I played and sang this song for years before it dawned on me what it was about--a classic case of betrayal. They gave Lefty a choice: turn in Pancho, or do hard time. He got his 30 pieces of silver and fled to Ohio (" Where he got the bread to go, there ain't nobody knows") So he sits in his cheap hotel, regretting the choice he made. Brilliant, Townes ( and great version, Gillian and David)
@@claudioalcara I’ve always thought this too! I just figured I was wrong because no one else mentioned this theory. Mine differs a little from yours though. I think Pancho faked his own death or killed someone in his place. Then he took the name Lefty and fled to Ohio to get away from the federales and his old life of crime.
What a wonderful rendition of this song. Poignant, heartfelt, sung with mournful sadness. Yes, it's Townes' song, but I feel it is his story, & it's our story. A story of conflict of decision, loneliness, sadness & regret in old age, the acceptance of that which we cannot change. One of the best songs that reveals the soul of a life lived with regrets. A song that never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
Pop quiz: If the earth is spinning at the rate of ~1000 miles per hour, how far have we come in that seven minutes and thirteen seconds? This is one of the greatest things that these two have ever performed, and thank God someone was there to record it.
Dave and Gillian both are top end musicians. Love them both. I played clarinet for 8 years in school, there tone and their harmonies are both excellent to my trained ear.
Gillian's voice has a very calming effect on me. I'd listen to her sing the phone book. She's a beautiful person and it shows through. I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting her once and she was very quiet and unassuming but very polite and friendly.
Wow! I could also listen to them forever....their voices have soft wavering edges and their harmony is gentle like the unexpected breeze, wavering and trembling. This makes for some powerful music.
Wow. I always considered the Merle and Willie version to be the definitive take on that song. But I always heard Merle and Willie. With this one, I heard the song. Heartbreaking.
love this. Saw them do this many years ago. Brings back a lot of memories. I've changed a lot since those days but this song remains and it's haunting and lovely. Townes would have loved this
Yes it's quite lovely but in all honesty it isn't a patch on the version Emmylou Harris did on one of her 70's album - I think it was LUXURY LINER but I'm not certain... That is one hell of a version of this great song.
People in a recording studios labor for weeks, using 64 tracks, twiddling knobs on compressors and limiters, adjusting this and that, splicing this take into that take, all to try to simulate something close to the sound and the feeling created by Gillian and David in this live recording.
@@pmichaelsummer The info on the video identifies this as a live recording from September 27, 1997 at Hickory, NC. My ears tell me that that info is correct. FWIW an "outtake" is a track which was recorded but not selected to be included on an album, and could be either a live recording or a studio recording.
I love the way David Rawlings and Gillian Welch sound together. I would not want it any other way. I think their delivery is right on the money every time.
The general public does not recognise class if it walks up on them on the side walk and grabs them by the balls. Free quote from the movie "The fabulous Baker Boys".
@@tomformanek3312 Townes Van Zandt's songs are challenging for a lot of people, and his vocal delivery is just about impossible to match. Willie and Merle always seemed too polished, and leaned too hard into the sort of surface cowboy story, without really connecting (to my ear) with the addiction aspects of the story. This really feels like it is leaning into the other side of it, and of course these two play and sing together so brilliantly!
wrong again, Bob. Gee dubs (that's what I call her) and myself are made for each other. Got it, Bobby boy? huh? Good. Have a mediocre day, and a FABULOUS NIGHT!
Wonderful to listen to wile your holding your💓💓!!! ....without any kind of doubt your true love ....relaxing n feeling nothing but love come from his breath
First time I've heard this version. Holy Smokes(!), this is REALLY RIDICULOUSLY GOOD !!!!! LOVE Townes, Gillian and Dave. The three combined make for something special. Thanks for posting this! ... And Dave's soulful subtle solos here: WOW! And yes, Gillian and Dave really have this gift for doing incredible covers. This might actually be my favorite, even though it's the first time I've heard it. Somewhere Townes is smiling ... and proud and moved. Simply Beautiful !!!!!
@mjohnsen7 Wow! I've listened to it for years and never knew that. Thanks so much. This is indeed a great version. And Dave's guitar playing is just exquisite.
