Intro: C - F (4x)
(verse 1)
C G
Living on the road, my friend, is gonna keep you free and clean,
F
Now you wear your skin like iron,
C G
Your breath as hard as kerosene,
F C F
You weren't your mama's only boy, but her favorite one, it seems,
C F C G
She began to cry when you said goodbye,
F Am G
And sank into your dreams,
(verse 2)
C G
Pancho was a bandit, boys, his horse was fast as polished steel,
F C G
He wore his gun outside his pants, for all the honest world to feel.
F C F
Pancho met his match, you know, on the deserts down in Mexico,
C F C G F Am G
Nobody heard his dying words, ah, but that's the way it goes,
F C F
All the Federales say they could have had him any day,
C F C G F Am - G
They only let him slip away out of kindness, I suppose,
(verse 3)
C G
Lefty, he can't sing the blues all night long like he used to.
F C G
The dust that Pancho bit down south ended up in Lefty's mouth,
F C F
The day they laid poor Pancho low, Lefty split for Ohio,
C F C G F Am - G
And where he got the bread to go, there ain't nobody knows,
F C F
All the Federales say they could have had him any day,
C F C G F Am G - C
They only let him slip away out of kindness, I suppose,
Chords during solo: Am - F - C - C - F - F - C - Am - C - C - F/C/G - G - F - Am
(verse 4)
C G
Poets tell how Pancho fell, and Lefty's living in a cheap hotel.
F C G
The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold, and so the story ends, we're told.
F C F
Pancho needs your prayers, it's true, but save a few for Lefty too.
C F C G F Am - G
He only did what he had to do, and now he's growing old,
Chorus)
F C F
All the Federales say they could have had him any day,
C F C G F Am - F - G
They only let him slip away out of kindness, I suppose.
F C F
A few gray Federales say they could have had him any day.
C F C G F Am
They only let him go so long, out of of kindness, I suppose,
Ending: Am - F - C