Pancho & Lefty

Livin' on the road, my friend

Is gonna keep you free and clean

Now you wear your skin like iron

And your breath's as hard as kerosene

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

He wore his gun outside his pants

For all the honest world to feel

Pancho met his match, you know

In the deserts, down in Mexico

And nobody heard his dyin' words

Ah, but that's the way it goes

All the Federales say

They could of had him any day

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 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

Could of had him any day

"We only let him slip away"

Out of kindness, I suppose

The poets tell how Pancho fell

Lefty's livin' in a 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

All the Federales say

Could of had him any day

"We only let him slip away"

Out of kindness, I suppose

A few gray Federales say

Could've had him any day

"We only let him go so long"

Out of kindness, I suppose