Church, The - Cortez The Killer Lyrics

Grace Potter and Joe satrini do a hell of a cover of this too, also the guy on the horn blows it away.

Still great. Box of Birds is one of my favourite albums.

" A Box of Birds" as a cover album is right up there with Rush "Feedback" Gov't Mule "House's of the Holy" and also their cover of "Dark Side of the Moon. You couldn't go wrong with any of them. Simply splendid music by real professionals.

The best cover ever heard ...

Maybe... This IS really soulfull. Long live NY&CH and The Church...

What a killer!

Great mood . Best Aussie band ever

Yes Mal, they are truly an awesome Australian band. I first saw them in 1981 just after the release of their debut album. "Of Skins and Heart" First single "She Never Said" jumped out of the radio and grabbed me. Thanks to JJJ Radio for supporting Australian music and The Whitlam Labor Govt. for initiating many cultural programs that dragged Australia out of the Dark Ages from 23 yrs of Conservative Right-Wing govt.
I love Neil Young and Crazy Horse and I'm sure they'd love this version.

feliz de haber conocido the church .......muy bueno ....for ever and ever

amazing group for a deep sound

They did a neil young cover? So happily astonished. It's one of my favorites too. Thanks gentlemen.

Stunning. Exquisite. Damn, these guys . . . .

Bella....cover

This is an off the planet good cover of a Neil Young classic by a sensational Aussie band.

Love this song as Mexican means a lot

That's the Church I love so much ~ perfection!

buenísima

What an epic song!

Lizzycat from Auburn, if you ever find your way here - get in touch! Sal V

I think Kilby and co really got the mood and sentiment of Neil Young's song here - then taking it up into that ethereal space they go to with their sound and mood - so beautiful you just don't want to come down from it.

Nope. Didn't do a thing for me.

Awesome Neil Young cover!

Neil Young he has an urgency to always express his own emotions. so how much is this song about Neil Young and what does the term "cortez the killer" start to refer to then? Is it a metaphor about something in Young's personal life experience? :)

I like to think he was dumbfounded by the slaughter one man performed against hundreds of thousands of people who welcomed him, and fought each other and practiced human sacrifice.  People who played a sport that involved human sacrifice...  At the end of the day... only Neil can say.

I always did wonder why he ruined the immersion by including himself, saying he doesn't know where or how he lost his way.

Jan, when first i heard this song in 1975 or 1976, i became lost in Neil's lyrics about the paradise in the New World, then was stunned when at the end he revealed that it was a metaphor for his loss of a woman that he loved, and that "Cortez" was the dude that stole his love. One of his best songs ever, and that is saying a lot.

Back when I first bought the record Zuma, by Neil Young - this song was completely mesmerizing and resonated within myself, I could close my eyes and transport myself back to the time when Cortez first arrived on the Mexican shores.
I always thought Neil had done the same thing and just wanted to transport the listener back in time with him and tell of his love for an Aztecian woman then bring it all back to present day 1976 when Zuma was released.
There are other epics of his that use time travel in a personal narrative too. Just my personal interpretation?

Intelligent!

ONE OF THE BEST COVERS OF THIS SONG EVER! I bought this CD for this song and would have paid anything for it! The Church indeed are the only band on Earth to cover it and do a f*ckin' great job with the two guitarists handling the blending of wondrous sounds and textures that Neil would be proud to hear. I heard this song in passing and was totally mesmerised by the sonic brilliance of The Church making it their own and yet still paying Neil Young the ultimate compliment of inspiration!

Built to Spill's version is pretty much up there with this to be honest

Totally missed this Album...Fantastic Covers

Fascinated about the protagonist in this song.. from which kind of person is Neil Young singing this song? The protagonist both speaks about Cortez the explorer if like he is some journalist on the same ship, a troubadour, a free thinker.. and at the same time expresses emotion about loving a woman until this day. The music is splendid too in this cover, much love.

Jan Pieter my take is that it's an ironic take on the tendency to romaticise pre-colonial American culture. I mean, Cortez is a killer, but so were the indigenous population. It took slaves to build those pyramids.

very well said.Hiroshima Mon Amour is an awesome cover song.one of my favorite by the Church.

Didn't even know this cover version existed but I'm glad I found it! Love The Church and they are the perfect band to cover this song.

CRAZY HORSE! All the way!

Well, then you probably don't like The Church... Same voice on most of their songs.

Amazing guitars, amazing version, true to the spirit of Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Viva Church !!

good instrumental but i dont dig the vocal

Good to know.

@glyph68 lolol

So did the English and the Americans and many other cultures.

This and Hiroshima Mon Amour on the same album are worth buying that disk for. Amazing covers both.

@BriFreak67 NOT REALLY...THEY RAPED AND MURDERED MILLIONS

cortez the killer song by neil was banned in spain.. weird i guess

I have the *Box of Birds* album.. and I was so happy they covered this *Neil Young* song, it's one of my faves by him ♥ :)