My Interpretation of Pancho and Lefty

There are some really great songs that I love but sometimes they become so well-known that they actually start losing their meaning-if they ever had one to start with. I think a really good song can have different meanings to different people. Like “Tom Traubert’s Blues” by Tom Waits, for instance. When I found out what that song was really about (basically getting drunk and trying to find a prostitute in Copenhagen) it kind of tarnished the images that I always get in my mind of walking around a foggy Prague at midnight on Christmas.

But sometimes, the meaning of a song is so debatable that hardly anyone knows what it means. One of my favorite’s is “Pancho and Lefty.” Now, Townes van Zandt had some issues. Electric shock treatment and drug abuse will do that to you. Apparently, he wrote one of his most famous songs, “If I Needed You,” in his sleep. He was interviewed about the meaning of “Pancho and Lefty” and even he couldn’t give you an exact answer so it’s still open for interpretation as far as I am concerned. Here is mine…

At first glance, it looks like a song about two outlaws, Pancho and Lefty, who have been chased by the officials for some time. One of them reaches their demise while the other one goes away and tries to build a better life for himself, never quite being able to give up the old ways. Some say that they were friends, some say that they were competitors, and some even say that they were brothers. However, I am beginning to really like the “same person” interpretation.

Could Pancho and Lefty really be the same person? Let’s take a look at the song.

“You weren't your momma's only boy, but her favorite one it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye
And sank into your dreams”

Okay, so this could back up the whole “brothers” scenario. Still, it never really says anything about the other brother specifically, only that there was another one. Later on:

“Pancho met his match you know on the deserts down in Mexico
Nobody heard his dyin words, ah but that's the way it goes”

So, nobody actually heard his dying words which means that he died alone, right? Or, did he even die at all? Could it be alluding to the fact that he never really died? Because the next verse starts out:

“Lefty he can't sing the blues all night long like he used to
The dust that Pancho bit down south ended up in Lefty's mouth
The day they laid poor Pancho low, Lefty split for Ohio
Where he got the bread to go, there ain't nobody knows”

At the beginning, Pancho was a “bandit boy, his horse was fast as polished steel.” If he didn’t die down in Mexico, maybe he did split for Ohio and change his name to “Lefty” so that he could start anew. This new persona is not as tough as he used to be, from judging this verse, yet he’s still alive and kicking. “The dust that Pancho bit down south ended up in Lefty’s mouth” could again be supporting the fact that they are indeed, one of the same. Especially since the day Pancho died, Lefty (who appears from out of nowhere at this point in the song) left from somewhere (the listener is never told from where) and goes to Ohio.

The end of the song goes:

“The boys tell how old Pancho fell, and Lefty's livin in cheap hotels
The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold
And so the story ends we're told
Pancho needs your prayers it's true, but save a few for Lefty too
He only did what he had to do, and now he's growing old”

So Pancho, the outlaw legend died a terrible, lonely death (that nobody saw) somewhere in Mexico, but Lefty’s having it a little rough, too. He’s living in cheap hotels now. Why? Because he can’t resurface as Pancho and if he was too much on the radar he would get caught. “The desert’s quiet” and “Cleveland’s cold.” Why? Because Pancho/Lefty started anew and is therefore not making any ruckus anymore.

One of the most telling lines is the second to last line in the last verse. “Pancho needs your prayers it’s true/but save a few for Lefty, too.” From the very beginning the listener was invested in Pancho. He’s the one who starts the story out and the first character that we hear about. And then suddenly we’re hearing about Lefty going to Cleveland. At the end, we’re supposed to say a prayer for both of them because Lefty apparently “only did what he had to do.” So what did he have to do? He had to fake his own death, move to an inconspicuous place, and change his name. Only, the “new” life isn’t quite as great as he thought it would be. He might not be a bandit anymore, but now he has to go by a different name and is living in cheap hotels.

I love that the song is actually quite cryptic. Some would argue that Lefty ratted Pancho out (or killed him) and took off with his money to Ohio. I like to think it’s a little more than that.

So there you go, my interpretation of the famous Townes van Zandt song. It’s hard to say what he really meant. In one of his famous love songs, the names that he refers to were actually parakeets. Go figure.