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".
Viola Lee Blues
Ry Cooder Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I say he wrote it down indeed
The judge decreed it, clerk he wrote it down
Give you this jail sentence you must be Nashville bound
Some got six month, some got one solid
Some got one solid year indeed
Some got six month, some doing solid here
Viola Lee Blues by Ry Cooder was inspired by the Viola Lee Blues folk tune from the 1920s. The song tells a story of a group of friends who found themselves in jail, each with different sentences. In the beginning, the judge decrees their punishments, and the clerk writes it down as an official record. The lyrics suggest that the group has been harshly punished with lifelong jail sentences while some of their friends have received shorter sentencing periods. The singer is resigned to his fate and sings of his and his buddies' sad story, saying they are all "lifetime here." The chorus is interspersed with the lyrics, which creates an emotional contrast between despair and hope.
The song tells a story of a group of friends who got into trouble with the law and were sentenced to prison for life. The lyrics suggest that the prison sentences were very harsh, and that the boys were from a modest background. The references to Nashville in the lyrics could imply that the prison where the friends were locked up is located there. The song is characterized by haunting blues music with soft guitar playing and soulful singing.
Line by Line Meaning
The judge decreed it, clerk he wrote it
The order was given by the judge, and it was documented by the clerk
I say he wrote it down indeed
I confirm that the clerk made a record of the judge's order
The judge decreed it, clerk he wrote it down
The judge issued the order, and the clerk recorded it for future reference
Give you this jail sentence you must be Nashville bound
The consequence of the order is imprisonment, and the destination is Nashville
Some got six month, some got one solid
Some were sentenced to six months, and others were sentenced to a year
Some got one solid year indeed
Some people were given exactly one year in prison
Some got six month, some doing solid here
Some are serving six-month sentences, while others have been incarcerated for longer periods of time
But me and my buddies all got lifetime here, play
Myself and my friends have received life sentences and will be imprisoned indefinitely, but we will still make music together in jail
Contributed by Chloe N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.