Ry Cooder- “Police Dog Blues/Dark Is The Night/Goin’ To Brownsville” • 1971 [RITY Archive]

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[@jsteed44]

He deserves to be honored by the Kennedy group for his preservation of the blues guys a legend

[@vickicamp9808]

Might write to the guy in DC I think would gree

[@vickicamp9808]

He would agree

[@johnwilcox3013]

Ive been playing guitar for 52 years, i am in perspective, probably better than the average bear, but i will never be that good. I love to him play and have had the privilege of seeing him live twice, i would love to see him play one more time before he or i leave this world. Definitely one of my favorites that most people have never heard of.

[@josmotherman591]

Ry Cooder and his 3 chord orchestra. I have never, ever heard anyone get as much out of the acoustic as that man. Amazing.

[@dwaynetaylor2563]

I suggest you listen to 17 year old muireann Bradley's version.

[@dwaynetaylor2563]

Of police dog blues.

[@no59do56]

Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal getting together to release new record in 2022. 1st one together in many yrs. KZbin. Hooray hooray

[@evilkabab]

What a gem this video!

[@christianlacheze3323]

Dark was the night was the foundation of Ry’s splendid soundtrack for Wim Wender’s Paris, Texas

[@jmeara9912]

What a gift he has. How hard he must have worked.

[@redboneexcellence6041]

One of the finest.

[@sharonkaczorowski8690]

A woman with a police dog is truly a subject for the blues...made me smile.

[@goodun2974]

"Police Dog Blues" is Blind Blake, IIRC; and "Goin' To Brownsville" is a Sleepy John Estes song. Ry has played a bunch of Sleepy John tunes, "Clean Up at Home/Mr Peavey" being my favorite. "Blind Man Messed Up In Tear Gas" is another good ' un. According to Ry, Estes wrote "He Stayed Away Too Long" about the John F Kennedy assassination. Ry typically plays these songs on mandolin, not guitar ---- I've never heard the original versions, but Sleepy John may have played them on mandolin originally. If anyone has more details, please share 'em!

[@michaeldonaghey]

@@goodun2974 Yank Rachell played mandolin for Sleepy John.

[@BlueLou974]

The woman hides something else, and the dog sure is not a dog. Beware of the dog & hidden senses in blues. It is not a too bad love song, but a politic one. Or: how to avoid with elegance to be hung at the first tree to come, & saying what you feel inside about not being , er, one of this woman kind.

[@francoisebeylie2923]

"Dark was the night, cold was the ground" from Blind Willie Johnson, a treasure.

[@goodun2974]

The original Blind Willie Johnson recording of Dark Was the Night went into deep space on the gold record inside the Voyager spacecraft, along with Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode and the music of Beethoven and others. People joke that if aliens ever find the spacecraft and listen to the record, their first message to us would be "Send more Chuck Berry!". Personally, I can't think of anything more appropriate to deep space travel than Dark Was the Night.

[@francoisebeylie2923]

@@goodun2974 And personally, I agree.

[@bakkels]

@@goodun2974 And for some weird reason it's the most beautiful song title I know. Not that the name of a song means much but still. this one invokes something, I dunno.

[@josmotherman591]

Mr. Cooder with that back beat and impeccable lead pick.

[@mretrain2338]

Other slide players use .016 gauge strings on the high E because god forbid the slide should knock against the frets, but with Ry it’s just part of the sound. You can’t get that lightness and sweetness in his tone with super heavy strings. He’s the best.

[@BlueLou974]

I hear you, I hear you, gonna torture my guitar with that .016 NOW.

[@Effedoppio]

Great artist: this is a stunning performance.

[@dominiquepaul6877]

Just fabulous!!!

[@hilmarwensorra1215]

well, what could i say: just GREAT - period.

[@christianlacheze3323]

Fabulous musician

[@johnmitchelljr]

Love his pickin' and singing. Thank you.

[@nguyenba9605]

List: 0:00 Police Dog Blues 2:53 Dark Is the Night 6:51 Goin’ To Brownsville

[@lovethatagave]

Damn!! So good...

