h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A subject close to my heart.

Is "Honky-tonk WOMEN" really called that when it's only about one person - at least as I recall that song? Has the "admission" really been made, satisfactorily at least?

A great deal more biographical information is probably also necessary to save some poor sub-ed some work. Where was he born? Why and how did he come to prominence, exactly? What did he do that made him such a pivotal musician?

Again, the "criticism" I'm leveling at you here is mostly because I'm a detail junky at heart - "more detail, please" is probably my most frequent criticism leveled at anybody. I'm also still sleepy, in need of breakfast, and only have time to read this, as always, before my internet connection drops out and kicks me off, again.

How did I manage to write a message that adds precisely one line to each paragraph...?

Aha! Online again at last! My relationship to h2g2 in the past week has been dire and fraught with rejection and timeouts... so I didn't know about your comment until I could trust the site enough to visit my own entries. You know how it is

Thanks so much for your comments, and I'm always pleased to meet another Cooder-cognoscento. I'll have to cross-check with the amazon title listings about Honky-Tonk Women (RC's albums uniformly get 5 stars in customer reviews, didja know that?).

In the very forgettable "Jammin With Edward" Richards admits in the liner notes that he "ripped Cooder off" in a joking manner, and elsewhere I have read that Cooder makes the specific claim -- Keith got that opening riff from me. Closer than that, I couldn't determine, from available sources.

Which are themselves rather scattered. Nothing in hard print until the Rising Sons CD was released, and that was rather general stuff. What I gathered together for this entry was scattered across a number of websites, the best of which were rollingstone.com and amazon for the discography and archive of reviews. But I spent a lot more time than I planned just sampling the clips.

Adding birthplace-type details is easy. Exactly how he came to prominence isn't. He apparently was just always good, and he will stand up and jam with anybody, which inevitably attracted notice in sessions. Did I say that in my entry? I am on the verge of losing my share of bandwidth, it being that time of day, and I think my ISP is undergoing a DOS attack (homepage DNS error!), so it might be late tonight (GMT - 5) before I can make editorial changes.

He is a very private man -- reticent unless talking about music, and perhaps that glass eye makes him even more shy -- and it was quite challenging to write an entry without plagiarizing scarce sources, which may be why I veered away from the biographical origins.... or even mention of the eye. But perhaps that's salient.

Do you have a favorite Cooder album?

Lil

I'm afraid I can't qualify as a "Cooder cognoscento" - I haven't heard enough! The only Cooder album I've ever listened to from beginning to end is "Get Rhythm", and that only because it was one of the "recovery" albums at a friend's 21st! I liked that one, and I have heard a few other tracks and bits from various places, but that is the only one of his records that I really know anything useful about! I would like to listen to more, but the bandwidth problem ensures that this is a pilgrimage which will have to be pursued at record stores ("HOW old-fashioned!") rather than on the 'net. Your article does serve to remind me of what I have yet to do, though!

I know how it is with the connection thing - a righteous pain in the bum, is what it is...! It seems to be more of a problem on h2g2 than elsewhere - even on favourite sites like the ABC. I don't know why that is, but what to do about it would be a revelation I could certainly use!

Well, "Get Rhythm" is a good representative of the move toward rock influences. Rowdy lyrics, but all in good spirit! That song, 'I Can Tell by the Way You Smell', its opening riff is typical of the kind of playing that led to Honky-Tonk Entity (I haven't checked the listings yet)

If you like to be in touch with folk through your rock, get hold of "Bop till You Drop"; it's immaculate. And to be more rock-ish, don't miss "Little Village", which is basically a supergroup os session musicians....

And now that the children have all gone to bed, I guess I can get some editing done!

Lil

Hi Lil, great article. The one thing you didn't mention was Ry Cooder's work for the film Crossroads, I only bring it up 'cause it was my first introduction to the great man

Well dang.
I know about the album, but now you mention it, it's not in the discography, is it. Well, I'll see to it, and thanks for spotting that.
Lil

p.s. My introduction was Boomer's Story. Cherry Ball Blues, yeah!