“El Paso” by Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins wrote "El Paso" and cut it for Columbia with Don Law producing, first for Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in September 1959, then as a single a month later. The western ballad was a major hit on the country and pop charts, the first chart-topper of the 1960s on both, and won the Grammy for Best Country & Western Recording in 1961.

The storytelling is what lasts: the tale slides from past tense into present and ends with its protagonist dead, and on the original Bobby Sykes and Jim Glaser of the Glaser Brothers lay ghostly harmonies over it while Grady Martin's Spanish guitar lends a Tex-Mex shading. Feleena got her name from Fidelina Martinez, a fifth-grade schoolmate of Robbins. The 1959 recording entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998; this version comes from the 2007 live set Legends of the Grand Ole Opry: Marty Robbins Singing His Hits Live!

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.