Livin' on the road, my friend, was gonna keep you free and clean

But now you wear your skin like iron and your breath as hard as kerosene

Weren't you momma's only boy, but her favorite one, it seems?

She began to cry when you said goodbye

Sank into your dreams

Pancho 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

Pancho met his match, you know, on the deserts down in Mexico

Nobody heard his dyin' words

But that's the way it goes

All the Federales say, they could've had him any day

They only let him slip away

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, they could've had him any day

We only let him slip away

Out of kindness, I suppose

The boys tell how old Pancho fell, and Lefty's livin' in cheap hotels

The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold

And 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, "We could've had him any day"

They only let him go so long

Out of kindness, I suppose

A few gray Federales say, could've had him any day

They only let him go so long

Out of kindness, I suppose