Poncho and Lefty

Living on the road my friend was gonna keep you free and clean And now you were your skin like iron and your breath's as hard as kerosene You 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 Poncho was a bandit boy his horse was fast as polished steel He wore his gun outside his pants for all the honest world to feel Well poncho met his match you know on the deserts down in Mexico Nobody heard his dying words ah but that's the way it goes All the federals say they could've had him any day We only let him slip away out of kindness I suppose Lefty he can't sing the blues all night long like he used to Well the dust that poncho bit down south ended up in lefty's mouth The day they laid poor poncho low lefty split for Ohio Where he got the bread to go there ain't nobody knows All the federals say they could've had him any day We only let him slip away out of kindness I suppose The poets tell how poncho fell and lefty's living in a cheap hotel The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold and so the story ends we're told Poncho 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 federals say they could've had him any day We only let him go so long out of kindness I suppose A few great federals say could've had him any day We only let him go so long out of kindness I suppose