Livin' on the road, my friend

Was gonna keep you free and clean

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

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

And nobody heard his dying words

Ah, but that's the way it goes

And all the federales say

They coulda had him any day

They only let him hang around

Out of kindness, I suppose

And 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

Ah, there ain't nobody knows

And all the federales say

They coulda had him any day

They only let him slip away

Out of kindness, I suppose

Well, the poets tell how Pancho fell

And 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

And now he's growin' old

A few gray federales say

They coulda had him any day

They only let him go so wrong

Out of kindness, I suppose

A few gray federales say

They coulda had him any day

They only let him go so wrong

Out of kindness, I suppose