D 
Livin' on the road, my friend  
A 
Was gonna keep us free and clean  
G 
But now you wear your skin like iron 
D                              A 
And your breath's as hard as kerosene 
G 
You weren't your mama's only boy 
D                         G 
But her favorite one, it seems  
Bm 
She began to cry 
           G        A 
When you said good bye  
G                   Bm 
And 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  
 

G 
And all the federales say  
D                           G 
They could have had him any day  
Bm                 G    A 
They only let him slip away  
       G               Bm 
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