Pancho & Lefty

Livin' on the road my friend Was gonna keep you free and clean Now you wear skin like iron And your breath's as hard as kerosene You 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 Wore his gun outside his pants For all the honest world to feel Well, Pancho met his match you know On the deserts down in Mexico And nobody heard his dyin' words Ah but that's the way it goes All the Federales say Could of had him any day Only let him any day Hang around 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 gop There ain't nobody knows Well, the poets tell how Pancho fell And Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel The dessert's quiet and Cleveland's cold So the story end's, we're told Pancho needs your prayer's it's true But save a few for Lefty too He just did what he had to do And now he's growin' old A few gray Federales say Could have had him any day Only let him go so long Out of kindness I suppose --- Pancho & Lefty - Emmylou Harris