Do you remember El Paso, the cowboy and the cantina? Seventeen years later, Marty Robbins wrote another song about it, from a plane.
Learn from Songs · Unit 2: Past time · B1–B2
El Paso City
The same cowboy story, seventeen years later, seen from a plane: mixing present and past (I’m flying over the city, and I remember…), remember / remind, I wonder if…, it seems as if…, and must have / might have for guessing about the past, with Philo, an old sailor, and a story he somehow already knows.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
A cowboy on a plane?
SOPHIA
No: a man on a plane, today, flying over El Paso. He remembers the old song, and has a very strange feeling.
PHILO
What feeling?
Before you listen: the song
Over Texas, 1976
Marty Robbins said he wrote “El Paso City” while flying over El Paso, Texas, in about four minutes, the same time it takes to sing it. It went to number one in the country charts in 1976. The music borrows tunes from both of his earlier El Paso songs.
In this song, the singer is sitting on a plane, looking down at the city. Suddenly he remembers an old song he heard long ago, about a cowboy and a Mexican girl. He can’t remember who sang it. But it seems to him as if the story is his own, as if he might have lived it in another life.
It’s a song about memory, stories, and the strange feeling called déjà vu: the feeling that you have already lived a moment before.
Have I been here before?
Listen: now and then
PHILO
Listen once. Which parts are about now, on the plane? Which are about the old story?
SOPHIA
Then listen for remember and for the feeling he can’t explain. Answer Section A.
✈️ Listen to the song: “El Paso City” (Marty Robbins, 1976).Listen to the official recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “El Paso City”, Marty Robbins.Read the lyrics →
Mixing present and past
DEMETRIA
I’m flying over the city now, and I remember a song I heard long ago.
SOPHIA
A story often has a frame in the present (I’m sitting here, I remember) and a memory in the past (it happened, he rode, she danced). Changing tense shows when we move between them.
Remember, remind, I wonder if
MARCOS
This city reminds me of a song. I remember it well. I wonder if it’s true.
SOPHIA
remember = have it in your memory; remind someone of / to = make them remember (You remind me of my brother. Remind me to call her.). I wonder if / whether + statement for a question you ask yourself.
As if, must have, might have
PHILO
It seems as if I’ve been here before. I must have heard it as a child. I might have lived it.
SOPHIA
It seems / feels as if (as though) + clause, for an impression. must have + past participle = I’m almost sure about the past. might / could have + past participle = it’s possible. can’t have = it’s impossible.
Sophia’s comparison: Plato’s memory
SOPHIA
Plato believed that when we learn something, we are really remembering it: our souls knew everything before we were born, and forgot.
PHILO
And the Preacher says: what has been is what will be, and there is nothing new under the sun.
DEMETRIA
So the man on the plane is a philosopher, then.
MARCOS
Or he just heard the song on the radio a lot.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| present (frame) + past (memory) | moving between now and then | I’m flying over the city, and I remember… |
| remember / remind | memory vs making someone remember | It reminds me of a song. |
| I wonder if / whether… | a question to yourself | I wonder if it’s true. |
| it seems as if / as though… | an impression | It seems as if I’ve been here before. |
| must / might / can’t have + past participle | guessing about the past | I must have heard it as a child. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. Where is the singer?
2. What does he remember?
3. Can he remember who sang it?
4. What strange feeling does he have?
5. How long did Robbins take to write it?
6. Which earlier songs does the music borrow from?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. I’m over the city right now. (fly)
8. This city me of an old song.
9. I wonder it really happened.
10. It seems as I’ve been here before.
11. I must heard it as a child.
12. He might lived it in another life.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “It reminds me my grandfather.”
14. “I wonder whether he’s still alive.”
15. “She must have forget her keys.”
16. “It feels as if I’ve known you for years.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Déjà vu. Have you ever felt you’ve lived a moment before? Tell your partner, using It seemed as if…, I must have…, I wonder if…
Compare. El Paso and El Paso City tell the same story differently. Which do you prefer? Why do you think Robbins kept returning to it?
Write (120–150 words). A place that reminds me of something. Start in the present (I’m sitting…), move to a memory in the past, and finish with a guess (I must have…, I might have…).
Now play the gamebook: Philo, an old sailor, and a story he already knows.Play the gamebook →