Willie Nelson Pancho and Lefty lyrics

Livin' on the road my friend is gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron and your breath as hard as kerosene
You weren't your momma'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 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
And nobody heard his dyin' words
Aah but that's the way it goes

All the Federales say, they could've had him any day
They 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, they could've had him any day
We only let him slip away, out of kindness I suppose

The boys tell how old Pancho fell and Lefty's livin' in cheap hotels
The desert's quiet, 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 growing old

All the Federales say, we could've had him any day
He only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose
A few gray Federales say, they could've had him any day
They only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose