VAN ZANDT TOWNES - "pancho and lefty" Tablature

Official VAN ZANDT TOWNES Tablature & Sheet Music »


Here's one of my favorite ballads which was written by the inimitable Townes Van
Zandt. Emmylou Harris recorded it, as did Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard in a
duet (don't ask me why). I first heard it in a coffeehouse at RPI (remember
coffeehouses, where people went to hear good music, not get drunk) by Robin and
Linda Williams, of later Prairie Home Companion fame.

I play this with a D, C#, B bass run transition from the D chord to whatever
follows. I've indicated this with the following chord notation.

D x00232
D/C# x40232
D4/B(?) x20032

I also lead into the verse with
e+-----------2--
b+--2--3--5-----
g+-------------- then picking out of the D chord, etc.
d+-----------0--
a+--0--2--4-----
e+--------------
Livin' on the road, my friend.....

which is nice for many songs played in D.

Enjoy,
Denny Straussfogel



Pancho and Lefty by Townes Van Zandt

D
Livin' on the road...
A
Was gonna keep us ...
G
But now you wear your ...
D D/C# D4/B A
And you breath's as ...
G
You weren't your ....
D D/C# D4/B
But her favorite ...
D
She began ...
D/C# D4/B A A7
When you said ...
G Bm
And sank into ...

(same chords as first verse)
Pancho was a bandit, ....

Chorus (words change slightly, each time)
G
And all the ...
D D/C# D4/B
They could of ...
D D/C# D4/B A A7
They only let him ...
G Bm
Out of kindness, ...

Now Lefty he can't sing ....

But all the federales ....

Now poets sing how .....

And all the federales ....

Yes a few old gray ....

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