Livin' on the road my friend, is gonna make you free and clean
And now you wear your skin like iron, your breath is hard as kerosene
Weren't you mamma's only boy, but her favorite one it seems
She began to cry when you said good-bye, and it sank you to your dream
Poncho was a bandit beau, his horse was fast as polished steel
He wore his gun outside his clothes, for all the honest world to see
Poncho met his match you know, on the desert down in Mexico
No one heard his dyin' word, but that's the way it goes
And all the Federales, 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 do
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, well there ain't nobody knows
Poets tell how Poncho fell, and Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel
The desert's quiet Cleveland's cold, so the story ends I'm 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 growin' old
And a few grey Federales say
We could have had him any day
They only let him slip away
Out of kindness I suppose
Said a few grey Federales say
We could have had him any day
We only let him go so long
Out of kindness I suppose