Pancho and Lefty

Steve Earle - Pancho And Lefty
Livin on the road, my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
And now you wear your skin like iron
And your breath as hard as kerosene
Werent you mamas only boy
But her favorite one, it seems
She began to cry when you said, 'Goodbye'
Sank into your dreams
Pancho was a bandit, boy
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
On the deserts down in Mexico
Nobody heard his dyin words
But thats the way it 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 cant sing the blues
All night long like he used to
The dust that Pancho bit down south
Ended up in leftys mouth
The day they laid poor Pancho low
Lefty split for Ohio
Where he got the bread to go
There aint nobody knows
All the federales say
'They could have had him any day'
We only let him slip away
Out of kindness, I suppose
The poets tell how Pancho fell
And leftys livin in a cheap hotel
The deserts quiet and Clevelands cold
And so the story ends, were told
Pancho needs your prayers, its true
But save a few for lefty, too
He only did what he had to do
And now hes growin old
All the federales say
'We could have had him any day'
They only let him go so long
Out of kindness, I suppose
A few old gray federales say
'Could have had him any day'
We only let him go so long
Out of kindness, I suppose