Townes Van Zandt – Pancho And Lefty (Guitar)

G
Living on the road my friend

D
Was gonna keep you free and clean

C
Now you wear your skin like iron

     G                   D
Your breath's as hard as kerosene

C
You weren't your mama's only boy

        G               C
But her favorite one it seems

Em                        C      D
She began to cry when you said goodbye

 C              Em
sank into your dreams

G
Pancho was a bandit, boys

D
His horse was fast as polished steel

C
Wore his gun outside his pants

    G                D
For all the honest world to feel

C
Pancho met his match you know

       G               C
On the deserts down in Mexico

Em               C     D
Nobody heard his dying words

C                 Em
That's the way it goes

C
All the federales say

G                       C
They could have had him any day

Em                C    D
They only let him hang around

       C          Em
Out of kindness I suppose

G
Lefty he can't sing the blues

D
All night long like he used to

C
The dust that Pancho bit down south

 G           D
Ended up in Lefty's mouth

C
The day they laid poor Pancho low

G               C
Lefty split for Ohio

Em               C        D
Where he got the bread to go

  C                Em
There ain't nobody knows

C
All the federales say

G                       C
They could have had him any day

Em               C      D
They only let him slip away

       C          Em
Out of kindness I suppose

G
The poets tell how Pancho fell

D
Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel

C
The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold

G            D
So the story ends we're told

C
Pancho needs your prayers it's true,

G                  C
But save a few for Lefty too

Em                  C     D
He just did what he had to do

C                Em
Now he's growing old

C
A few gray federales say

G                       C
They could have had him any day

Em                C      D
They only let him go so wrong

       C            Em
Out of kindness I suppose

C
A few gray federales say

G                       C
They could have had him any day

Em                C      D
They only let him go so wrong

       C            Em
Out of kindness I suppose