Pancho and Lefty

Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard

Written by Townes Van Zandt

Key of C · Chords: I IV V vi

Verse 1

C
Living on the road my friend
G7
Was gonna keep us free and clean
F
But now you wear your skin like iron
C                            G7
And your breath's as hard as kerosene

Verse 2

F
You weren't your mama's only boy
C                       F
But her favorite one it seems
Am                        F         G7
She began to cry when you said good bye
F                  Am
And sank into your dreams

Verse 3

C
Pancho was a bandit boy
G7
Rode a horse fast as polished steel
F
He wore his guns outside his pants
C                           G7
For all the honest world to feel

Verse 4

F
Pancho met his match you know
C                      F
On the deserts down in Mexico
Am           F         G7
Nobody heard his dying words
F                     Am
But that's the way it goes

Verse 5

F
And all the federales say
C                           F
They could have had him any day
Am                F    G7
They only let him slip away
       F          Am
Out of kindness I suppose

Verse 6

C
Now Lefty he can't sing the blues
G7
All night long like he used to
F
The dust that Pancho bit down South
C                      G7
It ended up in Lefty's mouth

Verse 7

F
The day they laid poor Pancho low
C               F
Lefty split for Ohio
Am               F        G7
Where he got the bread to go
     F                  Am
Well there ain't nobody knows

Verse 8

F
And all the federales say
C                           F
They could have had him any day
Am                F    G7
They only let him slip away
       F          Am
Out of kindness I suppose

Verse 9

C
The poets tell how Pancho fell
G7
Lefty's living in a cheap hotel
F
The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold
C                           G7
And so the story ends we're told

Verse 10

F
Pancho needs your prayers it's true
C                        F
But save a few for Lefty too
Am               F         G7
He only did what he had to do
F                    Am
And now he's growing old

Verse 11

F
And all the federales say
C                           F
They could have had him any day
Am                F     G7
They only let him go so long
       F          Am
Out of kindness I suppose

Verse 12

F
A few gray federales say
C                           F
They could have had him any day
Am                F     G7
They only let him go so long
       F          Am
Out of kindness I suppose