Poncho and Lefty

Townes Van Zandt

Key of D · Chords: I IV V vi

Verse 1

D                            A
Living on the road my friend Was gonna keep you free and clean
G                                     D                   A
Now you wear your skin like iron Your breath's as hard as kerosene
G                                        D               G
You weren't your mama's only boy But her favorite one it seems
Bm                        G    A           G              Bm
She began to cry when you said goodbye And sank into your dreams

Verse 2

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

Verse 3

G                     D                       G
All the federales say They could have had him any day
Bm                G    A             G          Bm
They only let him hang around Out of kindness I suppose

Verse 4

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

Chorus

The poets tell how Pancho fell Lefty's livin' 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 just did what he had to do Now he's growing old