Pancho & Lefty
Townes Van Zandt, 1972
* chorus chords begin on G*
** 2/4 time measure
D
D
A
A
1
1
5
5
G
G
D
A
4
4
1
5
G
*
G
D
G
4
4
1
4
Bm
G/D
**
A
A
6
4/1
**
5
5
G
Bm
Bm
4
6
6
Livin' on the road my friend, was gonna keep you free and clean,
And now you wear your skin like iron, and your breath is hard as kerosene.
You weren't your momma'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, rode a horse as fast as polished steel.
He wore his gun outside his pants, for all the honest world to feel.
Pancho met his match you know, on the deserts down in Mexico.
Nobody heard his dyin' words,
But that's the way it goes.
chorus
All the Federales say, they could've had him any day.
(outro:A few grey Federales say, they could've had him any day.)
They only let him slip away,
(outro:They only let him go so long,)
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, 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,
There ain't nobody knows.
Poets sing how Pancho fell. Lefty's livin' in a cheap motel.
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 growing old.