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 mama'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

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

Could have had him any day

They only let him slip away

Out of kindness I suppose



Poets tell how Pancho fell

Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel

The desert's quiet and 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 only did what he had to do

And now he's growing old



All the federales say

Could have had him any day

They only let him go so wrong

Out of kindness I suppose



A few gray federales say

Could have had him any day

They only let him hang around

Out of kindness I suppose