Livin' on the road my friend, is gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron
Your breath's as hard as kerosene
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 boss, 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 in the desert down in Mexico
And nobody heard his dyin' words, ah but that's the way it goes
All the Federales they say, "Could'a had him any day"
They only let him slip away, out of kindness I suppose
Lefty can't sing the blues all night long like he used to
The dust that Pancho bit down south has 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 they say, "Could'a had him any day"
They only let him slip away, out of kindness I suppose
The poets tell how Pancho fell, and Lefty's livin' 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
All the Federales they say, "they could'a had him any day"
They only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose
A few gray Federales say, they could'a had him any day
They only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose
