Ryland "Ry" Peter Cooder (b. 1947) is a guitarist, singer and composer from… Read Full Bio ↴Ryland "Ry" Peter Cooder (b. 1947) is a guitarist, singer and composer from the United States. He is known mostly for his slide guitar work, his passion for American roots music, and for his collaborations with the Rolling Stones, the Buena Vista Social Club and many other musicians from countries all around the world.

Born in Los Angeles, California on 15th March 1947, Cooder first attracted attention in the 1960s, playing with Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band, after having worked with Taj Mahal in The Rising Sons.

He was a session guitarist on various recording sessions with the Rolling Stones in 1968 and 1969; Cooder's contributions most notably appear on the Stones' Beggars Banquet where he shares a prominent credit with pianist, Nicky Hopkins on the back cover. He continued to appear on the succeeding albums, Let It Bleed, and Sticky Fingers, on which he contributed the haunting slide guitar solo to "Sister Morphine". Cooder is reputed to have taught Keith Richards to play in open-G tuning, now a Richards hallmark, as well as to have written the open-G signature riff of "Honky Tonk Women". He was briefly considered to fill the departed Brian Jones' place in the Rolling Stones, but reportedly Cooder and Keith Richards did not get along very well. For some time after the sessions, Cooder accused Keith Richards of "ripping him off" musically, but now refuses to talk about his experiences with the Stones. Cooder played slide guitar for the 1970 film Performance, which contained Mick Jagger's first solo single, "Memo from Turner" on which Cooder played guitar.

Throughout the 1970s Cooder released a series of Warner Brothers albums that showcased his guitar work, to some degree. In this respect, Cooder's guitar work on these records is not unlike the guitar playing of Robbie Robertson on the Band's albums: Both virtuosos emphasized song over solo. Cooder's 1970s albums spotlight, more than anything, a wide-ranging taste in music. Cooder has been seen as almost a musicologist, exploring bygone musical genres with personalized and sensitive, updated reworkings of revered originals. Cooder's 1970s albums (with the exception of Jazz) cannot be neatly pigeonholed by genre, But - to generalise broadly - it might be fair to call Cooder's first album blues; Into the Purple Valley, Boomer's Story, and Paradise and Lunch, folk + blues; Chicken Skin Music and Showtime, a unique melange of Tex-Mex and Hawaiian; Jazz, 1920s jazz; Bop till You Drop 1950s R&B and blues; and Borderline an eclectic mix of Tex-Mex with blues, R&B, and country and Get Rhythm, with more rock-based excursions.

Cooder has worked as a studio musician and has also scored many film soundtracks, of which perhaps the best known is that for the 1984 Wim Wenders film Paris, Texas. Ry Cooder based this soundtrack, and the haunting title song "Paris, Texas" on Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)", which he described as "The most soulful, transcendent piece in all music from the US." His other film work includes Walter Hill's The Long Riders (1980) and Southern Comfort (1981).

In recent years, Cooder has played a role in the increased appreciation of traditional Cuban music, due to his collaboration as producer in the Buena Vista Social Club (1997) recording, which was a worldwide hit. Wim Wenders directed a documentary film of the musicians involved, Buena Vista Social Club (1999) which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000. Cooder worked with Tuvan throat singers for the score to the 1993 film Geronimo: An American Legend.

Cooder's solo work has been an eclectic mix, taking in dust bowl folk, blues, Tex-Mex, soul, gospel, rock, and almost everything else. He has collaborated with many important musicians, including the Rolling Stones, Little Feat, the Chieftains, John Lee Hooker, Gabby Pahinui, and Ali Farka Toure. He formed the Little Village supergroup with Nick Lowe, John Hiatt, and Jim Keltner.

Cooder's 1979 album Bop till You Drop was the first popular music album to be recorded digitally. It yielded his biggest hit, a disco/R&B cover of Elvis Presley's 1960s recording "Little Sister".

Married Man's A Fool
Ry Cooder Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Had a friend, Louie Brown, he was a deacon,
Just as wise as he could be.
Now I realize he could read the Good Book
Back from Revelations down to Genessee.
You know last Sunday morning we was over to the church,
My buddy wants to take him a stand,
And he looks out upon that whole congregation
The Good Book in his hand.

Now he cast his eye about, and then he looks over in the Amen Corner;
All the sisters commenced to shout. [What'd he say ?]
He said a man's a fool to think that his wife love nobody else but him.
She stick by you all your life, the chances is mighty slim.

Now you read the Good Book, chapter twenty-one:
Every married woman got to have a little fun.
Read on over chapter twenty-two:
It's a sin to let that woman make a fool outta you.
Now you read a little further, chapter twenty-three:
She two-time you, brother, like she double-crossed me.
Read on back, over chapter ten:
She shimmy one time, she like to wobble again.
'Cause a man's a fool to think that his wife
Love nobody else but him, I mean, love nobody else but him.

