Episode 12: El Paso by Marty Robbins

The original promo 45, showing the edited A side. The full-length song is the B.

In the late 1950s, Marty Robbins, who was commuting hundreds of miles between his home in Phoenix and various gigs in Texas, frequently passed through the town of El Paso on his journeys to and fro. The town inspired him to write a cinematic-level song with nine verses and three bridges—and no chorus. Plus, it clocked in at four minutes and forty seconds. Despite all this, or perhaps because of it, the song climbed in just a few weeks to take over the top spot on the Hot 100 for the first two weeks of 1960.

This is the consumer/retail version of the 45. The song is 4:40, even though it doesn't say so on the label. The B side is a song titled "Running Gun".

The song put both Marty Robbins, and the town of El Paso, at the front of everyone's consciousness, and it's probably the song that's most associated with him. But what inspired him? Is the song about anyone special? And how many sequels to one song can the music-buying public take? (Answer: more than you'd imagine.)

By the way, if you have a copy of Marty Robbins' book, I'd love to see it. That was a frustrating search.

If you've got a favorite podcatcher, you should be able to hear this week's show already, or you can  just click the player below:

And, as usual, if you were to go to iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts and leave a rating, and maybe even some feedback, I probably wouldn't complain too loudly.