Cortez The Killer - {Run for Cover Beats Original} Widespread Panic w/ Jerry Joseph

Volume 1 >> Run for Cover Beats Original CORTEZ THE KILLER as performed by Widespread Panic w/ special guest Jerry Joseph (Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons)

Original by Neil Young (ZUMA)

The song is inspired by Hernán Cortés (Cortés' name has an alternate Anglicized spelling in the song title), a conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain in the 16th century. "Cortez the Killer" also makes reference to the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II and the Spanish conquest of the New World.
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Instead of describing Cortés' battles with the Aztecs, the lyric in the last verse suddenly jumps from third person narrative to first person, and possibly over a time span of centuries as well, with a reference to an unnamed woman: "And I know she's living there / And she loves me to this day. / I still can't remember when / or how I lost my way."

He came dancin' across the water
With his galleons and guns
Lookin' for the new world
And the palace in the sun

On the shore lay Montezuma
With his coca leaves and pearls
In his halls, he often wandered
With the secrets of the world

And his subjects gathered 'round him
Like the leaves around a tree
In their clothes of many colors
For the angry gods to see

And the women all were beautiful
And the men stood straight and strong
They offered life in sacrifice
So that others could go on

Hate was just a legend
And war was never known
People worked together
And they lifted many stones

And they carried them to the flat lands
But they died along the way
And they built up with their bare hands
What we still can't do today

And I know she's livin' there
And she loves me to this day
I still can't remember when
Or how I lost my way

He came dancin' across the water
Cortez, Cortez
What a killer