In keeping with my criticism of the lyrics of old songs, let me talk about Marty Robbins’s 1959 country hit El Paso. It’s about a cowboy who falls in love with a dancer named Faleena.
My love was deep for this Mexican maiden/ I was in love, but in vain I could tell
The old “you love her, she doesn’t love you” problem, eh? Yeah, that’s no fun. So far, a good, solid tragic tale of unrequited love. But then, our narrator relates, one night a guy comes in and starts flirting and drinking with Faleena. So how does our tortured love-lorn hero handle this?
So in anger I challenged his right for the love of this maiden/ Down went his hand for the gun that he wore/ My challenge was answered–in less than a heartbeat/ the handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor
Wait… so he killed the guy who, for all he knew, might well have been Faleena’s actual lover or husband? “Challenging his right” when he himself had none? That seems… borderline psychotic. Ok, so it’s a crime of passion and he says he regrets it but still, it’s a bit extreme.
Having done this “foul, evil deed”, our “hero” skips town and flees to New Mexico, only to decide he can’t stand to live without Faleena, and so he rides back. (This takes Robbins about as long to sing as it took you to read it–the song has some pacing issues here, and you’re left with the impression he rode away and then immediately turned around and rode back.)
When he returns to El Paso, the citizens are waiting for him and they shoot him as he rides back into town. It’s unclear what length of time he’s been gone, but apparently they recognize him instantly from hundreds of yards away and are waiting to kill him.
Finally, as he lies dying, he sees Faleena, who kisses him as he dies in her arms. (Some have suggested this is just his imagination, which would indeed be the only possible way this makes any sense. Why would she kiss the man who apparently killed her boyfriend?)
It’s a testament to how pleasant the music, and Robbins’s voice, make this song sound that it’s such a hit. Lyrically, it’s not a love song at all, but rather a song narrated by a psychopath.
It’s a mariachi song with outlaw lyrics.
Don’t get me wrong; I actually love the song. I used to play it all the time when I had to make long drives to work. It took me quite a while to realize it wasn’t so much a “romantic” song as an “extremely unreliable narrator” song.
LOL.
Most of Marty Robbins’s songs are like this–beautiful, but they don’t really add up if you think about the lyrics.
This is what real music writing is about, its poetry, Marty Robbins was an amazing troubadour. The lyrics make sense if you realize its an outline of the events. He was in love with Felina and some other man comes in and gets in the way. Then he is willing to die to be able to see her again. Not psychotic, just a musical magical western song.
Some people are too literal. This reminds me of a guy approaching Jimmy Webb after a show and taking him to task about the lyrics of ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix”. He claimed that the geography and timeline in the words didn’t add up and went on to explain why. Jimmy listened patiently and politely, and when the guy finished, Jimmy said “Mate, it’s just a song”. Mate, ‘El Paso’ is just a song. Both songs are great and classic songs, but being so literal won’t help your enjoyment of a lot of beautiful songs.
They probably shot him for stealing the horse.
I like this interpretation. 😀
All of it made perfect sense and I’ll summarize it fast based on what the lyrics say plainly and also cause I listened to the trilogy. 1. I’m pretty sure when he means in vain I could tell I believe it refers to his love as he realizes it’s useless to deny or fight that emotional feeling since our dude was emotional and jealous (I’ll explain later). 2. I feel sa
I believe you may have misinterpreted the song and I feel the need to disagree based on listening to the lyrics and hearing the rest of the El Paso trilogy and I will explain why and what I believe to be my reasons and claims for why. 1. I believe you got the line misinterpreted as I believe when he says “..in vain, I know..” he is most likely referring to how its futile to deny or try to stop this newfound burning love that he has hence its deep. 2. You say he pulled up and killed but listen close he says he challenged and only when the other man reached, he reached as well albeit faster since he kills him. 3. I’m gonna have to call you out Mad dog tannen style cause I believe the song makes it clear that it was long since he says it felt so long and then he says he saddles up. The only way youd think that is if you skipped accidentally or lag (it happens) or you listened to “Faleena” in which it explains with a more reliable narrator that it was like nearly half the day long that he left and came back. Which btw if I was wrong on this one it still eliminates 4. They werent civilians they were a posse of gunmen most likely deputies or bounty hunters since he stole the horse which ironically enough was most likely why he was sought to be killed since I mentioned in [1.] That he didnt draw first and both dueling and self defense was not as serious and punishing as horse theft which had punishments up to public execution for that crime. And obviously if he mentioned that there was a dozen or more youd assume they already saw and were on him which btw ofcourse youd recognize a guy disputing, then kill someone, in a cantina (bar) in the middle of the afternoon, steal a horse and ride off. 5. Lastly idk why you assume the second guy is her boyfriend since there was nothing to indicate that just cause it didnt say he wasnt doesnt mean he is. And it Feleena since the sequel describes everything more. The reason for this is cause I believe you only sought a glimpse of what is a lovely storytelling of this almost Romeo and Juliet like tragedy and the 3rd is cool since it’s about a guy who claims to have the memories of the main cowboy in the story. To me i dont blame you for El paso since I do like tha Feleena explains what we already knew from El Paso. Homie was just a jealous and emotional cowboy who let his emotions get the best of him for the last time and subsequently dies for his love. (Secret fact: their was gonna be a 4th song called “The Mystery of Old El Paso” but unfortunately Marty Robbins passed away before he could at 57 in 1982 due to heart attack.)
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
The name is Felina NOT FALEENA!!
Hmm… Wikipedia has it as “Feleena”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso_(song) And apparently Robbins wrote a follow up song with that name, so I guess that must be the official spelling.
For the record, I agree with you that the spelling “Felina” seems best. I’m not sure why I wrote “Faleena” when I wrote this post, but it was over a decade ago, a lot has happened since then I don’t remember.