<P> There have been three versions of Robbins' original recording of "El Paso": the original full - length version, the edited version, and the abbreviated version (briefly described below), which is an alternate take in stereo . The original version is in mono and is around 4 minutes and 38 seconds in duration, far longer than most contemporary singles at the time, especially in the country genre . Robbins' longtime record company, Columbia Records, was unsure whether radio stations would play such a long song, so it released two versions of the song on a promo 45: the full - length version on one side, and an edited version on the other which was nearer to the three - minute mark . This version omitted some excerpts of lyrics of the original . Most of the record - buying public, as well as most disk jockeys, overwhelmingly preferred the full - length version . </P> <Dl> <Dd> "Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl ..." </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> "Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl ..." </Dd> <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>

Out in the old west texas town of el paso