I went on a date with a pretty Mexican lass recently, and the experience pumped new life into my withering heart. We ate plantains and fried goat at a local Caribbean restaurant. We got some fancy drinks and talked long into the evening. It was really refreshing!
The next day at work, still smiling, I pulled out this classic:
El Paso is a ballad originally written by Marty Robins. It tells the story of a man smitten with a Mexican lass at the local bar. One day, he catches her sharing a drink with a dashing young cowboy. The narrator shoots the cowboy dead in a duel and flees the scene. His love for the maiden is so strong that he eventually returns to El Paso to see her and dies in the attempt.
I didn’t know that Grateful Dead covered the song live! The entire Red Rock set is so amazing, but their cover of El Paso is especially great because it takes Marty Robins’s slow, repetitive ballad and speeds the adventure along with plenty of flourishes and pretty guitar noises.
Of course, the original is an absolute classic:
We love a good storytelling western song. The climax of the story is such an upswell of drama as the singer comes under fire by mounted cowboys.
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 rideBut my love for Feleena 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
The Marty Robbins version does the climax better, I’d say, even if the Grateful Dead version is faster and more pleasing to the ear throughout.
O! To die for a woman! A few years ago I would have wanted nothing to do with any girl ever, but time revolves the heart and now I want some drama and romance in my life.