Well, a man's a fool to think that his wife
Love nobody else but him.
She stand by you all of your life, the chances is mighty slim.
Now you read on over twenty-fifth page:
Married woman's loyalty is hard to engage.
Read kinda careful, chapter twenty-six:
Back door slamming, you got to run and get it fixed.
Read on out, chapter twenty-eight:
Who's that back slidin' out through your back gate?
I believe I'll close on chapter twenty-nine:

Woman get tired of the same man all the time.
'Cause a man's a fool to think that his wife love nobody else but him.

Overall Meaning

Ry Cooder's "Married Man's A Fool" is a song about a married man's misguided belief that his wife is loyal to him and him alone. The song is structured as a conversation between two friends, with Louie Brown, the wise deacon, dispensing advice to a married man who believes his wife is faithful. Louie points out several verses from the Bible that suggest married women are typically unfaithful and that a man would be foolish to think otherwise.

The lyrics of the song take us through several chapters of the Bible, highlighting verses that talk about the infidelity of married women. The song suggests that men should not be naive and believe that their wives are always faithful, as this is rarely the case. Louie Brown admonishes his friend to be more realistic and to recognize the truth about married life.

The song is ultimately about the fragility of love and the difficulty of maintaining a long-term committed relationship. It suggests that love is not about possession or control, but about mutual understanding and acceptance. The song challenges traditional notions of romantic love and encourages us to be more realistic about the complexities of human relationships.

Line by Line Meaning

Had a friend, Louie Brown, he was a deacon,
I had a friend named Louie Brown who was a deacon.

Just as wise as he could be.
Louie Brown was very wise.

Now I realize he could read the Good Book
Now I see that Louie Brown could read and understand the Bible.

Back from Revelations down to Genessee.
He could read from the book of Revelations to the book of Genessee.

You know last Sunday morning we was over to the church,
Last Sunday morning, we were at the church.

My buddy wants to take him a stand,
My friend wanted to take a stand.

And he looks out upon that whole congregation
And he looked out at the whole congregation.

The Good Book in his hand.
He had the Good Book in his hand.

Now he cast his eye about, and then he looks over in the Amen Corner;
He looked around and then he looked over at the Amen Corner.

All the sisters commenced to shout. [What'd he say ?]
The women in the church started to shout. [What did he say?]

He said a man's a fool to think that his wife love nobody else but him.
He said that it is foolish for a man to think that his wife loves only him, and no one else.

She stick by you all your life, the chances is mighty slim.
Although she may stay with you for your entire life, there is a good chance that she will also love someone else too.

Now you read the Good Book, chapter twenty-one:
If you read chapter twenty-one of the Bible,

Every married woman got to have a little fun.
you will see that every married woman needs to have some fun in her life.

Read on over chapter twenty-two:
If you continue reading to chapter twenty-two:

It's a sin to let that woman make a fool outta you.
you will see that it is a sin to let your wife make a fool out of you.

Now you read a little further, chapter twenty-three:
If you keep reading to chapter twenty-three:

She two-time you, brother, like she double-crossed me.
you will read that she can cheat on you, just as she cheated on me.

Read on back, over chapter ten:
If you go back to chapter ten:

She shimmy one time, she like to wobble again.
you will read that if she dances once, she will want to dance again.

'Cause a man's a fool to think that his wife
This is because a man is foolish to think that his wife

Love nobody else but him, I mean, love nobody else but him.
loves only him and no one else.

Well, a man's a fool to think that his wife
So, a man is foolish to think that his wife

Love nobody else but him.
loves only him.

She stand by you all of your life, the chances is mighty slim.
Although she stands by you throughout your life, the probability that she would love someone else is high.

Now you read on over twenty-fifth page:
If you continue reading to page twenty-five:

Married woman's loyalty is hard to engage.
you will read that it is difficult to engage the loyalty of a married woman.

Read kinda careful, chapter twenty-six:
If you read carefully in chapter twenty-six:

Back door slamming, you got to run and get it fixed.
you will see that if the back door slams, you need to fix it.

Read on out, chapter twenty-eight:
If you continue reading to chapter twenty-eight:

Who's that back slidin' out through your back gate?
you will discover who is sneaking out of your back gate.

I believe I'll close on chapter twenty-nine:
I think I will end my discussion with chapter twenty-nine:

Woman get tired of the same man all the time.
This chapter talks about how women get tired of being with the same man all the time.

'Cause a man's a fool to think that his wife love nobody else but him.
Therefore, a man is foolish to think that his wife loves only him and nobody else.

Contributed by Josiah J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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