Cortez the Killer
Encyclopedia
"Cortez the Killer" is a song by Neil Young
from his 1975 album, Zuma
. It was recorded with Young's band Crazy Horse
and ranked #39 on Guitar World's
100 Greatest Guitar Solos and #321 on Rolling Stone's
list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Young has stated in concert that he wrote the song while studying history in high school in Winnipeg
. The song was banned in Spain under Francisco Franco
, according to Young's notes for the album Decade
. Young's claim is dubious since Franco was on his death bed on Nov. 10, 1975, the date the song was released. Franco died on Nov. 20, 1975 after a long illness during which he was incapacitated.
, a conquistador
who conquered Mexico
for Spain
in the 16th century. "Cortez the Killer" also makes reference to the Aztec
ruler Moctezuma II
and other events that occurred in the Spanish conquest of the New World
.
Instead of describing the battles of Cortez with the Aztecs, the lyric in the last verse suddenly jumps from third person narrative to first person, with a reference to a woman who is "living there / And she loves me to this day." This line may refer to Cortés' Mexican advisor/lover La Malinche (Doña Marina), who proved to be a valuable source of local knowledge for the Spaniards.
Another interpretation is that "she" represents the Aztec main temple, the Templo Mayor, which was uncovered in 1978 (three years after the album was released) after being buried beneath Mexico City for nearly 500 years. In Mesoamerican literature, the temple is often referred to as "she," since both men and women were sacrificed there and a considerable part of the main temple was dedicated to the Aztec rain god, who is often described as a female.
On a more cynical note, in Jimmy McDonough's biography of Young, entitled Shakey, the author asked Neil if his songs were autobiographical. Young replied, "What the fuck am I doing writing about Aztecs in "Cortez the Killer" like I was there, wandering around? 'Cause I only read about it in a few books. A lotta shit I just made up because it came to me."
s and a bass that sometimes becomes very powerful and fades again. The song repeats the chords Em7
, D
and Am7sus4 while Young adds his signature solos throughout. It is played in Young's favoured "double drop D tuning
", or "D modal tuning" (DADGBD) — standard guitar tuning
with top and bottom strings tuned down a whole tone.
The lyrics start 3:23 into the song. First the words picture Cortés and his "galleon
s and guns" on their quest of the new world shores. There lived Montezuma, emperor of the Aztecs, inconceivably rich and full of wisdom, but in a civilization doomed despite its beauty and amazing achievements. By immense human toll of building, their huge and still existing pyramids
had been erected, and are praised in the song.
Also of note is that the song fades out after nearly seven and a half minutes, as (according to Young's father in Neil and Me) an electrical circuit had blown, causing the console
to go dead. In addition to losing the rest of the instrumental work, a final verse was also lost. When producer David Briggs
had to break this news to the band, Young replied "I never liked that verse anyway." The additional verse has not been performed or recorded to this day.
lineup featuring Warren Haynes
and Jimmy Herring
on lead guitars at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
in 2004. The song has also been covered live by the Dave Matthews Band
, with Warren Haynes
, at their concert in Central Park in 2003
, during another New York City concert on Randall's Island
in August 2006, with Warren Haynes at West Palm Beach, FL on July 31, 2010, and with Neil Young himself at the 2000 and 2006 Bridge School Benefit
concerts. Built to Spill
recorded a version for their 2000 album Live
that, with several guitar solo
s throughout, came to over twenty minutes in length. It was also covered by Slint
, at a gig in Chicago
on 3 March 1989, The Church
on A Box of Birds (1999), by The Drones
, and by Pearl Jam
. Gov't Mule
covered the song on their 1998 album Live ... With A Little Help From Our Friends
. A live version by Matthew Sweet
appears on the Legacy edition of Girlfriend
.
Widespread Panic
has covered the song several times, including a Halloween performance at UIC Pavilion
in Chicago on October 31, 2001. Widespread Panic also memorably covered the song with special guest Jerry Joseph at the Oak Mountain Amphitheater with lightning
flashing across the sky as a backdrop in one of original guitarist Michael Houser's final performances. Widespread Panic with guest Warren Haynes played the song again in Houston, Texas in October of 2009.
The song was also covered with a long jam at the Jammy Awards, featuring Joe Satriani
on lead guitar and Grace Potter on vocals and Hammond organ, with Steve Kimock
, Reed Mathis
, Willy Waldman, and Stephen Perkins
. Grace Potter continues to cover the song in her concerts.
