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Pancho And Lefty Tab

by Steve Earle



add some hammer on's when playing the Am


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Livin' on the road, my friend

Was gonna keep us free and clean

now you wear your skin like iron
                         
And your breath's as hard as kerosene

weren't your mama's only boy

But her favorite one, it seems
                     *      
She began to cry when you said good bye
                   
And sank into your dreams
(Verse 2)

Pancho was a bandit, boys

horse fast as polished steel

Wore his guns 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
(Chorus)

And all the federales say
                           
They could have had him any day
                (*        
They only let him hang around
                      
Out of kindness, I suppose
(Verse 3)

Lefty he can't sing the blues

All night long like he used to

The dust that Pancho bit down South
                    
It ended up in Lefty's mouth

The day they laid poor Pancho low
                    
Lefty split for Ohio
                      *           
Where he got the bread to go
                    
ahh there ain't nobody 'knows
(Chorus)
(Verse 4)

poets tell how Pancho fell

Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel

The desert's quiet and 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 growin' old
(Chorus)
(Final Chorus)

Yes a few old gray federales still say
                           
They could have had him any day
                     *      
They only let him go so wrong
                       
Out of kindness, I suppose