| 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 | goodb | ye, |
| F | Am | Am | G | C | |
| And | sank into your | dreams. |
| C | G | |
| Pancho was a bandit boys | , his horse was fast as polished steel |
| F | |
| He wore his gun outside his pants |
| C | G | |
| 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 | Am | G | F | |
| Nobody heard his | dyi | ng | 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 | |
| They only let him | slip | awa | y out of | kindness, I sup | pose. |
| 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 | |
| Where he got the | bread | to g | o, 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 | Am | G | C | |
| They only let him | slip | awa | y out of | kindness, I sup | pose. |
| C | G | |
| Poets tell how Pancho fell, and Lef | ty's living in a cheap hotel |
| F | |
| The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold, |
| C | G | |
| 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 | |
| He only did what he | had | to | do, and | now he's growing | old |
| F | C | F | |
| All the Federales say | they could have had him | any day |
| C | F | C | G | F | Am | |
| They only let him | slip | awa | y out of | kindness, I sup | pose. |
| 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 g | o s | o l | ong, out of of | kindness, I s | uppose. |