FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about El Paso
Quiz about El Paso

El Paso Trivia Quiz


This is a quiz about the classic Marty Robbins song, "El Paso."

A multiple-choice quiz by daver852. Estimated time: 4 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Music Trivia
  6. »
  7. Music Q-S
  8. »
  9. Marty Robbins

Author
daver852
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
371,343
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
384
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 46 (4/10), Guest 100 (9/10), Judy2024 (6/10).
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. The song is named for the city of El Paso. Where does the song say El Paso is located? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Where does the narrator of the song spend his nights? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. The singer was in love with a Mexican girl. What was her name? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. One night a young cowboy comes to Rosa's cantina and begins flirting with the girl the singer is in love with. How does he describe the cowboy? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The singer challenges the cowboy to a gun fight. What happens? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. The singer decides that he must leave El Paso quickly, so he steals a horse. Where does run to? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. What makes the singer return to El Paso? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. What happens to the singer when he returns to El Paso? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. The singer is reunited with his lover before he dies.


Question 10 of 10
10. In 1976, Robbins released another sequel to "El Paso" called "El Paso City." He claimed he wrote the song in less than five minutes. It also reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. What did he often give as the reason he was able to write two very successful songs about the same event so easily? Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Most Recent Scores
Feb 21 2024 : Guest 46: 4/10
Feb 19 2024 : Guest 100: 9/10
Feb 18 2024 : Judy2024: 6/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The song is named for the city of El Paso. Where does the song say El Paso is located?

Answer: West Texas

"Out in the West Texas town of El Paso / I fell in love with a Mexican girl." El Paso, with an estimated population of around 675,000, is the westernmost large city in Texas. It is located on the Rio Grande River, across from Juárez, Mexico. Although a major city today, until the arrival of the railroads in 1881, El Paso was a sleepy little border town of only a few hundred people.
2. Where does the narrator of the song spend his nights?

Answer: Rosa's cantina

"Nighttime would find me in Rosa's cantina." A cantina is a type of bar or saloon.
3. The singer was in love with a Mexican girl. What was her name?

Answer: Faleena

"Blacker than night were the eyes of Faleena / Wicked and evil while casting a spell / My love was deep for this Mexican maiden / I was in love but in vain, I could tell." Faleena's name is often misspelled "Felina." Robbins issued a sequel called "Faleena (From El Paso)" in 1966.
4. One night a young cowboy comes to Rosa's cantina and begins flirting with the girl the singer is in love with. How does he describe the cowboy?

Answer: Dashing and daring

"Dashing and daring, a drink he was sharing / With wicked Faleena, the girl that I loved." He is also described as being "wild as the West Texas wind."
5. The singer challenges the cowboy to a gun fight. What happens?

Answer: The cowboy is shot and killed

"My challenge was answered in less than a heartbeat / The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor." There are not many statistics to go on, but recently historians have come to believe that gunfights such as those depicted in the song were relatively rare events in the Old West. W. Eugene Hollon's book, "Frontier Violence: Another Look," found that the homicide rate in Abilene, Dodge City, and other notorious frontier "cow towns" was much lower than many modern U.S. cities.
6. The singer decides that he must leave El Paso quickly, so he steals a horse. Where does run to?

Answer: New Mexico

"Just as fast as I / Could from the West Texas town of El Paso / Out to the badlands of New Mexico." It is only a few miles from El Paso to the New Mexico border. New Mexico was sparsely settled, and most areas lacked any form of effective law enforcement up until the beginning of the 20th century.

This made it a favorite place of refuge for outlaws from surrounding states and territories.
7. What makes the singer return to El Paso?

Answer: His love is stronger than his fear of death

"It's been so long since I've seen the young maiden / My love is stronger than my fear of death." We are not told how long he has been gone, but the lyrics suggest it could not have been too long.
8. What happens to the singer when he returns to El Paso?

Answer: He is ambushed by a posse

"I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle / I feel the bullet go deep in my chest." Presumably the posse is composed of friends of the young cowboy he had killed earlier.
9. The singer is reunited with his lover before he dies.

Answer: True

"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." A very sad ending to a very sad song. But an effective one. Although at four minutes, 38 seconds long the song was much longer than most songs of the time, it reached the number one spot on both on both the country and pop music charts in 1960, and won the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording in 1961.
10. In 1976, Robbins released another sequel to "El Paso" called "El Paso City." He claimed he wrote the song in less than five minutes. It also reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. What did he often give as the reason he was able to write two very successful songs about the same event so easily?

Answer: Reincarnation

"Could it be that I could be the cowboy in this mystery?" Strange as it seems, Robbins revealed to several people that he believed he had actually lived the events depicted in the song. For example, on his website, musician Mike Dennis wrote: "Many years ago, when I was playing music for a living, I did a show with Marty Robbins and he told me he believed that he was that cowboy/central character in a former life! As in 'reincarnated', and he said his memories of that incident were so clear, so strong, that he was able to write a timeless song like El Paso, giving it such a vivid feel.

He explained to me exactly what it felt like to watch the girl dance and how he got excited over her, then how shocked he was immediately after killing the other guy during their argument." Spooky!
Source: Author daver852

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
3/28/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us