Pancho And Lefty Song Lyrics by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson
Living on the road my friendWas gonna keep you free and cleanAnd now you wear your skin like ironAnd your breath as hard as kerosene
Weren’t your mama’s only boyBut her favorite one it seemsShe began to cry when you said goodbyeAnd sank into your dreams
Pancho was a bandit boyHis horse was fast as polished steelHe wore his gun outside his pantsFor all the honest world to feel
Pancho met his match you knowOn the deserts down in MexicoNobody heard his dying wordsAh but that’s the way it goes
All the Federales sayThey could have had him any dayThey only let him slip awayOut of kindness, I suppose
Lefty, he can’t sing the bluesAll night long like he used toThe dust that Pancho bit down southEnded up in Lefty’s mouth
The day they laid poor Pancho lowLefty split for OhioWhere he got the bread to goThere ain’t nobody knows
All the Federales sayThey could have had him any dayWe only let him slip awayOut of kindness, I suppose
The poets tell how Pancho fellAnd Lefty’s living in cheap hotelsThe desert’s quiet, Cleveland’s coldAnd so the story ends we’re told
Pancho needs your prayers it’s trueBut save a few for Lefty tooHe only did what he had to doAnd now he’s growing old
All the Federales sayWe could have had him any dayWe only let him go so longOut of kindness, I suppose
A few gray Federales sayWe could have had him any dayWe only let him go so longOut of kindness, I suppose