Screaming Females
released a cover of this song on a 2008 7" split with Hunchback.
Singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler
covered the song on a bonus EP to her 2007 album Songs III: Bird on the Water
.
David Rawlings
covered the song on his 2009 album A friend of a friend.
Jim Jarmusch
, Bradford Cox and Randy Randall
covered the song in 2009 for a video on the website of Pitchfork Media
.
The Welsh folk group Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog
(The Cowboys of Botwnnog Moor) covered the song in their 2010 Royal Welsh Youth Village set. The song stood out as being one of only two English songs sung throughout the entire set.
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
from his 1975 album, Zuma
Zuma (album)
Zuma is the seventh studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, his second with Crazy Horse, released in 1975. Some believe the album was named after Zuma Beach in Malibu; however, it seems more logical that the title comes from Montezuma, as he is featured prominently in the song Cortez The...
. It was recorded with Young's band Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse (band)
Crazy Horse is an American rock band best known for its association with Neil Young. It has been co-credited on a number of albums throughout Young's career and has released five albums of its own.-Early years:...
and ranked #39 on Guitar World's
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
100 Greatest Guitar Solos and #321 on Rolling Stone's
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Young has stated in concert that he wrote the song while studying history in high school in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
. The song was banned in Spain under Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, according to Young's notes for the album Decade
Decade (Neil Young album)
Decade is a triple album compilation by Neil Young, released in 1977, now available on two compact discs. It contains 35 of Young's songs recorded between 1966 and 1976, among them five tracks that had been unreleased up to that point...
. Young's claim is dubious since Franco was on his death bed on Nov. 10, 1975, the date the song was released. Franco died on Nov. 20, 1975 after a long illness during which he was incapacitated.
Lyrics and interpretation
The song is about Hernán CortésHernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
, a conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
who conquered Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
for Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in the 16th century. "Cortez the Killer" also makes reference to the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
ruler Moctezuma II
Moctezuma II
Moctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...
and other events that occurred in the Spanish conquest of the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
.
Instead of describing the battles of Cortez with the Aztecs, the lyric in the last verse suddenly jumps from third person narrative to first person, with a reference to a woman who is "living there / And she loves me to this day." This line may refer to Cortés' Mexican advisor/lover La Malinche (Doña Marina), who proved to be a valuable source of local knowledge for the Spaniards.
Another interpretation is that "she" represents the Aztec main temple, the Templo Mayor, which was uncovered in 1978 (three years after the album was released) after being buried beneath Mexico City for nearly 500 years. In Mesoamerican literature, the temple is often referred to as "she," since both men and women were sacrificed there and a considerable part of the main temple was dedicated to the Aztec rain god, who is often described as a female.
On a more cynical note, in Jimmy McDonough's biography of Young, entitled Shakey, the author asked Neil if his songs were autobiographical. Young replied, "What the fuck am I doing writing about Aztecs in "Cortez the Killer" like I was there, wandering around? 'Cause I only read about it in a few books. A lotta shit I just made up because it came to me."
Composition
The song is typical of the Zuma album — simple, big chordChord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
s and a bass that sometimes becomes very powerful and fades again. The song repeats the chords Em7
E minor
E minor is a minor scale based on the note E. The E natural minor scale consists of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. The E harmonic minor scale contains the natural 7, D, rather than the flatted 7, D – to align with the major dominant chord, B7 .Its key signature has one sharp, F .Its...
, D
D major
D major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature consists of two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor....
and Am7sus4 while Young adds his signature solos throughout. It is played in Young's favoured "double drop D tuning
Double Drop D tuning
Double drop D tuning: DADGBD, also known simply as double drop D, is an alternative guitar tuning: E strings are tuned down one whole step to D rather than E as in standard tuning .- Uses of double dropped D tuning :...
", or "D modal tuning" (DADGBD) — standard guitar tuning
Guitar tuning
Guitar tunings almost always refers to the pitch of the open string, though some tunings may only realistically be attained by the use of a capo on an unmodified instrument....
with top and bottom strings tuned down a whole tone.
The lyrics start 3:23 into the song. First the words picture Cortés and his "galleon
Galleon
A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...
s and guns" on their quest of the new world shores. There lived Montezuma, emperor of the Aztecs, inconceivably rich and full of wisdom, but in a civilization doomed despite its beauty and amazing achievements. By immense human toll of building, their huge and still existing pyramids
Mesoamerican pyramids
Mesoamerican pyramids, pyramid-shaped structures, are an important part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture. These structures were usually step pyramids with temples on top – more akin to the ziggurats of Mesopotamia than to the pyramids of Ancient Egypt...
had been erected, and are praised in the song.
