Pancho and Lefty

Infobox Standard
title = Pancho and Lefty


image_size = 200px
caption = Cover of the 1983 album, "Pancho and Lefty" by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson
writer = Townes Van Zandt
composer =
lyricist =
published =
language = English
original_artist = Townes Van Zandt
recorded_by = Townes Van Zandt Emmylou Harris Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard (See list below)"Pancho and Lefty" is a folk song written by Townes Van Zandt. Van Zandt first recorded it for his 1972 album, "The Late Great Townes Van Zandt". Emmylou Harris then covered the song for her 1977 album, "Luxury Liner" and the song became a number one country hit in 1983 when Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson adopted it as the title track of their duet album "Pancho & Lefty".

The song tells the story of a Mexican bandit named Pancho and a more enigmatic character, Lefty. The song tells of Pancho's death and implies that he was betrayed by his associate Lefty who was paid off by the Mexican "federales".

Although many people initially assume that the song is about the famous Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, Van Zandt has denied this, and the lyrics are not easily reconciled with the historic details of Villa's life and death.

Song structure

"Acoustic Guitar" has done an analysis to demonstrate how the song's IV-I chord progression enhances the song's lyrics. The harmonic structure helps to convey the feelings of the song's characters.Dick Stephen, "Song Craft: Inside a Classic Song--How Harmony Builds Mood and Meaning in Townes Van Zandt's 'Pancho and Lefty'", "Acoustic Guitar", 8:1:55, July 1997, p. 39-41] The song makes use of four chords. The I-IV-V-vi.

Selected discography

Covers of "Pancho and Lefty" have also been played live or recorded by the following artists:
*Emmylou Harris, on her album " Luxury Liner" (1977)
*Hoyt Axton on "Snowblind Friend" (1977)
*Bob Dylan in various live performances and rare recordings, as early as 1989.e.g. see [http://www.bobdylan.com/performances/ "Performances & Rare Recordings"] from bobdylan.com for an example from the 2004 Bonnaroo Music Festival, or search the web for a recent duet with Willie Nelson. [http://www.bobdylanroots.com/pancho.html Bobdylanroots.com] indicates that he began covering the song as early as 1989 on the "Never Ending Tour." Various bootleg recordings exist.]
*Storyhill (a.k.a. Chris & Johnny), on their album "Different Waters" (1992)
*Dick Gaughan, on his album "Redwood Cathedral" (1998)
*Delbert McClinton, on the album "" (2001)
*Old and in the Way, on their album "Old & In the Gray" (2002)
*Todd Menton, on his album "Punts" (2002)
*Richard Dobson, on his album "" (2003)
*Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, on the album "Live and Obscure" (2000)
*The song also receives a prominent mention in Brad Paisley's "Better Than This" from "5th Gear".

Succession

External links

* [http://ippc2.orst.edu/coopl/pancho_and.txt Chords and lyrics] from the [http://ippc2.orst.edu/coopl/tvzindex.html Townes Van Zandt Blue Sky Homepage]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:4d47gjyrn6in Song review] at Allmusic
* [http://www.townesvanzandt.com/multimedia/video/panchoandleftyexplained.mpg Townes Van Zandt explains "Pancho and Lefty"] (MPEG video) from [http://www.townesvanzandt.com/ Townes Van Zandt Central]

Notes and sources