Living on the road my friend was gonna keep you free and clean   And now you were 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      Poncho was a bandit boy his horse was fast as polished steel   He wore his gun outside his pants for all the honest world to feel   Well poncho met his match you know on the deserts down in Mexico   Nobody heard his dying words ah but that's the way it goes      All the federals say they could've had him any day   We only let him slip away out of kindness I suppose      Lefty he can't sing the blues all night long like he used to   Well the dust that poncho bit down south ended up in lefty's mouth   The day they laid poor poncho low lefty split for Ohio   Where he got the bread to go there ain't nobody knows      All the federals say they could've had him any day   We only let him slip away out of kindness I suppose      The poets tell how poncho fell and lefty's living in a cheap hotel   The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold and so the story ends we're told   Poncho 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 federals say they could've had him any day   We only let him go so long out of kindness I suppose   A few great federals say could've had him any day   We only let him go so long out of kindness I suppose