Also of note is that the song fades out after nearly seven and a half minutes, as (according to Young's father in Neil and Me) an electrical circuit had blown, causing the console
Mixing console
In professional audio, a mixing console, or audio mixer, also called a sound board, mixing desk, or mixer is an electronic device for combining , routing, and changing the level, timbre and/or dynamics of audio signals. A mixer can mix analog or digital signals, depending on the type of mixer...
to go dead. In addition to losing the rest of the instrumental work, a final verse was also lost. When producer David Briggs
David Briggs (producer)
David Briggs was an American record producer best known for his work with Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse. He is noted for his eclectic imagination and style.-Early life:David Briggs was born in Douglas, Wyoming...
had to break this news to the band, Young replied "I never liked that verse anyway." The additional verse has not been performed or recorded to this day.
Cover versions
The simple chord structure lends itself to long jams, and has been covered as such a jam song by many artists. The song was covered on two consecutive nights by The DeadThe Dead (band)
The Dead is an American rock band composed of some of the former members of the Grateful Dead.After the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann formed a band called The Other Ones. They performed concert tours in 1998 , 2000 , and 2002, and released one...
lineup featuring Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes is an American rock and blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. Haynes is best known for his work as long time guitarist with The Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a guitarist for David Allan Coe and The Dickey...
and Jimmy Herring
Jimmy Herring
Jimmy Herring is an American guitarist who is currently the lead guitarist in the band Widespread Panic. Herring is a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit and Jazz is Dead...
on lead guitars at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a rock structure near Morrison, Colorado, where concerts are given in the open-air amphitheatre. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind the stage, a huge vertical rock angled outwards from stage right, several large outcrops angled outwards from stage left and a...
in 2004. The song has also been covered live by the Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
, with Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes
Warren Haynes is an American rock and blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. Haynes is best known for his work as long time guitarist with The Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a guitarist for David Allan Coe and The Dickey...
, at their concert in Central Park in 2003
The Central Park Concert
The Central Park Concert is a three disc live album and video by the Dave Matthews Band. The album was recorded on September 24, 2003 on the Great Lawn of Central Park in New York, New York in front of a crowd of 121,382, the band's largest audience to date...
, during another New York City concert on Randall's Island
Randall's Island
Randall's Island is situated in the East River in New York City, part of the borough of Manhattan. It is separated from Manhattan island on the west by the river's main channel, from Queens on the east by the Hell Gate, and from the Bronx on the north by the Bronx Kill. It is joined to Wards...
in August 2006, with Warren Haynes at West Palm Beach, FL on July 31, 2010, and with Neil Young himself at the 2000 and 2006 Bridge School Benefit
Bridge School Benefit
The Bridge School Benefit is an annual non-profit charity concert held in Mountain View, California, every October at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. The concerts are all organized by musician Neil Young and his wife, Pegi....
concerts. Built to Spill
Built to Spill
Built to Spill is an American indie rock band based in Boise, Idaho. The band has released seven full-length albums. Their most recent album, There Is No Enemy, was released on October 6, 2009.-History:...
recorded a version for their 2000 album Live
Built to Spill Live
Live is an album of live recordings made by indie rock band Built to Spill on the band's Keep It Like a Secret tour in 1999. Tracks 1, 2, 3, and 9 were recorded in New York City in connection with the band's appearance on the HBO series Reverb, tracks 4-7 were recorded in Seattle, and track 8 was...
that, with several guitar solo
Guitar solo
In popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...
s throughout, came to over twenty minutes in length. It was also covered by Slint
Slint
Slint was an American rock band consisting of Brian McMahan , David Pajo , Britt Walford , Todd Brashear and Ethan Buckler...
, at a gig in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
on 3 March 1989, The Church
The Church (band)
The Church is an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s, their music later became more reminiscent of progressive rock, featuring long instrumental jams and complex guitar interplay...
on A Box of Birds (1999), by The Drones
The Drones
The Drones are an Australian rock group who rose to prominence during the early 2000s. They are influenced by a variety of bands and soloists including Neil Young, The Velvet Underground, Bad Brains, Suicide, Green on Red, The Birthday Party, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone.- The Sound...
, and by Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder , Jeff Ament , Stone Gossard , and Mike McCready...
