Williy Nelson & Merle Haggard Pancho And Lefty (1983) lyrics

Williy Nelson & Merle Haggard
Miscellaneous
Pancho And Lefty (1983)
Living on the road my friend was gonna keep you free and clean
But now you wear your 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 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 dying words but that's the way it goes

And all the federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him slip away
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 tell how Pancho fell Lefty's living 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 growing 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 gray federales say
They could have had him any day
They only let him go so long
Out of kindness I suppose