Music: El Paso

Today is the birthday of Marty Robbins, whose album "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" is one of the best collections of country/western music ever recorded. I'm particular to "Big Iron," a tale of a gunfight between a Texas Ranger and a notorious desperado, but the album's most famous song is "El Paso." The tense narrative and wistfulness of the song was striking to audiences in 1959, and it became an instant classic - so much so that it was used unironically in the series finale of "Breaking Bad" more than 50 years later:


Here's an excerpt of "El Paso" from one of Mr. Robbins's many, many fine performances at the Grand Ole Opry: