Merle Haggard Poncho And Lefty Lyrics

Poncho And Lefty Lyrics

Livin' on the road my friend

Is gonna keep you free and clean

And now you wear your skin like iron

And  your breath is hard as kerosene



Weren't you mamma's only boy?

Her favorite one it seems

She began to cry when you said good bye

Sank to your dream



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



Poncho met his match, you know

On the deserts down in Mexico

Nobody heard his dyin' word

But that's the way it goes



All the Federals, they say

They could have 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 Poncho bit down south

Ended up in Lefty's mouth



The day they lay poor Poncho low

Lefty split for Ohio

Where he got the bread to go

There ain't nobody knows



All the Federals they say

We could have had him any day

We only let him slip away

Out of kindness I suppose



The poets tell how Poncho fell

And Lefty's livin' in cheap hotels

The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold

And so the story ends we're told



Poncho needs your prayers

It's true, save a few for Lefty too

He only did what he had to do

And now he's growin' old



All the Federals, they say

We could have had him any day

They only let him go so long

Out of kindness I suppose



A few grey Federals, they say

We could have had him any day

We only let him go so long

Out of kindness I suppose