"The dust that Pancho bit down south, ended up in Lefty's mouth." No one ever doing this song has caught that - the way she says, almost sneers "mouth" - just the way Gillian Welch did. To say this is the best version of this perfectly written, beautifully performed Townes Van Zandt song is somehow an understatement. What a lesson in the fragility of friendship. And the bitter consequences of betrayal.
I’ve always kind of looked at this song as a meditation on mortality. Pancho gets hung and dies young, but he’s remembered through legend. Lefty survives but fades into obscurity. When he dies no one will remember him. I think the question Townes is asking in this song is which is more preferable? It’s like the Neil Young line, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away”. I think the whole story of the song is sort of a big metaphor for that question. I think people get too hung up on the betrayal aspect of the song. Actually, I think people sometimes get too wrapped up in the story the song tells altogether and misses the deeper meaning. Like I said, I think the story is a metaphor. But that’s just my 2 cents. Dave and Gillian did this song better than just about anyone.
hickory ? hell that is right up the road from me, I don't remember what I was doing sept.27 1997, but I know what I should have been doing. I should have been in hickory
About the same Cainen, juust a couple miles for me too. No clue where I was but there I should've been, like too many close-by show since I've had to pass on. The few I have made were always that much more worth it though.
I appreciate this interpretation more and more. It glides relaxed without any haste from word to word and from note to note. The listener gets an impression of getting free from the fetters of time.
their talent is self-evident...they'll play ANY song that tickles their fancy....I especially like this slower tempo version of the Townes van Zandt classic
This masterfully rendered version lures me into a dream-like state- where I appreciate the complex and unapologetic imperfection of David Rawling's harmonies in counterpart with his impeccable lead guitar- and Gillian's simple and believable down-home vocal style. Not many songs can carry on for 7:13 like this one. Excellent work!
no she didn,Pancho and Lefty" is a song written by country singer and songwriter Townes Van Zandt. 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.
beautiful cover of a great song , Gillian and David are the greatest Americana artists out there , Townes never got recognition when he was alive sadly but he was a great songwriter and a true artist
Wow, the slow tempo provides the desolate emotional space of this song. What an awesome version. Seems to me their sound on this song is a precursor to the style of the Milk Carton Kids.
It's a shame 480p isn't very clear on a big screen TV. This version is very good and so is Emmylou Harris's version way back before the turn of the Millennium century where we didn't have the luxury of you tube. Like in the 1970s when broadcast TV disappointed many of us.
Livin on the road my friend, is gonna keep you free and clean Now you wear your skin like iron Your breath as hard as kerosene 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 Pancho was a bandit boy, his horse was fast as polished steel He wore his gun outside his pants For all the honest world to feel 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 All the Federales say, they could've had him any day They only let him slip away, out of kindness I suppose 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 All the Federales say, they could've had him any day They only let him slip away out of kindness I suppose 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 All the Federales say, they could've had him any day They only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose A few gray Federales say, they could've had him any day They only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose --www.songlyrics.com/willie-nelson/pancho-and-lefty-lyrics/
It's definitely a subtle, unique feeling to their version of it. A gentle but powerful solemness they way Rawling's melody on the guitar fits with Welch's voice singing the lyrics. They make it sound like Townes Van Zandt wrote it to be sung with a female voice.
So very well sayed, JyHiable - "an impression of getting free from the fetters of time." - such a gift of their performance! I LOVE Gillian's tiny sigh at .02 -the very beginning (that is her letting slip the fetters of time, preparing to Join with David in performance) free."
![Townes Van Zandt - Pancho & Lefty (Live in Austin, 1975) [RESTORED FOOTAGE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/m9trdd3kFwc/mqdefault.jpg)
This is an amazing covering by perfect musicians. This is one of the best songs ever written.
"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and birthday suit and say that"
I'm so amazed about the way that Gillian and David seems to got their own secret notes that sets them apart from... well... all the rest :)
True!
So tender and sweet; almost a lullaby, Betcha Townes would've loved hearing them. Their version makes me weep.
You know I read that she said he'd go their early gigs in Nashville and encouraged her to write sad songs. Made me really happy to know that.
Keep writing sad songs that is.
With all due respect to Townes and Emmylou and everyone else I think this has become my favorite version
same - that M/F harmony just gives the chorus so much more punch
@@russbrownmusic the harmonies are special, as is the tempo and the guitar
Mine also.
