Saturday Soundtrack: The Deadly Mix of Alcohol, Women, and Guns

"Out in the west Texas town of El Paso I fell in love with a Mexican girl..."

Has there ever been a more perfect opening line to any song ever? I don't think so.

I know Marty Robbins recorded other songs, including three really bad sequels to El Paso, but none, to my mind, are as universally applicable as this one. While relating a story of the foolishness of men it exemplifies the Western half of Country and Western music. The song was released in 1959. In the 1980s it was chosen as the official fight song of the University of Texas at El Paso. I remember being about 10 or 11 when Marty Robbins died.