Chord/Tab song: Pancho and Lefty

[D]Living on the road my friend,[A] is gonna keep you free and clean
[G]Now you wear your skin like iron,
Your [D]breath as hard as [A]kerosene.
[G]You weren't your mama's only boy, but her [D]favorite one it [G]seems
[D]She began to cry when you [G]said [D]goodb[A]ye,
And [G]sank into your [Bm]dreams.[Bm][A][D]
[D]Pancho was a bandit boy,[A] his horse was fast as polished steel
[G]He wore his gun outside his pants
For [D]all the honest world to [A]feel.
[G]Pancho met his match you know on the [D]deserts down in [G]Mexico
[D]Nobody heard his [G]dyi[D]ng [A]words, ah but [G]that's the way it [Bm]goes.[Bm][A][G]

[G]All the Federales say[D] they could have had him [G]any day
[D]They only let him [G]slip [D]awa[A]y out of [G]kindness, I sup[Bm]pose.

[Bm] [A] [D]
[D]Lefty, he can't sing the blues [A]all night long like he used to.
[G]The dust that Pancho bit down south [D]ended up in [A]Lefty's mouth
[G]The day they laid poor Pancho low, [D]Lefty split for [G]Ohio
[D]Where he got the [G]bread [D]to g[A]o, there [G]ain't nobody [Bm]knows

[Bm] [A] [G]
[G]All the Federales say[D] they could have had him [G]any day
[D]They only let him [G]slip [D]awa[A]y out of [G]kindness, I sup[Bm]pose.[Bm][A][D]

[D]The boys tell how Pancho fell, and [A]Lefty's living in cheap hotels
[G]The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold,
[D]And so the story [A]ends we're told
[G]Pancho needs your prayers it's true, but [D]save a few for [G]Lefty too
[D]He only did what he [G]had [D]to [A]do, and [G]now he's growing [Bm]old

[Bm] [A] [G]
[G]All the Federales say [D]they could have had him [G]any day
[D]They only let him [G]slip [D]awa[A]y out of [G]kindness, I sup[Bm]pose.

[Bm] [A] [G]
[G]A few gray Federales say [D]they could have had him [G]any day
[D]They only let him [G]slip [D]awa[A]y out of [G]kindness, I sup[D]pose.[G][A][D]

notes on playing:

[D]She began to cry when you [G]said [D]goodb[A]ye,

Try playing the G D A as:

[G] [D] [A]

|-s-3--2----
|-s-3--3---2
|-s-4--2---2
|----------2
|-----------
|-----------

And [G]sank into your [Bm]dreams.[Bm][A][D]

[and]
ah but t[G]hat's the way it g[Bm]oes.[Bm][A][G]

The transitions at the ends of these lines are similar. Play the Bm like:

[Bm]

|---2-------
|---3------- And then walk the bass line up or down the 5th string
|---4------- to make the change to the final D or G. It's a quick
|---4------- transition.
|---2-------
|-----------

[Bm] [A] [D] [Bm] [A] [G]

|---2------2 |---2------3
|---3------3 |---3------0
|---4------2 |---4------0
|---4------- |---4------0
|---2---4--- |---2---0--2
|----------- |----------3

And throughout the song, as you strum or pick your way merrily along,
try to keep an alternating bass line going, it gives the song a lot
of it's character.

Submitted by John Kearney ([email protected])