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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 50 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Robbins, Marty
Rosa's cantina. You remember the story is set in the West Texas town of El Paso. "Night-time would find me in Rosie's cantina,
Music would play and Felina would whirl."
The story is told in the first person as though Marty were the young cowboy.
black - like the night. They were also the eyes of an enchantress - "wicked and evil while casting a spell".
wild as the west Texas wind. Quickly the stranger starts to get the storyteller angry by dancing and drinking with Felina. You know instantly that trouble will break out.
less than a heartbeat. The man reaches for his gun but the storyteller in a blaze of anger shoots him down. This is the crucial moment of fate. Now he is doomed.
foul evil. The storyteller clearly has a conscience and realises that he has committed a killing because of his jealous anger. He also considers that his only chance is to run away instantly. Is this another quick and foolish decision. Could he have claimed self-defence as the man had gone for his gun ?
The Badlands of New Mexico. He makes his escape through the back door of Rosie's cantina and sets off into the wilderness with no real thought as to where he is going.
his love. It's another foolish decision perhaps. He returns to El Paso because he needs to see her again. It is the one place he can be sure that trouble is waiting.
five. Very soon there is "shouting and shooting". He used the same sort of alliteration earlier when he said the stranger was "dancing and daring".
his chest. "I feel the bullet go deep in my chest". Somehow the rifle shot is made to sound more destructive. It is the word "deep" that gets this across.
nowhere. The song doesn't describe all the details anymore. Things are missed out to give the impression of him blinded by pain and confusion. He is about to slip into the final unconsciousness.
she kisses his cheek. She kneels by his side and kisses his cheek. Maybe she cared for him after all. Earlier in the song he had declared that he was in love but it was "in vain". In the sequel song entitled "Felina" we learn that she probably did love him after all. She immediately kills herself using his sixgun. His jealousy was not really necessary.
goodbye. "in arms that I'd die for. One little kiss and Felina, goodbye."
A cynical person might ask how could he tell this story if he is dead. For the rest of us I am sure we keep hoping for a different ending to this classic four minute tragedy.
Felina. That's just an easy one to get you started. Much later there was a sequel to "El Paso" where we learn the story from Felina's point of view.
Arizona. The outlaw was called Texas Red. He had already killed twenty men. The Arizona ranger wouldn't be "too long in town".
the willow tree and the cold wind. The willow weeps in the valley and the cold wind is making a sad noise in the tree-tops. It is all about waiting for her return.
"I will be lonesome until you return".
Kansas City and Amarillo. The cowboy is doomed. His last words to the bounty hunter are to ask him to tell his woman that "A woman's love is wasted when she loves a running gun."
cattle rustling. He gets caught in a storm and the cattle stampede towards him. A second flash of lightning kills some of the cattle which form a barricade and save him. In return he vows to give "his life and soul" to God and a new way of life.
a mockingbird. It's just one of the pleasures that come to his mind when he thinks of the place that he must regard as home. He is waiting for the candle to be lit and to meet someone at the garden gate. But is it all a memory or a hopeless dream?
pocket money. Happiness is a small plot of land that you can call your own. It doesn't matter if you get up at dawn and work all day.
They'll lose their lives in the very same way.. All these lines come at the end of the song but the correct one points out the moral of the story and how you will end if you don't take the chance "to be square".
Flo. It seems an unlikely name for a heroine but this contraction of "Florence" is a useful one syllable word to fit to the tune of the song.
red. Scientists say that cattle can't see colours and so the explanation for why the frightened cattle charged the red blanket must be that it was being waved about and that agitated them. The story ends with Utah Carol being buried in the blanket that caused his death.
Lenore. In this story Lenore is just a young girl and a friend whose life is saved by Utah Carol when he sacrifices his own life in the face of a charging stampede of cattle.
ten dollars. "He offered me ten and I said, "I'm your man.
The bronc never lived that I couldn't fan."
It's a proud boast that is never fulfilled. The strawberry roan proves there are "ponies that I cannot ride. There's some of them left. They haven't all died." He's almost glad.
Billy the Kid, Utah Carol, Strawberry Roan. Marty Robbins wrote "In the Valley", "The Master's Call", "Big Iron", and, of course, "El Paso".
"Cool Water" by Bob Nolan, "A Hundred and Sixty Acres"-Kapp, "Running Gun" -Tom Glaser and Tim Glaser.
Utah Carol. It is strange that we will never know who came up with such a beautiful image as this which begins the sad but uplifting tale of Utah Carol.
"And now, my friends, you asked me what makes me sad and still,
And why my brow is darkened like the clouds upon the hill.
Run in your ponies closer and I'll tell to you my tale...."
southern. Everything happened in the town of San Antone which was in the territory disputed with Mexico. That's where the remains of the fortress can still be seen.
a bugle. It is the "ghostly bugle" which is summoning them to the roll-call. It's not quite clear what you hear as they answer - perhaps the sound of their feet as they march to the point of assembly.
Colonel. Huston ordered Colonel Travis to "fortify the Alamo". The purpose was apparently to delay the Mexicans until Huston could gather together an army big enough to be effective.
Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. According to the words of the song,
"Well, the men came from Texas
And from old Tennessee."
However, a study of the list of names reveals that quite a few were also from England, Scotland and Ireland.
Captain Dickinson. Including the Mexican general, Santa Anna, "Captain Dickinson" was one of only six names mentioned in the song - they were Santa Anna, Huston, Travis, Dickinson, Bowie and Crockett.
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