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".
Veinte Años
Ry Cooder Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Si tú no me quieres ya?
El amor que ya ha pasado
No se debe recordar
Fui la ilusión de tu vida
Un día lejano ya
Hoy represento al pasado
Hoy represento al pasado
No me puedo conformar
Si las cosas que uno quiere
Se pudieran alcanzar
Tú me quisieras lo mismo
Que veinte años atrás
Con qué tristeza miramos
Un amor que se nos va
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Si las cosas que uno quiere
Se pudieran alcanzar
Tú me quisieras lo mismo
Que veinte años atrás
Con qué tristeza miramos
Un amor que se nos va
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
The lyrics to Ry Cooder's song Veinte Anos expresses the sadness and pain of a love that has ended. The first stanza questions the point of loving someone who no longer loves you back and emphasizes that the love that has passed should not be dwelt upon. The second stanza reminisces on a time when the singer was the love of the other's life but now is just a representation of the past; however, the singer cannot bring themselves to accept this fact. The chorus expresses the wish that the loved one would love them just as they did twenty years ago, but this hope brings more sadness as they acknowledge the loss of a love that is slipping away.
The final stanza establishes the heartbreaking nature of losing love, as the pain can be felt as if a piece of the soul is being ripped away without any mercy. The repetition of this line accentuates the raw and genuine emotional depth of the singer, and the song ends with the same bittersweet hope that the loved one would love them like they used to.
Overall, the song deals with the timeless theme of lost love and the struggle of letting go, even years later.
Line by Line Meaning
¿Qué te importa que te ame
What does it matter if I love you?
Si tú no me quieres ya?
If you don't love me anymore?
El amor que ya ha pasado
The love that has already passed
No se debe recordar
Should not be remembered
Fui la ilusión de tu vida
I was the illusion of your life
Un día lejano ya
A distant day
Hoy represento al pasado
Today I represent the past
No me puedo conformar
I cannot be content with that
Si las cosas que uno quiere
If the things one wants
Se pudieran alcanzar
Could be achieved
Tú me quisieras lo mismo
You would love me the same
Que veinte años atrás
As you did twenty years ago
Con qué tristeza miramos
With what sadness we look
Un amor que se nos va
At a love that is leaving us
Es un pedazo del alma
It is a piece of the soul
Que se arranca sin piedad
That is torn away mercilessly
Es un pedazo del alma
It is a piece of the soul
Que se arranca sin piedad
That is torn away mercilessly
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: MARIA TERESA VERA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Steve Brady
¿Qué te importa que te ame
Si tú no me quieres ya?
El amor que ya ha pasado
No se debe recordar
Fui la ilusión de tu vida
Un día lejano ya
Hoy represento al pasado
No me puedo conformar
Hoy represento al pasado
No me puedo conformar
Si las cosas que uno quiere
Se pudieran alcanzar
Tú me quisieras lo mismo
Que veinte años atrás
Con qué tristeza miramos
Un amor que se nos va
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Si las cosas que uno quiere
Se pudieran alcanzar
Tú me quisieras lo mismo
Que veinte años atrás
Con qué tristeza miramos
Un amor que se nos va
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Es un pedazo del alma
Que se arranca sin piedad
Carlos Emilio
jaja. no creas. GSL. pero es verdad, fue compuesta en 1935 por María Teresa Vera y Guillermina Aramburu. Qué te importa que te ame
si tú no me quieres ya.
El amor que ya ha pasado
no se debe recordar.
Fui la ilusión de tu vida
un día lejano ya.
Hoy represento el pasado,
no me puedo conformar.
Si las cosas que uno quiere
se pudieran alcanzar,
tú me quisieras lo mismo
que veinte años atrás.
Con qué tristeza miramos
un amor que se nos va:
es un pedazo del alma
que se arranca sin piedad.
Juan Leonardo Merlos Rosales
Hace una semana cumplí 50 años de casados con mi esposa. MUCHOS LO SUPIERON, y nadie nos dió un saludo ni felicitación. Hoy entiendo está canción, y lamento por todos aquellos no no pudieron llegar a viejos con su primer amor. Después de todo y a mis 74 años de vida me doy cuenta que pocos somos los que llegamos hasta aquí. Bella canción.
BigSnoth65
pues aunque tarde yo los felicito con todo mi corazon no muchas parejas en hoy dia permanecen casados , tanto tiempo ,
yo voy acumplir 31primaveras casado y me siento en la mejor etapa de mi vida
le pido a dios y me conseda llegar igual que uds ,,saludos desde ( LAS VEGAS NEVADA ,,EU )FELICITACIONES DE NUEVO Y QUE DIOS LOS MANTENGA CON BUENA SALUD Y VIDA AMEN .
Emilce Gavito
Te digo, tuve muchos amores en mi vida... Esto me trae recuerdos... Supe alejarme cuando vi q era peligroso.
seventeen
Congratulations.. bu harika !!!
Sara Larrucea
Felicitaciones por tantos años de amor de comprension de vompañia..es lo mas bello q te pudo pasar.
Una bendicion real del cielo!!
Elwache28
Yo no conosco, pero permítame tomarme el atrevimiento de felicitarlo! Cómo le hizo? Cual fue la clave! Yo ni siquiera tenga la edad que usted lleva de casados, pero tengo con mi esposa 10 años de casado y estuvimos 7 años de novio. Felicidades nuevamente maestro
mbc5820
Cuando uno no conoce el amor, podemos escuchar mil canciones y no ponemos atención a ninguna, pero cuándo te enamoras, las guardas en el corazón ; hermosa canción.
Jared Renteria
:/
Reneko Rodriguez
No solo se guardan,se sienten...
Yuraima Sanchez
😘