Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett – Pancho and Lefty

Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett – Pancho and Lefty – Live, Austin City Limits Hall of Fame, 2014.

Emmy sounds thin and Lyle is too melodious. Willie, as usual, hits it just right!

Willie Nelson is joined by Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett for the Townes Van Zandt classic “Pancho & Lefty.” The trio perform to celebrate Willie Nelson’s induction into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame.

Lyrics:
Living on the road my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
And now you wear your skin like iron
And your breath as hard as kerosene

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 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 dying words
Ah but that’s the way it goes

All the Federales say
They could have 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 have had him any day
We only let him slip away
Out of kindness, I suppose

The poets tell how Pancho fell
And Lefty’s living 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 have had him any day
We only let him go so long
Out of kindness, I suppose

A few gray Federales say
We could have had him any day
We only let him go so long
Out of kindness, I suppose

Songwriters: Townes Van Zandt

Pancho and Lefty lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC