Pancho And Lefty

Living on the road, my friend

Was gonna keep you free and clean

Now you wear your skin like iron

And your breath's as hard as kerosene

You weren't your mama's only son

But her favorite one it seems

She began to cry when you said goodbye

And sank into your dreams

Poncho 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

Poncho met his match, you know

On the deserts down in Mexico

Nobody heard his dyin' words

But that's the way goes

All the Federales 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

Day they laid poor Poncho 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,

Out of kindness, I suppose

[ guitar ]

The poets tell how Poncho fell

And Lefty's living in a cheap hotel

The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold

And so the story ends we're told

Poncho needs your prayers, it's true

Vut save a few for Lefty too

He only did what he had to do

And now he's growing old

All the Federales say,

They could have had him any day

They only let him slip away,

Out of kindness, I suppose

A few grey Federales say

They could have had him any day

They only let him go so long,

Out of kindness, I suppose.