Pancho and Lefty

(Townes van Zandt)



Livin' on the road my friend

Was gonna keep you free and clean

Now you wear skin like iron

And 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.



Well, Pancho met his match you know

On the deserts down in Mexico

And nobody heard his dyin' words

Ah, but that's the way it goes.



All the Federales say

Could of had him any day

Only let him get away

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 gop

There ain't nobody knows.



Well, the poets tell how Pancho fell

And Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel

The dessert's quiet and Cleveland's cold

So the story end's, we're told.



Pancho needs your prayer's it's true

But save a few for Lefty too

He just did what he had to do

And now he's growin' old.



A few gray Federales say

Could have had him any day

Only let him go so long

Out of kindness I suppose...