Pancho And Lefty

Townes Van Zandt

Stadio Lamberti, Cava Dei Terreni, Italy - 21.jun.1989  
Willie Nelson 60th birthday tribute, KRLU-TV Studios, The University of Texas At Austin, Austin TX - 28.apr.1993  

Livin' on the [edge/road], my friend, was gonna keep us free and clean
But now you wear your 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 good bye and sank into your dreams.

Pancho was a bandit, boys, rode a horse fast as polished steel
Wore his guns outside his pants for all the honest world to feel
Pancho met his match, you know, on the deserts down in Mexico
No one heard his dyin' words but that's the way it goes.

And all the federales say they could have had him any day
They only let him slip away, out of kindness, I suppose.

Now Lefty he can't sing the blues all night long like he used to
The dust that Pancho bit down south, it ended up in Lefty's mouth
The day they laid old Pancho low, Lefty split for Ohio
Where he got the bread to go, well there ain't nobody 'knows.

But all the federales say they could have had him any day
They only let him slip away, out of kindness, I suppose.

Now poets sing how Pancho fell, Lefty's livin' in a [big/cheap] hotel
The desert's quiet and 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 only did what he had to do and now he's growin' old.

And all the federales say they could have had him any day
They only let him go so long, out of kindness, I suppose.

Yes a few old gray federales still say they could have had him any day
They only let him go so wrong, out of kindness, I suppose.