. Gov't Mule
Gov't Mule
Gov't Mule is a Southern rock jam band formed in 1994 as an Allman Brothers Band side project by Warren Haynes and Allen Woody.The band released their debut album Gov't Mule in 1995...
covered the song on their 1998 album Live ... With A Little Help From Our Friends
Live ... With A Little Help From Our Friends
Live... With a Little Help from Our Friends is a live recording of Gov't Mule's 1998 New Year's Eve concert at The Roxy in Atlanta, Georgia...
. A live version by Matthew Sweet
Matthew Sweet
Sidney Matthew Sweet is an American alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s...
appears on the Legacy edition of Girlfriend
Girlfriend (album)
Girlfriend is the third album by Matthew Sweet, his most commercially and critically successful album to date. AV Club has referred to it as Sweet's magnum opus and labeled it the best power pop album of the 1990s...
.
Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic
Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring...
has covered the song several times, including a Halloween performance at UIC Pavilion
UIC Pavilion
The UIC Pavilion is a 6,958-seat multi-purpose arena, located at 525 S. Racine Street on the West Side in Chicago, Illinois, USA, which opened in 1982. It is home to the University of Illinois at Chicago Flames basketball team and the former home of the Chicago Sky WNBA team...
in Chicago on October 31, 2001. Widespread Panic also memorably covered the song with special guest Jerry Joseph at the Oak Mountain Amphitheater with lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
flashing across the sky as a backdrop in one of original guitarist Michael Houser's final performances. Widespread Panic with guest Warren Haynes played the song again in Houston, Texas in October of 2009.
The song was also covered with a long jam at the Jammy Awards, featuring Joe Satriani
Joe Satriani
Joseph "Joe" Satriani is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, with multiple Grammy Award nominations...
on lead guitar and Grace Potter on vocals and Hammond organ, with Steve Kimock
Steve Kimock
-External links:** at the Internet Archive's live music archive* at the Internet Archive's live music archive* at Internet Archive's live music archive*, San Francisco, April 3, 1999*, Unofficial Fan Forum...
, Reed Mathis
Reed Mathis
Reed Mathis is an American composer, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist from Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is highly regarded for his innovative use of effected bass as well as his stylistic versatility...
, Willy Waldman, and Stephen Perkins
Stephen Perkins
Stephen Andrew Perkins is an American musician and songwriter. A drummer and percussionist, he currently plays with Jane's Addiction and Hellflower....
. Grace Potter continues to cover the song in her concerts.
Screaming Females
Screaming Females
Screaming Females is an independent rock band, often labeled as a punk rock band, from New Brunswick, New Jersey. They have released four full length albums, entitled Baby Teeth, What If Someone Is Watching Their T.V.?, Power Move, and Castle Talk.The band features Marissa Paternoster on guitar...
released a cover of this song on a 2008 7" split with Hunchback.
Singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler
Marissa Nadler
Marissa Nadler is an American dream-folk singer-songwriter and fine artist based in Boston.-Early life:Marissa Nadler was exposed to art at a young age through her mother Pamela, an abstract painter, and her older brother Stuart, a guitarist and writer...
covered the song on a bonus EP to her 2007 album Songs III: Bird on the Water
Songs III: Bird on the Water
Songs III: Bird on the Water is Marissa Nadler's third full-length album, released in March 2007 on Peacefrog Records. It was distributed in the US and Canada in August 2007 by New York City-based Kemado Records...
.
David Rawlings
David Rawlings
David Todd Rawlings is a professional guitarist and singer. He is best known as the longtime musical partner of bluegrass singer-songwriter Gillian Welch.David attended the Berklee College of Music and studied with guitar professor Lauren Passarelli....
covered the song on his 2009 album A friend of a friend.
Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
, Bradford Cox and Randy Randall
Randy Randall
Randy Randall is a guitarist in the band No Age. He was formerly in the band called Wives in which he played guitar and sang with No Age band member Dean Allen Spunt on bass and Jeremy Villalobos on drums. Randy Randall is vegan....
covered the song in 2009 for a video on the website of Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
.
The Welsh folk group Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog
Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog
Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog are a three piece band consisting of brothers from Rhos Botwnnog, between the villages of Botwnnog and Llaniestyn in the Llyn Peninsula, North Wales. They experiment with country, folk and rock music...
(The Cowboys of Botwnnog Moor) covered the song in their 2010 Royal Welsh Youth Village set. The song stood out as being one of only two English songs sung throughout the entire set.