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