Pancho and Lefty

{title: Pancho and Lefty}
{artist: Townes Van Zandt}

{start_of_verse}
[C] Living on the road my friend, [G] is gonna keep you free and clean 
[F] Now you wear your skin like iron, your [C] breath as hard as [G] kerosene 
[F] You weren't your mama's only boy, but her [C] favorite one it [F] seems 
She be[Am]gan to cry when you [F] said [C] good[G]bye [G] 
And [F] sank into your [Am] dreams 
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_verse}
[C] Pancho was a bandit boys [G] his horse was fast as polished steel 
[F] He wore his gun outside his pants, for [C] all the honest [G] world to feel 
[F] Pancho met his match you know on the [C] deserts down in [F] Mexico [cite: 26, 27]
[Am] Nobody heard his [F] dy[C]ing [G] words [G] 
Ah but [F] that's the way it [Am] goes 
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus}
[F] All the Federales say [C] they could have had him [F] any day 
[Am] They only let him [F] slip [C] a[G]way [G] 
Out of [F] kindness, I sup[Am]pose 
{end_of_chorus}

{start_of_verse}
[C] Lefty, he can't sing the blues [G] all night long like he used to 
The [F] dust that Pancho bit down south [C] ended up in [G] Lefty's mouth 
[F] The day they laid poor Pancho low, [C] Lefty split for [F] Ohio 
[Am] Where he got the [F] bread [C] to [G] go [G] [cite: 26, 28]
There [F] ain't nobody [Am] knows 
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus}
[F] All the Federales say [C] they could have had him [F] any day 
[Am] They only let him [F] slip [C] a[G]way [G] 
Out of [F] kindness, I sup[Am]pose 
{end_of_chorus}

{start_of_verse}
[C] Poets tell how Pancho fell, and [G] Lefty's living in a cheap hotel 
[F] The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold, [C] and so the story [G] ends we're told 
[F] Pancho needs your prayers it's true, but [C] save a few for [F] Lefty too 
[Am] He only did what he [F] had [C] to [G] do [G] 
And [F] now he's growing [Am] old [cite: 26, 29]
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus}
[F] All the Federales say [C] they could have had him [F] any day 
[Am] They only let him [F] slip [C] a[G]way [G] 
Out of [F] kindness, I sup[Am]pose 
{end_of_chorus}

{start_of_outro}
[F] A few gray Federales say [C] they could have had him [F] any day 
[C] They only let him [F] go [C] so [G] long [G] 
Out of [F] kindness, I sup[Am]pose 
{end_of_outro}