Ry Cooder 'Quicksand' single targets Arizona's SB 1070 immigration law

Ry Cooder has added his voice -- and guitar -- to the raging debate over Arizona’s recent SB 1070 law targeting illegal immigration with "Quicksand," a fiery song he posted on iTunes this week.

The veteran guitarist, singer, songwriter and world-music enthusiast sets the stage with a spoken-sung sketch of a ragtag group of people who start their northbound journey from Tamaulipas, southeast of Monterrey, Mexico.

With help from his son, drummer Joachim Cooder, the elder musician accompanies himself with gritty, bluesy electric guitar as he follows the group as they travel through the mountains along what’s known as the Devil’s Highway. After being abandoned by their coyote guide partway into the trek, one by one they lose friends until only two are still traveling when they reach Yuma, Ariz., where they are promptly picked up by a vigilante with deportation on his mind.

Well mister it’s 120 degrees back out there
It’s just me and the boy, the rest are gone
I think you’d take more pity on rescue pit bull dogs
Call us Charles and Bronson from now on

“The Devil’s Highway has been used by migrants traveling on foot for over 100 years,” Cooder said of the song. “You should try it sometime. Out there, temperatures can get above 130 degrees. If you fall down, you have religious hallucinations, then you die, cooking from the inside out. If you get lucky, you might make it to Yuma, but then what?”

Cooder tapped Latino artist Vincent Valdez to create the portrait used as the cover art for the single. All proceeds from sales of the track will go to the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund.

-- Randy Lewis

Cover image: Vincent Valdez

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Comments

[Legislation Forum AZ]

An Arizona Republic report reveals that many illegal immigrants are leaving the state due to SB1070 and it’s starting to affect businesses. What type of impact do you think SB 1070 will have on Arizona’s economy?

Share your opinion of all of Arizona's pressing political issues at http://www.azlegislation.com

[roovialk]

More nonsense designed to cause people to shed tears for law breaking illegal aliens. When will these people make songs about the plight of American citizens being crushed under the weight of this human flow from south of the border?

[Don Marshall]

I used to have some respect for Ry Cooder....not anymore.

[Don Marshall]

I used to have some respect for Ry Cooder....Not Any longer.

[Michael B]

Operation Wetback. Eisenhower. Great implementation. Let's do it again.

[DrZaius_H8s_U2]

I am a big fan of Ry Cooder's film scores but it pains me that he has decided to use his talents to spread unfounded, deceitful propaganda on this issue. Perhaps rather than pen some misty sob story of noble 'migrants' trying to make their way illegally into the United States only to then encounter - god forbid - the rule of law, he should compose a ballad about the truly tragic tale of some of his fellow American citizens who have had fatal encounters with illegal aliens. Scores of American citizens have been murdered over the past several years by the very type of people Mr. Cooder chooses to champion and it is those innocent American lives lost that deserve to have their story told, their lives cherished, their deaths immortalized in songs of outrage and protest.

[jose]

sounds like a pretty harsh place to cross the border. maybe people shouldn't do it!

[Los Claus]

I'm sure this song will go platinum (cough). I haven't seen all the lyrics. In which verse does he express outrage towards Mexico and it's inability to climb out of third world status and actually provide their own citizens with a decent job? I'm also wondering about the verse that highlights the area just south of Interstate 8 in southern Arizona that the Bureau of Land Management has posted with warnings about entering at your own risk, an area now owned by Mexican drug runners and smugglers. Sorry Ry...no sympathy from me.

[ya basta]

I'm a big fan of Ry's and understand his liberal views. But he's mistaken on this issue. Mexico views the U.S. as a safety valve for all its surplus population. Plus they get to collect the remittances and drug money shipped back. NO to Amnesty. YES to Deportation. We can't continue to be Mexico's garbage dump.

Sorry Ry, no agreement from this fan

[Matt Arguello]

It does sound incredibly harsh out there, which shows how totally desperate these people are. Only in the US would we make it illegal for people to find a way to survive. I'm going to go by Ry's new single.

[Heisenberg]

Good for Ry Cooder. It is extremely disappointing that other artists are not stepping up as well.

BOYCOTT ARIZONA

[woof-woof]

If we enforce our immigration laws, fewer people will risk their lives on the trek he describes. If we get control of our borders, we can increase legal immigration, and the protagonists of his song can ride in on an air-conditioned bus.

[Peter]

Los Claus writes "In which verse does he express outrage towards Mexico and it's inability to climb out of third world status and actually provide their own citizens with a decent job? " but he should learn English. "It's" is the contraction for "it is" so that sentence is meaningless. He probably means "its" not "it's"
Also "their own citizens" should read "its own citizens" unless Mr Claus knows of 2 or more countries named "Mexico."

[Amanda]

This song reflects the horrible experience that illegal immigrants have to face when coming to the United States. I am proud that Ry Cooder took into consideration the people who come to this country and work for a better tomorrow, who work in the fields in the hot sun to bring us Americans food to our plates. We should be thankful that we have people like in our country. They are not garbage they are as valuable as we are, we are all brothers and sisters. I want to see how many U.S Citizens go out there to the fields and perform for 1day the harsh jobs these people do under the heat of the sun....nobody does it right? yeah because we can't take it. Let me tell you that I as a citizen have done it and trust me it's not something that I enjoyed it was harsh, but these people do it with a lot of passion. Thank you Ry Cooder for making the song "Quicksand" which shows the cruelty an illegal immigrants has to go through when coming to the United States. SB1070 is a cruelty to human beings, god forgive them!