Listening to the music of Marty Robbins

Western ballads with old tales by a singer from Arizona that became a legend. "The boy with the teardrop in his voice" was also a hero that fought in WW2 at age 17.  

I like his 1959 album Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs which holds the famous "El Paso" and the rediscovered hit "Big Iron".

To the town of Agua Fria, rode a stranger one fine day
Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say
No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip
For the stranger there among 'em had a big iron on his hip.

Columbia Records once rejected two songs of Marty Robbins for being too "controversial" for the political jungle of the sixties. 

One of them was, "My Own Native Land".

Is it right that we should give
And give until it hurts
To a foreign land that treats us
Just like so much dirt
Those who lead us have forgotten
Love is in the soul
Love cannot be purchased with
The promise of more gold.

The other one, "Ain't I Right".

Aw, the country's full of two-faced politicians.

Click here for a compilation of his best songs - including "El Paso" and "Big Iron".

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