Poncho And Lefty Lyrics - Merle Haggard

Livin' on the road my friend 

Is gonna keep you free and clean 

And now you wear your skin like iron 

And your breath is hard as kerosene 

Weren't you mamma's only boy? 

Her favorite one it seems 

She began to cry when you said good bye 

Sank to your dream 

Poncho was a bandit boy 

His horse was fast as polished steel 

He wore his gun outside his pants 

For all the honest world to feel 

Poncho met his match, you know 

On the deserts down in Mexico 

Nobody heard his dyin' word 

But that's the way it goes 

All the Federals, they say 

They could have had him any day 

They only let him slip away 

Out of kindness I suppose 

Lefty he can't sing the blues 

All night long like he used to 

The dust that Poncho bit down south 

Ended up in Lefty's mouth 

The day they lay poor Poncho low 

Lefty split for Ohio 

Where he got the bread to go 

There ain't nobody knows 

All the Federals they say 

We could have had him any day 

We only let him slip away 

Out of kindness I suppose 

The poets tell how Poncho fell 

And Lefty's livin' in cheap hotels 

The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold 

And so the story ends we're told 

Poncho needs your prayers 

It's true, save a few for Lefty too 

He only did what he had to do 

And now he's growin' old 

All the Federals, they say 

We could have had him any day 

They only let him go so long 

Out of kindness I suppose 

A few grey Federals, they say 

We could have had him any day 

We only let him go so long 

Out of kindness I suppose