Pancho and Lefty Townes Van Zandt
Here's one of my favorite ballads which was written by the inimitable Townes Van
Zandt. Emmylou Harris recorded it, as did Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard in a
duet (don't ask me why). I first heard it in a coffeehouse at RPI (remember
coffeehouses, where people went to hear good music, not get drunk) by Robin and
Linda Williams, of later Prairie Home Companion fame.
I play this with a D, C#, B bass run transition from the D chord to whatever
follows. I've indicated this with the following chord notation.
D x00232
D/C# x40232
D4/B(?) x20032
I also lead into the verse with
e+-----------2--| b+--2--3--5-----| g+--------------| then picking out of the D chord, etc. d+-----------0--| a+--0--2--4-----| e+--------------|
Livin' on the road, my friend.....
which is nice for many songs played in D.
Enjoy,
Denny Straussfogel
Pancho and Lefty by Townes Van Zandt
[D]Livin' on the road, my friend
[A]Was gonna keep us free and clean
[G]But now you wear your skin like iron
And you [D]breath's as [D/C#]hard as [Dsus4/B]kerosene[A]
[G]You weren't your mama's only boy
But her [D]favorite [D/C#]one, it [Dsus4/B]seems
She [D]began to cry
When you [D/C#]said [Dsus4/B]good bye[A] [A7]
And [G]sank into you [Bm]dreams
(same chords as first verse)
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, ya know
On the deserts down in Mexico
No one heard his dyin' words
But that's the way it goes
Chorus (words change slightly, each time)
[G]And all the federales say
They [D]could of [D/C#]had him [Dsus4/B]any day
They o[D]nly l[D/C#]et him s[Dsus4/B]lip away[A] [A7]
Out of [G]kindness, I supp[Bm]ose
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 of 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 of 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 of had him any day
They only let him go so wrong
Out of kindness, I suppose
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