“Cortez The Killer” by Neil Young

"Cortez the Killer" is the slow burn at the center of Zuma, Neil Young's 1975 album cut with Crazy Horse, and it's the sound of a band letting a groove unspool until it turns hypnotic. Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot lay down a patient, heavy-lidded pulse, Frank Sampedro holds the rhythm steady, and Young's guitar takes the long way around, all stinging notes and ragged sighs.

Young has told concert crowds the song started while he was studying history at high school in Winnipeg. It traveled further than the classroom: his notes for Decade say it was banned in Spain under Franco, and when Zuma finally came out there after Franco's death it was listed as "Cortez, Cortez". Guitar World later placed its solo at No. 39 among the 100 greatest, and Rolling Stone put the song at No. 329 on its 500 greatest songs list.

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