agree that his contribution to the film warrants more complete inclusion on this page. ~Eric F 184.76.225.106 (talk) 00:14, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Southern Comfort
Does anyone know why this soundtrack was never released in complete form? The movie credits stated it was "available", but I have never seen a copy (and I have looked for years). Stephenjh 21:31, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Didn't Cooder also do:
The sound track to the film, Blue Collar? He played git on several of the tracks and kidnapped Don Van Vliet [AKA Cpt Beefheart] to sing on the title track, Hard Workin' Man. Serves that maniac [Beefheart] right. I saw him with Zappa in San Jose, California during the "Bongo Fury" tour. Beefheart sat in the corner of the stage and yelled "fuck you" at the audience throughout the entire set until the crowd booed 'em off stage. He is the last of the midieval mad geniuses--except with a soprano sax [it always sounds like he's strangling a goose when he plays it].

And Gospel at Colonus - An almost unknown gospel retelling of the story of Oedipus.

And The Chieftan's "Long Black Veil" (1995) where he's featured on two tracks and credited with co-producing one track (Seán Glen) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.91.47.118 (talk) 17:14, 23 June 2008 (UTC)


 * And also participated in the soundtrack of Walter Hill's Streets of Fire (1984). The record includes two songs performed by Ry. See here: Streets_of_Fire elpincha (talk) 04:28, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

There is also quite a list of movie contributions not included here; probably too many to provide on this WP page. See: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0176839/ ~Eric F 184.76.225.106 (talk) 00:21, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Instruments and discography
During the sixties Ry worked as a session player. The only albums that immediately come to mind are Gordon Lightfoot's Sit Down Young Stranger and Arlo Guthrie's Running Down the Road. Should we include his session work as part of his discography?

On Running Down the Road he is credited for playing bass. I'm not sure how often he plays bass, but that could be added to his instruments. Also, "composer" is not an instrument. I don't know why that's there. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.84.15.146 (talk) 03:16, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

John Hiatt
Apart from Little Village, there's no mention of RC's work with John Hiatt, which seems a little surprising, imho. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.24.228.33 (talk) 20:24, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Not Waltzing
I took out the word "waltzing" as an adjective describing Billy the Kid. It's not a waltz.165.12.252.113 (talk) 01:54, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Birth place
Where was he born, where did he grew up?

MauriceM3 (talk) 01:18, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

1960s
Suggest moving: The 1975 compilation album Metamorphosis features an uncredited Cooder contribution on Bill Wyman's "Downtown Suzie." to: 1970s ~Eric F 184.76.225.106 (talk) 00:58, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Any citation for this?
Moved here from article page.Djembayz (talk) 19:04, 26 May 2014 (UTC) Though he had great success with the album the American Government fined Cooder for $25,000 for collaborating with the Cubans.--Rycooder1991 (talk) 18:58, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

Huh!?!?!?
Here's a cracker for ya - "For A Meeting by the River (1993), which also featured his son Joachim Cooder on percussion, he teamed with Hindustani classical musician V.M. Bhatt, a virtuoso of the Mohan Veena, a modified 20-string archtop guitar of Bhatt's own invention and Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari also known as Pinky Tabla Player (Disciple of PT Kishan Maharaj Ji) has the ability to capture audience with his Dynamic Rhythm and Sound."

While I can figure out what was meant, the sentence is messed up. Perhaps - "For A Meeting by the River (1993), which also featured his son Joachim Cooder on percussion, he teamed with Hindustani classical musician V.M. Bhatt, a virtuoso of the Mohan Veena (a modified 20-string archtop guitar of Bhatt's own invention) and Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari, also known as Pinky Tabla Player (Disciple of PT Kishan Maharaj Ji), who has the ability to (capture/engage) an audience with his Dynamic Rhythm and Sound."

I still think it's a bit clumsy so I would appreciate another editor weighing in on this one. Thanks!THX1136 (talk) 16:26, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I don't see why Pinky's "audience capture" abilities are particulary relevant in an article on Cooder. So I'd suggest trimming that last part. Even his discipleship seems a little tenuous. Martinevans123 (talk) 16:55, 28 January 2015 (UTC)


 * I did the edit discussed here. If someone feels it is in error, feel free to revert. Thanks!THX1136 (talk) 16:10, 10 March 2015 (UTC)

Tragically Hip/terminal cancer reference in introduction
I found the inclusion of the lyrical reference to Ry Cooder by The Tragically Hip to be not very relevant and the kind of thing that is normally placed late in an article (cultural significance/media). More importantly I found the statement that a "lyricist and front man announced a diagnosis of terminal cancer in May 2016" alarming as it appears to pertain to Ry Cooder himself. Since it does not, and refers to the health of another musician in an unrelated band, that line should be deleted as irrelevant and possibly misleading, while the lyrical reference could just be relocated to the appropriate section. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.254.147.8 (talk) 20:31, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

Electric bouzouki?
The shows Cooder playing what appears to be an electric bouzouki or similar: however, there's no mention of this on the page. Can anyone shed light on whether this is one of his chosen instruments? ~dom Kaos~ (talk) 12:26, 9 June 2018 (UTC)
 * This 2015 review of at The New York Times says: "Ry Cooder began the first encore at Zankel Hall on Saturday night with a shadowy, droning solo on electric bouzouki..." So apparently, yes. Martinevans123 (talk) 12:49, 9 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Oh, well found! I'm not a big expert on Cooder, so I'm hesitant to add the instrument without checking here first: how would other editors feel about adding the instrument to the infobox (with the above URL as a ref), and changing the picture caption to "Cooder playing the electric bouzouki while performing with Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White, McGlohon Theater, Charlotte, NC, August 19, 2015" ? ~dom Kaos~ (talk) 19:01, 10 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Sounds fine to me. Obviously not one of his main instruments. But quite frankly, I think if it's got strings, he can probably play it to perfection! There's very probably a story behind this - who introduced him to the bouzouki (my guess would be David Lindley - who can also play just about anything). Perhaps a hard-core fan would know. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:22, 10 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I suspect you're right regarding his versatility regarding stringed instruments :-) I'll give it a week or so, and if nobody has any objections I'll enact my suggestions. ~dom Kaos~ (talk) 07:55, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Done ~dom Kaos~ (talk) 12:18, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

Discography - charts
The discography section could do with a lot of work, eg here are the one single and 13 albums which charted in the UK: https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/28891/ry-cooder/ John a s (talk) 16:11, 16 August 2021 (UTC)

"As Session Musician" section invisible in Safari
I can see it in Firefox. But in Safari, the article ends with the section heading. And if I search for "Hiatt" on the page, it's highlighted in the invisible section. Am I crazy? Peterh6658 (talk) 23:29, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Fixed. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:41, 23 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Tell him, Jonesy! (response inspired by J. Geils Band song of the same name, from their Peter Wolf-less era). Peterh6658 (talk) 07:11, 28 March 2024 (UTC)