Cortez the Killer

"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.

The song is about Hernán Cortés, a conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain in the 1500s. "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.

The music is typical of the Zuma album — simple, big chords and a bass that sometimes becomes very powerful and fades again. The song repeats the chords Em7, D and Am7 while Young adds his signature solo riffs throughout. It is played in Young's favoured "double dropped D", or "D modal" tuning (DADGBD) — standard guitar tuning with top and bottom strings tuned down a whole tone.

The lyric starts 3:20 minutes into the song. First the words picture Cortés and his "galleons 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. 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 living there", describing a romantic relationship. This may refer to Cortez's Aztec mistress whom he loved dearly (perhaps Doña Marina, his interpreter),^{[citation needed]} or to some other unspecified relationship. Finally after another spell of guitar, Young simply mutters, "Cortez ... what a killer."

Young has stated in concert that he wrote the song while studying history in high school. 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."^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, the song was banned in Spain, according to Young's notes for the album Decade.

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. ^[1]

[edit] 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 has been covered live by the Dave Matthews Band, notably in a performance with Warren Haynes at their concert in Central Park in 2003, during another New York City concert on Randall's Island in August 2006, and with Neil Young himself at the 2006 Bridge School Benefit concert. The song was also covered by Built to Spill on their 2000 album Live, by The Church on A Box of Birds (1999), and by The Drones and Pearl Jam. Gov't Mule covered the song on their 1998 album Live ... With A Little Help From Our Friends. It was also covered by Slint, at their gig in Chicago on 3/3/89. Widespread Panic has also covered the song several times, including a Halloween performance at UIC Pavilion in Chicago on October 31, 2001.^[2] Widespread Panic also memorably covered the song with special guest Jerry Joseph at the Oak Mountain Ampitheatre with lightning flashing across the sky as a backdrop in one of orginal guitarist Michael Houser's final performances. Cortez was also covered with a long jam in it at the All Good Festival in July 2007 during the MOE All Star Jam featuring Grace Potter on vocals. Grace Potter continues to cover the song in her concerts.