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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
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
Lyrics submitted by H-bomb, edited by smallwonderrobot
Cortez the Killer Lyrics as written by Neil Young
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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i feel as if neil young is likening himself to this image of cortez, with montezuma and the aztecs as a lost love. in his image, the people are beautiful, peaceful, spirited and intense. cortez comes and takes that away forever. it seems like he's feeling guilt for devastating a woman's life and hopes (in love)...
"i know she's living there, and she loves me to this day. i can't remember when or how i lost my way. he came dancing across the water. cortez, cortez. what a killer."
young often refers to his "darker side". perhaps it reigned as cortez.
This is the part of the song which explains what the song is about. It's not about cortez or the aztecs. I thing eremitic hit the nail on the head...
I've always had the same reaction to this song... at the end, he reveals that it's personal. He's the guy who messed up perfection, just like Cortez.
@eremitic3 just wanna say that, although I agree with the POV that says what We (white Europeans) did to the Native People's of North America is a horrible thing, speaking generally, I do want to point out the line about "they offered life in sacrifice, so that others could go on"...again, what we did to the Indians was awful, but I think Neil tried to sneak one by us with that line, and that offering "life in sacrifice" - where, the person sacrificed (I believe this was true of the Aztecs and Mayans both) had their heart cut out while still alive, awake and alert, isn't the act of an "innocent" people. <br /> <br /> Again, I just want to stress that I don't think that makes the genocide forgivable. Just that Neil downplays the savage acts of the Aztecs, while condemning the spanish. Still a great song, just adding my thoughts.
@eremitic3 <br /> <br /> Just an amazing song. As was the Aztec civilization. He must have read up on it. And then came up with a very far out interpretation of what happened between Montezuma and Cortez. Cortez was a killer. He came in and leveled the city of tenochititlan. And that city was very large, beautifully built, captial of the Aztecs. They fought but didn't beleive in killing their prisoners. They used them for sacrifice "so that others could go on." It was also so that the sun would exist and they got plenty of rain for crops. Cortez came along, stole their gold and destroyed the capitol. He was a killer. <br /> <br /> Musically, is very cool how it starts with a solo that begins mellow and builds. Its an incredible song. What's far out to me is that its Neil Young's version of the Aztec civilization and Cortez's destruction of it.
My Top 10 Neil Young Songs-
Barstool Blues
Motion Pictures
Bandit
Pocahantas
Albequerque
Ambulance Blues
Danger Bird (obviously)
On The Beach
Cowgirl In The Sand
CORTEZ THE KILLER!!!
Although that list changes from day to day, Cortez never leaves the top spot. When you first hear the song you don't even need to know the title or the subject matter. The guitar and bass and drums just mesh perfectly to create a sense of wandering out at sea then his pitch perfect vocals ... arrgh its just to good! Neil simply doesnt get the respect he deserves as a writer or musician or an influence on the generations that followed him and the best part is hes still going strong today. It just doesnt get better than Neil and Crazy Horse. Long may they run!
I couldn't agree more. My all-time favorite Neil Young song AND favorite sing. I would like this to be played at my funereal.<br /> <br /> I thought that I was one of the few who loved Ambulance Blues.
Bin a fan of Neils from the start, never heard of most of the songs on your list. You left out Old laughing lady, the Loner, String quartet etc.
@DangerBird In Neil Young Under Review, one of the gentlemen suggested that it "flowed like lava," which I thought was the best description I had ever heard. It took me years to like this song, whereas songs like Ambulance Blues I liked immediately. You've got a great list there. I'd have Out on the Weekend and Harvest in there myself. I loved his simple, vulnerable acoustic tracks. But then again, I've always loved clinically depressed music. LOL
@DangerBird Neil gets lots of respect, IDK WTF you’re talking about as far as that goes. But
@Jerkypete I love Out On The Weekend too, it’s got that Neil Young beat:<br /> boom boom THWACK boom boom THWACK.... and so on... But it’s not one of his best songs. Now, Harvest is another story, one of his very, very best tunes.
what a shit song. everyone knows Cortes used sloops, not galleons. Come on get serious, Neil.
(I'm kidding it absolutely rules.)
Built to Spill does an absolutely spectaculr cover of this song on their Live album.
/shameless plug
Absolutely astounding rendition of this great song...Built to Spill blows me away on this song.
Built to Spill DOES do an absolutely amazing ocver of this song and I absolutely agree with you. Even the fact that it's over 20 minutes long doesn't detract from it's greatness. What can I say? The lyrics to this song are powerful and the music that accompanies it is equally powerful. This song is nothing short of amazing.
the first neil young albumn i bought was neil young & crazy hourse weld. the very first song i heard was cortez the killer. it absoluty blew my mind. the passion through the lyrics and guitar are just perfect. this song almost brought me too tears. it is my favourite song of all time and i feel it will stay that way for ever.
Sorry, EZ3, but I don't think anyone with historical knowledge would call the Aztecs a just society.
There's a part of me that thinks Young is aware of the discrepancies, that he wrote this song in part to draw attention to the romanticizing of indigenous American cultures. But maybe I'm hallucinating. This song is like drugs.
a beautiful and somber piece of musical history
its a wonderful song, neil or bts, whoever is doing it. i dont know about the church. neil is a music god
I think this song is about anarchy. Cortez destroyed it.
"But they built up with their bare hands What we still can't do today."
We still can't accomplish a just society, even today.