Marty Robbins - Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs Quiz

Answer: Felina

That's just an easy one to get you started. Much later there was a sequel to "El Paso" where we learn the story from Felina's point of view.

Answer: Arizona

The outlaw was called Texas Red. He had already killed twenty men. The Arizona ranger wouldn't be "too long in town".

Answer: sway and seem to say

"Keep a-movin' Dan, don't you listen to him..."
This is a song of a hope not quite realised. They never do seem to reach the "cool, clear water".

Answer: the willow tree and the cold wind

The willow weeps in the valley and the cold wind is making a sad noise in the tree-tops. It is all about waiting for her return.
"I will be lonesome until you return".

Answer: Kansas City and Amarillo

The cowboy is doomed. His last words to the bounty hunter are to ask him to tell his woman that "A woman's love is wasted when she loves a running gun."

Answer: cattle rustling

He gets caught in a storm and the cattle stampede towards him. A second flash of lightning kills some of the cattle which form a barricade and save him. In return he vows to give "his life and soul" to God and a new way of life.

Answer: a mockingbird

It's just one of the pleasures that come to his mind when he thinks of the place that he must regard as home. He is waiting for the candle to be lit and to meet someone at the garden gate. But is it all a memory or a hopeless dream?

Answer: pocket money

Happiness is a small plot of land that you can call your own. It doesn't matter if you get up at dawn and work all day.

Answer: They'll lose their lives in the very same way.

All these lines come at the end of the song but the correct one points out the moral of the story and how you will end if you don't take the chance "to be square".

Answer: Flo

It seems an unlikely name for a heroine but this contraction of "Florence" is a useful one syllable word to fit to the tune of the song.

Answer: red

Scientists say that cattle can't see colours and so the explanation for why the frightened cattle charged the red blanket must be that it was being waved about and that agitated them. The story ends with Utah Carol being buried in the blanket that caused his death.

Answer: Lenore

In this story Lenore is just a young girl and a friend whose life is saved by Utah Carol when he sacrifices his own life in the face of a charging stampede of cattle.

Answer: ten dollars

"He offered me ten and I said, "I'm your man.
The bronc never lived that I couldn't fan."
It's a proud boast that is never fulfilled. The strawberry roan proves there are "ponies that I cannot ride. There's some of them left. They haven't all died." He's almost glad.

Answer: Billy the Kid, Utah Carol, Strawberry Roan

Marty Robbins wrote "In the Valley", "The Master's Call", "Big Iron", and, of course, "El Paso".
"Cool Water" by Bob Nolan, "A Hundred and Sixty Acres"-Kapp, "Running Gun" -Tom Glaser and Tim Glaser.

Answer: Utah Carol

It is strange that we will never know who came up with such a beautiful image as this which begins the sad but uplifting tale of Utah Carol.
"And now, my friends, you asked me what makes me sad and still,
And why my brow is darkened like the clouds upon the hill.
Run in your ponies closer and I'll tell to you my tale...."