“El Paso” (Marty Robbins)

Today’s classic song of the day, like several others this week, mentions the name of a city in its title and lyrics. The song is “El Paso” by Marty Robbins, released in October of 1959. As a single, it hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard’s Hot Country Songs charts early in 1960. That made “El Paso” the first number-one hit of the 1960s.

“El Paso” really isn’t about El Paso but rather takes place there. It’s a story song (and you know how much I like story songs), told in the first person, about a cowboy who falls in love with a Mexican girl named Faleena in Rosa’s Cantina in El Paso. When he sees another cowboy buying a drink for the young lady, he challenges the guy to a gunfight and shoots the interloper dead. Our protagonist then flees the scene but can’t stay away from his beloved Faleena. He eventually returns to El Paso and Rosa’s Cantina, where he is pursued by and fatally wounded by a posse. As he lies dying, his love Faleena rushes to his side and he dies in her arms after “one little kiss.”

It’s all terribly romantic and dramatic but listeners loved it, as do I. Here’s a sampling of the lyrics:

Off to my right I see five mounted cowboys
Off to my left ride a dozen or more
Shouting and shooting, I can’t let them catch me
I have to make it to Rosa’s back door

Something is dreadfully wrong for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side
Though I am trying to stay in the saddle
I’m getting weary, unable to ride

But my love for
Felina is strong and I rise where I’ve fallen
Though I am weary I can’t stop to rest
I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle
I feel the bullet go deep in my chest

From out of nowhere Faleena has found me
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side
Cradled by two loving arms that I’ll die for
One little kiss and Faleena, goodbye

“El Paso” was written by Marty Robbins and won a Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. The record was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. The success of “El Paso” inspired Robbins to release two sequels over the years: “Faleena” in 1966 and “El Paso City” in 1976. He intended to do a third sequel, tentatively titled “The Mystery of Old El Paso,” but died in 1982 before he could finish it. He was 57.