IMO, Pancho and Lefty is one of the saddest songs ever written. I don’t know why it affects me in such a way but it does. Pancho and Lefty was written by Townes Van Zandt back in 1972 but it was Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson’s version of it for their 1983 album of the same name that I first encountered.
While it was widely assumed Townes wrote the sang about the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, Townes has denied that he played any role in the inspiration of the song.
Over the years Pancho and his sidekick Lefty’s story has been told by many an artist. Below is a sampling:
Townes Van Zandt - Pancho and Lefty
Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard - Pancho and Lefty
Emmylou Harris - Pancho and Lefty
Delbert McClinton - Pancho and Lefty
Gillian Welch - Pancho and Lefty
2 Responses to “Pancho and Lefty”
On March 7th, 2008 at 7:21 pm David Blumgart Said:
On March 8th, 2008 at 11:20 am oz Said:
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