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Pancho and Lefty

Townes Van Zandt

 

Capo 1

 

There are a few measures of 2/4 in this song.  I’ve notated them like this: / F  C /.  F and C each last for one beat.

 

Chord Guide
32 1 C:    x32010	3    4 G:    3x0003	T 321 F:    1x321x	231 Am:   x02210

 

Picking Guide:

------------------ 2  -----------X------ 1  -------X-------X-- T  -----X-------X----    ------------------ T* -X-------X--------     1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +   * Bass note depends on chord.

 

 

Intro Solo:

/ C - - - / - - - - / G - - - / - - - - /

/ F - - - / - - - - / Am - - - / - - - - /

 

C (2)                   

Living on the road my friend

G (2)

Is gonna keep you free and clean

F (2)                

Now you wear your skin like iron

C                      G

Your breath as hard as kerosene

F (2)                                       

Weren't your mama's only boy

         C               F

But her favorite one it seems

    Am                    / F    C /    G (2)

She began to cry when you said good  - bye

    F                Am (2)       

And sank into your dreams

 

C (2)                                         

Pancho was a bandit, boys, his

G (2)

horse was fast as polished steel

    F (2)

He wore his gun outside his pants

     C              G

For all the honest world to feel

 F (2)                                   

Pancho met his match you know on the

 C               F

deserts down in Mexico

 Am             / F C /  G (2)           

Nobody heard his dying words

      F                Am (2)  

but that's the way it goes

 

 

  C (2)                            

Lefty he can't sing the blues

G (2)

all night long like he used to

      F (2)                                  

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 (2)       

Where he got the bread to   go

       F             Am (2) 

there ain't nobody knows

 

CHORUS

 

SOLO:

/ C - - - / - - - - / G - - - / - - - - /

/ F - - - / - - - - / Am - - - / - - - - /

 

C (2)                             

Poets tell how Pancho fell and

G (2)

Lefty's living in a cheap hotel

     F (2)

The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold,

C                G

And so the story ends we're told

F (2)                                      

Pancho needs your prayers it's true but

  C             F

save a few for Lefty too

    Am             / F   C /  G (2)

He only did what he had to   do 

     F               Am (2)

and now he's growing old

 

 

End on Am

 

 

 

 

 Solo:

This file is the author's own work and represents his interpretation of this song. It's intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.