Pancho And Lefty Chords & Tabs

by Townes Van Zandt

[Intro]
    C                               G                             
e|----------------0-----3p0------|--------------------0----------|
B|------------1-------1-------0--|--------0-------3-------3---1--|
G|----0-----0-------0-------0----|------------0------------------|
D|------0h2----------------------|----0-----0-------0-------0----|
A|--3-----------3-------3--------|-------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------|--3---3-------3-------3--------|
1 & 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a     1 & 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
    F                               Am                            
e|-------------------------------|--------0-------0--------------|
B|------1-------1h3----1---------|------------1-------1-------0--|
G|---------2--------------2------|----2-----2-------2-------0----|
D|------3----3-------3-----------|-------------------------------|
A|---0-----------0---------------|--0-----------0-------0h2------|
E|-------------------------------|------0------------------------|

[Verse]
C                           
Living on the road my friend
G                               
Is gonna keep you free and clean
F                               
Now you wear your skin like iron
C                      G       
Your breath as hard as kerosene
F                           
Weren't your mama's only boy
         C               F   
But her favorite one it seems
    Am                      F    C      G 
She began to cry when you said good  - bye
    F                Am  
And sank into your dreams

[Verse]
C                             
Pancho was a bandit, boys, his
G                               
horse was fast as polished steel
    F                            
He wore his gun outside his pants
     C              G           
For all the honest world to feel
 F                                  
Pancho met his match you know on the
 C               F    
deserts down in Mexico
    Am                F C   G   
And nobody heard his dying words
F                  Am 
That's the way it goes

[Chorus]
F                        
And all the Federales say
C                       F      
They could have had him any day
Am                 F  C   G  
They only let him hang around
        F            Am  
out of kindness I suppose

[Verse]
C                                  
Well, Lefty he can't sing the blues
G                             
all night long like he used to
      F                            
The dust that Pancho bit down south
C            G           
ended up in Lefty's mouth
F                                
The day they laid poor Pancho low
C               F   
Lefty split for Ohio
Am                     F   C   G 
And where he got the bread to  go
          F             Am  
Ah, there ain't nobody knows

[Chorus]
F                        
And all the Federales say
C                       F      
They could have had him any day
Am                  F  C   G
They only let him slip a-way
        F            Am  
out of kindness I suppose

[Solo]
|C - - - / - - - - / G - - - / - - - - /
|F - - - / - - - - / Am - - - / - - - - /

[Verse]
C                                       
Well, the poets tell how Pancho fell and
G                              
Lefty'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                                      
Pancho needs your prayers it's true but
  C             F       
save a few for Lefty too
Am                   F  C   G
He just did what he had to do
     F               Am 
and now he's growing old

[Chorus]
F                       
A few gray Federales say
C                     F      
We could have had him any day
Am               F C   G   
We only let him go so wrong
        F             Am 
out of kindness I suppose
F                       
A few gray Federales say
C                       F      
They could have had him any day
Am                 F C   G   
They only let him go so wrong
           F             Am 
out of of kindness I suppose
Am