<P> The song is a first - person narrative about an ill - fated love triangle, as sung by a cowboy in El Paso, Texas, in the days of the Wild West . The singer recalls how he frequented a nightclub called "Rosa's Cantina," where he became smitten with a young Mexican dancer named Feleena . When the singer notices another cowboy sharing a drink with "wicked Feleena," he challenges the newcomer to a gunfight out of jealousy over the young woman . The singer kills the newcomer, then flees El Paso for fear of being hanged for murder or killed in revenge by his victim's entourage . (The abbreviated version of the song, often found on compilations, omits a verse in which the singer expresses shock and remorse over the "foul evil deed I had done" before realizing he has to flee .) In the act of fleeing, the singer commits the additional and potentially hanging offense of horse theft ("I caught a good one, it looked like it could run"), further sealing his fate in El Paso . Departing El Paso, the singer hides out in the "badlands of New Mexico ." </P> <P> The song then fast - forwards to an undisclosed time later, when the singer describes his yearning for Feleena that drives him to return to El Paso, without regard for his own life: "It's been so long since I've seen the young maiden / My love is stronger than my fear of death ." Upon arriving, the singer is chased and fatally wounded by a posse . At the end of the song, the singer recounts how Feleena has "found me," and he dies in her arms after "one little kiss ." </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Chart (1959) </Th> <Th> Peak position </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> U.S. Billboard Hot C&W Sides </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> US Billboard Hot 100 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Chart (1959) </Th> <Th> Peak position </Th> </Tr>

West texas town of el paso i fell in love