Pancho & Lefty (alternate 1972 Mix Without Strings And Horns) Lyrics - Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Studio Sessions & Demos 1971-1972 - Townes Van Zandt

Living on the road my friend, 

Is gonna keep you free and clean 

Now you wear your skin like iron, 

And your breath 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, 

Sank into your dreams. 

Pancho was a bandit boy, 

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, 

Ah but 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 

They only let him slip away 

Now the poets tell how Pancho fell, 

And Lefty's living in cheap hotel 

The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold, 

And 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, 

And now he's growing old 

And a few great Federales say 

They could have had him any day 

They only let him go so wrong 

Out of kindness, I suppose. 

A few great Federales say 

They could have had him any day 

They only let him go so wrong 

Out of kindness, I suppose.