A question that may pop into all your heads as you read the title is this - isn't 'Pancho and Lefty' a song, not a poem? Well, yes it is. But think about it this way - If I were to go up to the late Townes Van Zandt as he was about to play the song, break his guitar, and yell at him to recite the lyrics in a normal talking voice, what would happen? Well, most likely I'd get arrested. But if Townes were to take my advice and just recite the lyrics, it would basically be a poem, and a good one at that. So I hope you accept it as a poem for the purposes of this blog.
'Pancho and Lefty' is a song (poem) about bandits in Mexico. Pancho is apparently already a pretty well-known bandit when the events of the song begin, although his backstory is never really covered. He's used to the bandit's life and is content to live it his whole life. His horse is 'as fast as polished steel' and he wears his guns for everybody to see, but he is apparently not the best of bandits - one of the most famous verses in the song goes,
"And all the federales say
They could've had him any day
But they just let him... slip away
Out of kindness I suppose."
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| This is the sort of guy I imagine when I picture Pancho. He probably looked a bit less smiley in real life, though. |
His partner, Lefty, is a bit different. Lefty is the more central character of the song because the song seems to be directed at him and also (spoilers!) because he actually survives until the end. Lefty was apparently born into a good family but dreamed of being a bandit, similarly to all the little kids who ever watched 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and then wanted to be pirates. This is evidenced in one of the very first verses:
"You weren't your momma's only boy
but her favourite one it seems.
She began to cry when you said goodbye
and sank into your dreams."
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| Because Lefty is the sidekick, and because he's less of a hardened bandit, I like to picture him as the Frito Bandito. |
It sounds like the two could have a great and promising bandito-ing career together, but it wasn't to be. Low-level Rogues like Pancho and Lefty are not at all built to last, and Pancho tragically met his end in the Mexican desert, leaving a sad and broken Lefty behind. The odd thing is that if you read the lines closely, it seems that Lefty might have sold Pancho out for quick money, or even killed him. Read these bits of the song and see what you think:
"The dust that Pancho bit down south
ended up in Lefty's mouth."
or, right afterwards:
"The day they laid poor Pancho low
Lefty split for Ohio
where he got the bread to go
well there ain't nobody knows."
If Lefty mysteriously found himself with a bunch of money on the same day his crime partner died, it suggests that maybe Pancho's death didn't come as that much of a surprise to him. Maybe he sold Pancho out to the federales, or maybe to a rival gang. Whatever it was, poor Pancho died a lonely death ("Nobody heard his dying words") and then Lefty lived a lonely life in a cheap Cleveland motel. Lefty's life after Pancho's death is covered in some of the songs last few verses:
"The poets (like me) tell how Pancho fell
Lefty's living in a cheap motel
the desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold
and so the story ends we're told"
So it really ends up being questionable which of the two has the sadder story. Sure, Pancho died alone and young - but Lefty had to live all alone with the weight of Pancho's death on his conscience. An unknown, haunted ex-bandit showing up and living in a motel is not likely to find any sort of love or family so late in life, and the poor boy had such a bright future at the beginning of the song. Whichever side of the story you look at, it is a bitterly sad but beautiful peace of art. I hope you all take a listen to the song - you're sure to take away more from a simple listen than you did from all this blogging. Enjoy!
-Paddywagon Man
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