[@SolidSantanero]

What an amazing guitar player. I would love to meet him.

[@bluesintheblood]

GOLD!

[@kaecake9575]

Welcome to the good side of KZbin ✨

[@billmiller2051]

Police dog is very hard to master.

[@sharonkaczorowski8690]

Great guitar...thanks reelin in the years.

[@francoisebeylie2923]

Jewels from Ry Cooder. Joyaux ! Ry Cooder le joaillier harmonique à la guitare et à la mandoline...de plus, sa manière de chanter est très expressive, à l'instar de son jeu aux notes ciselées sur les instruments.

[@jonwalley4628]

A living legend.

[@jipes]

Absolutely wonderful

[@cptntwang]

Beautiful stuff.

[@johnmccann8319]

Magnificent!💚

[@hartmutreuter5889]

Very very good 😂

[@johannabeasley2031]

Brilliant

[@francescocompostella3247]

Ry very formidable guitarsman

[@MartialDriscoll]

Can’t believe this footage exists

[@Braxity]

Love your channel reelin'

[@sizzlechooch]

The Best!

[@michaelpotthoff7904]

And great Lowell Georg !

[@FTF96]

Did you REALLY need to watermark right across the entire thing in the middle?

[@bluesdrmr2]

Put it at the top or bottom if you insist on doing it at all please.

[@neur0pathy]

I hear ya but not gonna let that bother me. Look what we’ve got here.

[@w.l.graves7228]

on a scale of 1-10 stars = 11 stars ***********

[@michaelpotthoff7904]

Athen Lowell George get's a 12 !

[@BlueLou974]

Let's listen again to Blind Blake & the hidden sense of the song.( as usual in blues). And yes, nobody never played that tune better than him. The Ry's version on the LP is better than this one. And you really need guts to try to play such an appenrently simple & nice song. Ry tried it. Congrat'

[@martindowney8737]

My name is Fizz and I am a lovely dog. When they put me in a cage I know I am getting out. You can tell by looking in my eyes.

[@patrickcollins9091]

pretty sad to some add throughout a humble geniuses portrayal of the blues

[@MaurizioBunkus]

Never understood why, for so many brilliant moments, they cut away from Ry's hands and just hold on that close-up of his face. What a waste.

[@francoisebeylie2923]

Waste ? yes and no...Depends if you are a musician or not ; I prefer when we can watch his face and his hands at the same time.

[@haroldsteinblatt2567]

Or at least a real annoyance

[@markat9576]

It was the 70’s man.

[@olasride]

How did Blind Blake come up with Police Dog Blues?

[@Johnny6666]

Genius. That's about the only explanation. There's only one other recorded instance of him playing in Open D ('Down The Country'), but it's clear he was completely comfortable in the tuning - displaying the sheer mastery of the form just as he did in standard tuning.

[@ceresbeith7828]

Not a patch on the Blind Blake original

[@3niknicholson]

hey, can't believe this is the only mention of the great Blind Blake in these comments...go on people treat your ears to one of the all-time best guitarists, give them a learning

[@mckinleylowman6412]

The album wasn't succesful but at least it shouldve been hold as a classic.

[@anastasiospapandreou147]

I guess I m the only one here from "REACHER"

[@joshuawhite7239]

Me too! But the original by Blind Blake is so better than this.

[@lucasperi7253]

Me too

[@marvin..m]

Terrible camera work. Why show Roy’s face during the instrumental parts? Particularly, why show so little of his left hand?

[@beachcaster56]

lacks the raw authenticity of the original............no blues soul...far too smooth.

[@gorgon9786]

Don't follow you there.. About 10 years away from this, Steve Vai was working with Mr. Cooder,.. He came over him one morning, when Mr. Cooder already was in his preparation for the set.. Steve said what met him was so well performed,.. He stood in the entry, and didn't dare to interrupt the session,.. Later he told us that what he had witnessed was such class, - he had to be nr. 1 in his mastery.. Such feel, and touch.. I believed Mr. Vai back then, and to this day, yes!.