Townes Van Zandt - Pancho and Lefty

Living on the road, my friend

Was gonna keep you free and clean

Now you wear your skin like iron;

Your breath's as hard as kerosene

You weren't your momma's only boy

But her favorite one, it seems

She began to cry when you said goodbye

And sank into your dreams

Pancho was a bandit, boys

His horse was fast as polished steel

Wore his gun outside his pants

For all the honest world to feel

Pancho met his match, you know

On the deserts down in Mexico

Nobody heard his dying words

That's the way it goes

All the federales say

They could have had him any day

They only let him hang around

Out of kindness, I suppose

Lefty, he can't sing the blues

All night long like he used to

The dust that Pancho bit down south

Ended up in Lefty's mouth

The day they laid poor Pancho low

Lefty split for Ohio

Where he got the bread to go

There ain't nobody knows

All the federales say

They could have had him any day

Only let him slip away

Out of kindness, I suppose

The poets tell how Pancho fell;

Lefty's living in a cheap hotel

The desert's quiet; Cleveland's cold

So the story ends, we're told

Pancho needs your prayers, it's true

But save a few for Lefty, too

He just did what he had to do

Now he's growing old

A few gray federales say

They could have had him any day

Only let him go so wrong

Out of kindness, I suppose

A few gray federales say

They could have had him any day

They only let him go so wrong

Out of kindness, I suppose

• Artist:Townes Van Zandt
• Album: Late Great Townes Van Zandt (1972)