Salvador Sanchez (6:29)

Salvador Sanchez is about boxers, and in particular boxers who died prematurely in and out of the ring. The titular Salvador Sanchez was a Mexican boxer who was the WBC Featherweight Champion from Feb 2 1980– Aug 12 1982, when he died in car crash.[1]

Other boxers mentioned in the song include Francisco Guilledo (aka Pancho Villa), Benny “Kid” Paret, and Ricky Gozo.

This song originally appeared on 2003’s Ghosts of the Great Highway, by Mark Kozelek’s band Sun Kil Moon as a full electric version with a heavily distorted rhythm guitar dominating the mix. A studio-recorded acoustic version appeared as a bonus track on the 2007 reissue of Ghosts of the Great Highway, and a live acoustic version appeared on Kozelek’s Little Drummer Boy in 2006.

The song Pancho Villa, also on GotGH, has essentially identical lyrics, and is performed with a full band, but with the heavily distorted electric guitar replaced with an acoustic.