C
 Living on the road my friend
 G
 Was gonna keep you free and clean
 F
 Now you wear your skin like iron
 C                        G
 Your breath's as hard as kerosene
 F
 You weren't your mama's only boy
         C               F
 But her favorite one it seems
     Am                    F        G
 She began to cry when you said goodbye
     F              Am
 And sank into your dreams


 C
 Pancho was a bandit boys
 G
 His horse was fast as polished steel
 F
 Wore his gun outside his pants
     C              G
 For all the honest world to feel
 F
 Pancho met his match you know
       C                F
 On the deserts down in Mexico
 Am               F     G
 Nobody heard his dying words
 F                 Am
 That's the way it goes

 F
 All the federales say
 C                       F
 They could have had him any day
 Am                F    G
 They only let him hang around
 F                 Am
 Out of kindness I suppose

 C
 Lefty he can't sing the blues
 G
 All night long like he used to
 F
 The dust that Pancho bit down south
 C              G
 Ended up in Lefty's mouth
 F
 The day they laid poor Pancho low
 C               F
 Lefty split for O-hio
 Am               F     G
 Where he got the bread to go
 F                  Am
 There ain't nobody knows

 
 F
 All the federales say
 C                        F
 They could have had him any day
 Am                F    G
 They only let him slip away
 F                 Am
 Out of kindness I suppose

 
 C
 The poets tell how Pancho fell
 G
 Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel
 F
 The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold
 C            G
 So the story ends we're told
 F
 Pancho needs your prayers it's true,
 C                    F
 But save a few for Lefty too
 Am                  F      G
 He just did what he had to do
 F                Am
 Now he's growing old

 F
 A few gray federales say
 C                       F
 They could have had him any day
 Am                F     G
 They only let him go so wrong
 F                 Am
 Out of kindness I suppose