Ry Cooder - Paradise and Lunch
On this week's podcast, we dig into one of the most respected and understated guitarists in the business, Ry Cooder, and his 1974 LP Paradise and Lunch.
Cooder’s slide guitar has graced albums by Van Morrison, Little Feat, and the Rolling Stones. He has also written and performed music on countless soundtracks and is perhaps most well known for his work with the Buena Vista Social Club. On Paradise and Lunch, Cooder covers a variety of tunes from a variety of genres, including obscure blues and folk tunes, and even an Burt Bacharach song. Most deal with the up and downs of romantic relationships and feature Cooder's sly guitar and chameleon-like vocals. If you're not familiar with the song stylings of Ry Cooder, this is an excellent place to start.
Recommended on the episode: Get On Board (The Songs Of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee) by Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder
THINGS WE DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE
In 1965, Cooder joined a group called the Rising Sons
, which included Taj Mahal and drummer Ed Cassidy (Later of the band Spirit).
Pictured (L to R - sitting) Jesse Lee Kincaid and Ry Cooder; (L to R - standing) Taj Mahal, Ed Cassidy, and Gary Marker.
Around the same time as he’s playing with the Rising Sons, a producer asked him to help out Don Van Vliet (AKA Captain Beefheart) on his first record, Safe as Milk. Ry Cooder talks a bit about that experience below.
Here is Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band performing live at he Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Festival on Mount Tamalpais just north of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Pictured (L to R) Captain Beefheart, Ry Cooder, and Jerry Handley.
With the release of Safe as Milk in 1967, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band were slotted to play at the Monterey Pop Festival. the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Festival was scheduled for a week earlier. During the show, Beefheart, who had taken acid and thought a girl in the audience was turning into a fish, freaked out, and walked right off the back of the high stage. Luckily he was not hurt.
The rest of band soldiered on with what was now an instrumental and left the stage when they finished. However Cooder decided he had had enough and quit the band. Without him and with little time to find a replacement, there was nothing they could do but cancel their upcoming performance at the Festival.
“Tattler,” the second song on Paradise and Lunch Davis has been covered by many people, including Linda Ronstadt in 1976, and David Soul of Starsky and Hutch and “Don’t Give Up on Us Baby” fame, which you ca listen to below.
And here’s Ry Cooder performing Tattlerlive on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977. His band included Pat Rizzo on alto sax; Isaac Garcia on drums; Henry 'Big Red' Ojeda on bass; Jesse Poncé on the bajo sexto; Flaco Jimenez on the accordion; and Eldridge King, Terry Evans, and Bobby King singing back-up.
Here’s Cooder playing “Tamp ‘Em Up Solid” ant the Cambridge Folk Festival in 1979.
Ry Coooder was part of the super group Little Village, along with John Hiatt, Nick Lowe, and Jim Keltner.
Here they are performing three songs - “The Action,” “Fool Who Knows,” and “Don't Think About Her” on the BBC program The Late Show in 1991.
