In terms of well-done, beautifully written Western ballads, one would be hard-pressed to find a better collection than Marty Robbins\u2019 iconic 1959 album, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs. <\/p>\n
The mix of traditional folk tunes and Robbins\u2019 own compositions has become the gold standard for Western and Tex-Mex music, and the first single from that album, \u201cEl Paso\u201d<\/a>, is one of the finest musical offerings of the collection.<\/p>\n The Original: \u201cEl Paso\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEl Paso\u201d recounts the first-person story of a cowboy who falls in love with a dark-eyed dancer named Feleena. In a fit of jealousy, the cowboy kills a man he sees talking to Feleena and has to flee El Paso, Texas, so as not to face the vengeance of the slain man\u2019s posse.<\/p>\n The song suggests a significant amount of time has passed when the cowboy finally returns to El Paso, overwhelmed by his love for Feleena that is \u201cstronger than my fear of death.\u201d When the cowboy arrives, he\u2019s shot just outside of the cantina where he first met Feleena. She runs out to him, and he dies with his head cradled in Feleena\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a heartbreaking, goosebump-inducing story\u2014but there\u2019s more to the narrative you might have missed in some of Robbins\u2019 later works.<\/p>\n Her Backstory: \u201cFaleena\u201d<\/p>\n