Living on the road my friend, is gonna keep you free and clean
Now you were 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 boys, 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, oh but that's the way it goes
All the Federalis say
We could've 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 Federalis say
We could've 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 a cheap hotel
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 Federalis say
We could've had him any day
We only let him go so long
Out of kindness I suppose
A few grey Federalis say
Could've had him any day
We only let him go so long
Out of kindness I suppose
