Songwriters: Van Zandt, Townes;    Living on the road, my friend  Was gonna keep you free and clean  Now you wear your skin like iron  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  Nobody heard his dying words  That's the way it goes    All the federales say  Could have had him any day  They only let him hang around  Out of kindness I suppose    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    All the federales say  Could have had him any day  They only let him slip away  Out of kindness I suppose    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 only did what he had to do  And now he's growing old    All the federales say  Could have had him any day  They only let him go so wrong  Out of kindness I suppose    A few gray federales say  Could have had him any day  They only let him hang around  Out of kindness I suppose        © BUG MUSIC; KATIE BELLE MUSIC; WILL VAN ZANDT PUBLISHING;    these lyrics are submitted by mta_mta