Pancho and Lefty

Livin' on the road, my friend,Was gonna keep us free and clean

But now you wear your skin like ironAnd your breath's as hard as ke-rosene

You weren't your mama's only boyBut her favorite one, it seemsShe began to cry

When you said good byeAnd 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 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