Young has stated in concert that he wrote the song while studying history in high school in
Winnipeg. According to Young's notes for the album Decade, the song was banned in Spain under
Francisco Franco; according to Xavier Valiño, when Zuma was released in Spain following Franco's death, the song was listed as "Cortez, Cortez".[3][4]
Lyrics and interpretation
The song is inspired by
Hernán Cortés'
conquest of the Aztec Empire under
Moctezuma II in the 16th century. Instead of describing Cortés' battles with the Aztecs, the last verse suddenly jumps to a first-person perspective 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." Young had recently ended his relationship with
Carrie Snodgress when the song was recorded.
On a more cynical note, in
Jimmy McDonough's biography of Young, Shakey, Young stated: "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."[5] He continued in a December 1995 interview in Mojo: "It was a combination of imagination and knowledge. What Cortez represented to me is the explorer with two sides, one benevolent, the other utterly ruthless. I mean, look at
Columbus! Everyone now knows he was less than great. And he wasn't even there first (laughs). It always makes me question all these other so-called icons."[6]
The song is typical of the Zuma album, with simple chords and gradually rising and falling tension. The song repeats the chords
Em7,
D and
Am7sus4 while Young adds his signature solos throughout. It is played in Young's favored
double drop D tuning (DADGBD).
The song fades out after nearly seven and a half minutes, as (according to Young's father in Neil and Me) a circuit in the mixing console had blown. 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 identified or recorded officially.[8]
Cover versions
The song was covered live by
Slint, with a version being released on the 2014 deluxe reissue of their album Spiderland.
Screaming Females released a cover of this song on a 2008 7" split with "Hunchback".
David Rawlings covered the song on his 2009 album A Friend of a Friend, where it appears as the latter half of a medley; the first section is the
Bright Eyes song "Method Acting".