Pancho and Lefty

Living on the road, my friend Was going to keep you free and clean Now you wear your skin like iron And your breath is 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 Pancho met his match, you know On the deserts down in Mexico Nobody heard his dying words That's the way it goes All the Federales say Could have had him any day Only let him 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 go There ain't nobody knows All the Federales say Could have had him any day They only let him slip away Out of kindness, I suppose Poets tell how Pancho fell Lefty's living in a cheap hotel The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold 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 Could have had him any day They only let him go so wrong Out of kindness, I suppose A few gray Federales say Could have had him any day They only let him hang around Out of kindness, I suppose