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".
The Way We Make a Broken Heart
Ry Cooder Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He'll have to miss
This night with you
Now you're guilty of this secret love as I am too
You'll get used to telling lies
And feeling sorry when he cries
Now that the strings are attached
'Cause this is the way we make a broken heart
Lesson number one
We've just begun
To hurt him so
And with lesson two
He'll long for you
When lights are low
Then we get to lesson three
Where he gets down on his knees
And begs you to stop at the door
Just before he comes apart
And this is the way we make a broken heart
Now we've laid a trail of tears
For him to follow
And we've thought of every line
That he might swallow
And with lesson four
There'll be no more
For him to bear
And on some dark night
We'll dim the lights
On this affair
Then he'll find somebody new
And she will hurt him too
'Cause there must be millions just like you and me
Practiced in the art
This is the way we make a broken heart
Oh, this is the way we make a broken heart
This is the way we make a broken heart
The lyrics of Ry Cooder's The Way We Make a Broken Heart narrates a story of a love affair that is on the verge of being exposed. The song starts with the singer contemplating their guilty pleasure of secretly loving someone and how they will have to miss out on being with them for just one more kiss. The second verse goes on to mention how they will get used to telling lies and will feel sorry when their partner finds out. As this affinity continues to flourish, they reach lesson one in which they make the partner jealous of their bond, and then lesson two where the partner longs for them when the lights are low. The third verse ends with the partner begging to stop as they are breaking apart, and this is the way; the two of them make a broken heart.
The song talks about how they will lead their partner on and then leave them heartbroken for someone else. The lyrics are about the art of keeping things hidden, causing pain to someone innocent, and leading them to believe that they will never be good enough. The song highlights the human condition of yearning for something forbidden and feeling guilty about it. It talks about the consequences of such actions and how they will affect those involved.
Line by Line Meaning
Just a one more kiss
One more kiss will seal the fate of our secret love affair
He'll have to miss
He will miss spending this night with you, unable to comprehend why
This night with you
Tonight is the night we choose to betray his trust and break his heart
Now you're guilty of this secret love as I am too
We are both guilty of loving each other in secret and betraying his trust
You'll get used to telling lies
You will have to become accustomed to telling lies to him
And feeling sorry when he cries
You will also have to pretend to be sorry when he sheds tears over us
Now that the strings are attached
Now that we have started this love affair which we intend to end, strings have been attached and emotions involved
He'll catch on, we've done our part
Eventually, he will understand what has happened, but by then, our part in breaking his heart will be done
'Cause this is the way we make a broken heart
This is how we choose to break his heart, by stringing him along and betraying his trust
Lesson number one
The first lesson we teach him is how to feel hurtful emotions of betrayal
We've just begun
Our plan of breaking his heart has just started and there is a lot more to come
To hurt him so
We are doing this to him intentionally and enthusiastically, knowing the hurt we cause
And with lesson two
Once he has learned lesson one, we will move on to lesson two, causing him more pain
He'll long for you
During lesson two, he will yearn and ache for you
When lights are low
Especially in the moments when the environment is intimate or romantic
Then we get to lesson three
Once he has learned lessons one and two, we will move on to the next, even crueler lesson
Where he gets down on his knees
In this lesson, he literally gets on his knees and begs you to stop this affair
And begs you to stop at the door
Even though he begs you to call off this affair, we will continue to string him along
Just before he comes apart
This is the exact moment when he comes apart, shatters and crumbles into pieces, unable to bear the torment anymore
And this is the way we make a broken heart
Our cruel plan will ultimately lead to his heartbreak, and we are intentionally orchestrating it
Now we've laid a trail of tears
We have left a trail of tears, making sure he feels the agonizing pain we caused him
For him to follow
He is supposed to follow this trail of tears, never able to escape the pain we have caused him
And we've thought of every line
We have plotted through every possible scenario and every possible reaction he might give. Our plan is comprehensive
That he might swallow
We have prepared for him to believe every lie and false pleasantry we feed him
And with lesson four
Once he has gone through the first three lessons, it is time for him to learn his final lesson
There'll be no more
After lesson four, there will be no more lies, and his heartbreak will be complete
For him to bear
We will finally stop playing with him and he will finally stop being broken by us
And on some dark night
In the dark of the night, we will end our affair with him and break his heart completely
We'll dim the lights
Like darkness closing in, we will turn the volume down on this affair and end it forever
On this affair
This is just an affair and not a true love. We will end it, and move on with our lives
Then he'll find somebody new
He will move on and find somebody new after we are done with him
And she will hurt him too
He will fall for another woman just like us who will hurt him similarly
'Cause there must be millions just like you and me
There are millions of people who betray their partners in a secret love affair, just like we do to him
Practiced in the art
Betraying someone is an art, and many people are very good at it
This is the way we make a broken heart
Our cruel plan of stringing him along, lying to him, and betraying his trust is how we chose to break his heart
Oh, this is the way we make a broken heart
Our plan is cruel, heartless, and intentional. But, this is the way we have chosen to break his heart.
This is the way we make a broken heart
Our plan is intentional, heartless, and cruel. We intended to betray his trust and break his heart, and this is the way we chose to do it
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: JOHN R HIATT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@DrewMontgomeryVoiceOvers
Such a well-written song, and love Ry's adaptation... thank you Ry and John Hiatt!
@darnick54
Brilliant version
@francoisebeylie2923
Thank you. J'aime beaucoup cette photo, l'expression de Ry Cooder , les couleurs, le vêtement, la guitare, la lumière...c'est vraiment une belle photo. Cette merveilleuse musique date de plus longtemps, 1980.
@DIIXTEELCSGO
I support You! I Hope this channel Makes it big one day! See ya bud x3