Deja Vu
March 1, 1934 – January 23, 2009 My father died when I was just twelve years old (after having been sick for several years), and my mother didn’t re-marry until I was seventeen. In those in-between years, I was raised by my mother and my father’s mother. One of my primary male influences was my mother’s sister’s husband, David. I would like to dedicate this post to my Uncle Dave: the man who taught me—among other things—how to properly tie a necktie, to cook a great steak on the grill, and to love Marty Robbins’ music. 25 January 2009 |
El Paso · Marty Robbins · 1959
Play the song. 
I was eight years old in the beginning days of 1960. Nevertheless, I remember the music. The number five song on the Billboard™ Hot 100 that January was “Way Down Yonder In New Orleans” by Freddie Cannon. Johnny Preston’s “Running Bear” sat in position four, with “The Big Hurt” (Toni Fisher) and “Why” (Frankie Avalon) at slots three and two.
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The top position was occupied by an odd candidate for the honor. It was a ballad. In fact, it was one of the tracks on a 1959 album that Marty Robbins had recorded for Columbia titled “Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs“. The song, witten by Robbins, was “El Paso“. |
It was a long track—almost 5 minutes in length—which made it much too long to be released as a single. But DJs liked playing it from the album. (I guess they could take a longer break.) 
Fans loved the song too. So After four weeks in release, the track’s popularity proved to be so strong that “El Paso” was released as a single anyway.
“El Paso” climbed to the top of the country charts. It was in that spot for seven consecutive weeks. Then in the first week of 1960, the song topped the pop chart for two weeks, making it the first number one pop single of the ’60s. It was Marty’s biggest hit.
“El Paso” is the classic tale of a duel between two cowboys over the love of Felina, a Mexican lady. In a fit of jealousy the cowboy hero who sings the song kills his rival then escapes into the Badlands of New Mexico. But his passion for Felina, the Mexican maiden, draws him back to El Paso and a confrontation with the Law. In the end, the cowboy narrator dies in the arms of the lovely Felina.
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El Paso City Marty Robbins said he had been fascinated by the city and its name ever since he was a child. And since it worked so well for him in 1959-1960, he tried to work the magic again in 1976, when he recorded “El Paso City“. This sequel to the original has the narrator flying over the city and the Badlands of New Mexico in an airplane and recalling the fateful events of the shoot out at Rosa’s Cantina over Felina, described in the original song. “El Paso City” held the number one spot on the country singles chart for two weeks in the summer of 1976. Feleena (From El Paso) In his album “The Drifter“, Marty tells the story yet again in another long ballad: “Feleena (From El Paso)“. In this retelling you learn about the early life of the Mexican girl, from her running away at seventeen up to the tragic turn her life took at the now-famous Rosa’s Cantina. |
dave and his family are my family’s closes my son mike is vicki’s husband if i have meet you idon;t recall but hope i will iam also well versed on marty tom