D
Livin' on the road, my friend 
A
Was gonna keep us free and clean 
G
But now you wear your skin like iron
D                              A
And your breath's as hard as kerosene
G
You weren't your mama's only boy
D                         G
But her favorite one, it seems 
Bm
She began to cry
           G        A
When you said good bye 
G                   Bm
And sank into your dreams 

Pancho was a bandit, boys 
Rode a 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 
No one heard his dyin' words 
But that's the way it goes 

G
And all the federales say 
D                           G
They could have had him any day 
Bm                 G    A
They only let him slip away 
       G               Bm
Out of kindness, I suppose 

Now 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 old Pancho low 
Lefty split for Ohio 
Where he got the bread to go 
Well there ain't nobody 'knows 

But all the federales say 
They could have had him any day 
They only let him slip away 
Out of kindness, I suppose 

Now poets sing 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  

And all the federales say 
They could have had him any day 
They only let him go so long 
Out of kindness, I suppose 

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