"Cortez the Killer" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young from his 1975 album, Zuma. It was recorded with the band Crazy Horse. It has since been ranked No. 39 on Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and No. 329 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. 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 El País and book author Xavier Valiño, the album Zuma was released in Spain in full following Franco's death, with the song renamed to the less inflammatory title "Cortez". Lyrics and interpretation The song is inspired by Hernán Cortés (Cortés' name has an alternate Anglicized spelling in the song title), a conquistador who conquered Mexico for Spain in the 16th century. "Cortez the Killer" also makes reference to the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II and the Spanish conquest of the New World. Instead of describing Cortés' battles with the Aztecs, the lyric in the last verse suddenly jumps from third person narrative to first person, and possibly over a time span of centuries as well, 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 gone through his breakup with Carrie Snodgress around this time. On a more cynical note, in Jimmy McDonough's biography of Young, Shakey, the author asked Neil if his songs were autobiographical. Young replied, "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." Rolling Stone critiqued the song's idyllic view of Mesoamerica, noting that despite the song's contention that "War was never known" to the Aztecs, in actuality they were "in a near-constant state of war", and that while the song claims people sacrificed themselves "so others could go on", in reality "Innocent people were tied to posts and brutally tortured and killed." Composition The song is typical of the Zuma album—simple, big chords and a bass line that sometimes becomes very powerful and fades again. The song