Poncho And Lefty

Hoyt Axton - Poncho and Lefty
Standard Tuning
No capo

Intro

Dm F G C

Verse 1

C
Livin' on the road my friend
G
Is gonna make you free and clean
    F
And now you wear your skin like iron
     C                  G
Your breath's as hot as kerosene
F
You weren't your mamma's only boy
        C                F
But her favorite one it seems
      C                             Dm
She began to cry when you said, goodbye
       F                Am
And it sank you to your dream

Verse 2

C
Poncho was a bandit beau
G
His horse was fast as polished steel
   F
He wore his gun outside his clothes
    C              G
For all the honest world to feel
F
Poncho met his match you know
       C              F
On the desert down in Mexico
C                      Dm
No one heard his dyin' words
    F                 Am
But that's the way it goes

Chorus

    F
And all the Federales say
C                       F
They could have had him any day
C                 Dm
They only let him slip away
       F           Am
Out of kindness I suppose

Solo

 F         C    F    C      Dm        F    Am
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Verse 3

C
Lefty, he can't sing the blues
G
All night long like he used to do
    F
The dust that Poncho bit down south
C           G
Ended up in Lefty's mouth
    F
The day, they lay poor Poncho low
C               F
Lefty split for Ohio
C                         Dm
Where he got the bread to go
      F                  Am
Well, there ain't nobody knows

Verse 4

C
Poets tell how Poncho fell
    G
And Lefty's livin' in a cheap hotel
    F
The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold
C            G
So the story ends I'm told
F
Poncho needs your prayers, it's true
    C              F
But save a few for Lefty too
C                          Dm
He only did what he had to do
    F                Am
And now he's growin' old

Chorus

      F
And a few gray Federales say
C                     F
We could have had him any day
C                      Dm
They only let him slip away
F                  Am
Out of kindness I suppose

Chorus

F
Said a few gray Federales say
C                         F
We could have had him any day
C               Dm
We only let him go so long
       F           Am
Out of kindness I suppose