Today at work I needed to fact-check a reference to lyrics from "As Time Goes By," best known from its use in the classic motion picture "Casablanca," and discovered something pretty profound: This song's introduction is actually about Albert Einstein and his Theory of Relativity. Check it out:

This day and age we're living in
Gives cause for apprehension
With speed and new invention
And things like fourth dimension.

Yet we get a trifle weary
With Mr. Einstein's theory.
So we must get down to earth at times
Relax relieve the tension
And no matter what the progress
Or what may yet be proved
The simple facts of life are such
They cannot be removed.

You just don't encounter a lot of song introductions these days. It wasn't until several years ago that I even heard the intro for "White Christmas," which is about being in Southern California in December -- which is why the singer is dreaming of a white Christmas.

Thanks to iTunes, I discovered another musical delight recently. I was searching for "El Paso," the classic Western ballad by Marty Robbins and, yeah, I also saw "El Paso City" -- but also for sale was an incredible song I'd never heard before: "Feleena (From El Paso)." This amazing song tells the "El Paso" saga from Feleena's viewpoint and is guaranteed to evoke an almost-operatic cascade of emotions from anyone like me who loves the original.

You surely know the tragic ending of the "El Paso" story, so I'll risk a spoiler by quoting my favorite set of lyrics from "Feleena (From El Paso)":

Feleena knelt near him,
To hold and to hear him
When she felt the warm blood
That flowed from the wound in his side.
He raised to kiss her and she heard him whisper,
"Never forget me, Feleena. It's over, goodbye."
Quickly she grabbed for the six-gun that he wore
And screaming in anger and placing the gun to her breast,
"Bury us both deep and maybe we'll find peace,"
Then pulling the trigger she fell cross the dead cowboy's chest.

Time is the reason you might not have heard "Feleena (From El Paso)." The song clocks in at 8 minutes, 19 seconds, so it doesn't get much airplay.

There's also an internal time problem in the "Feleena" song itself. In the original "El Paso," the young cowboy apparently spent some time in the badlands of New Mexico, yet in "Faleena," he tragically returns the next day.

Or maybe, as Einstein might say, it's all relative.

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