Never heard this version before OUCH
What a reverential elegy. Reverance for the great songwriter, but an elegy that captures sadness, waste and loss. What a gorgeous different take.
Perfect and Beautiful.
I played and sang this song for years before it dawned on me what it was about--a classic case of betrayal. They gave Lefty a choice: turn in Pancho, or do hard time. He got his 30 pieces of silver and fled to Ohio (" Where he got the bread to go, there ain't nobody knows") So he sits in his cheap hotel, regretting the choice he made. Brilliant, Townes ( and great version, Gillian and David)
Huh? Lefty wasn't around when Pancho was live.
Pancho and Lefty are the same person, which is Townes himself. There’s a cool story about this, check it out 🙂
Cool. I got from the lyrics that they were brothers, but: both Townes? Seems about right.
@@davidgrady1064 try this 😊 ruclips.net/video/bFdGZUsxE-I/видео.html
@@claudioalcara I’ve always thought this too! I just figured I was wrong because no one else mentioned this theory.
Mine differs a little from yours though. I think Pancho faked his own death or killed someone in his place. Then he took the name Lefty and fled to Ohio to get away from the federales and his old life of crime.
What a wonderful rendition of this song. Poignant, heartfelt, sung with mournful sadness. Yes, it's Townes' song, but I feel it is his story, & it's our story. A story of conflict of decision, loneliness, sadness & regret in old age, the acceptance of that which we cannot change. One of the best songs that reveals the soul of a life lived with regrets. A song that never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
@Greg Normal method actor Cortez the killer
Beautiful version of this great song x
Pop quiz: If the earth is spinning at the rate of ~1000 miles per hour, how far have we come in that seven minutes and thirteen seconds? This is one of the greatest things that these two have ever performed, and thank God someone was there to record it.
David Rawlings' tone is a thing of sheer beauty - great harmonies.
Dave and Gillian both are top end musicians. Love them both. I played clarinet for 8 years in school, there tone and their harmonies are both excellent to my trained ear.
Gillian's voice has a very calming effect on me. I'd listen to her sing the phone book. She's a beautiful person and it shows through. I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting her once and she was very quiet and unassuming but very polite and friendly.
Mike C I agree 100%
Love it, love it - a beautifully tender version of this song, very subtle, goes right through me. It brings back so many memories....
Amazing, soulful interpretation of this famous song. Something special about this version.
Wow! I could also listen to them forever....their voices have soft wavering edges and their harmony is gentle like the unexpected breeze, wavering and trembling. This makes for some powerful music.
Wow. I always considered the Merle and Willie version to be the definitive take on that song. But I always heard Merle and Willie. With this one, I heard the song. Heartbreaking.
The definitive remains Townes' version, but there are great covers as well (this, and Merle and Willie's).
@@pmichaelsummer Townes's performance in Heartworn Highways is an impossible standard for others to meet.
@@herrrmike Oh my. God has spoken to us!
In my humble opinion of course.
David Rawlings guitar is like a soft rippling stream glittering in the sun.
Perfect description!
love this. Saw them do this many years ago. Brings back a lot of memories. I've changed a lot since those days but this song remains and it's haunting and lovely. Townes would have loved this
This is just lovely.
Yes it's quite lovely but in all honesty it isn't a patch on the version Emmylou Harris did on one of her 70's album - I think it was LUXURY LINER but I'm not certain... That is one hell of a version of this great song.
True. (and it was Luxury Liner. That was beautiful. So's this though.
I have seen them in concert--twice. They are American treasures. Full stop.
People in a recording studios labor for weeks, using 64 tracks, twiddling knobs on compressors and limiters, adjusting this and that, splicing this take into that take, all to try to simulate something close to the sound and the feeling created by Gillian and David in this live recording.
Is it a live recording, or an out take?
@@pmichaelsummer The info on the video identifies this as a live recording from September 27, 1997 at Hickory, NC. My ears tell me that that info is correct.
FWIW an "outtake" is a track which was recorded but not selected to be included on an album, and could be either a live recording or a studio recording.
An incredible version of one of my personal favorites....Thank You Gillian & David, you guys make everything better!
Flipping Fantastic !
A powerful and beautiful version of what has to be one of the greatest songs ever written.
I love the way David Rawlings and Gillian Welch sound together. I would not want it any other way. I think their delivery is right on the money every time.
i just cant understand why these two have not gotten more recognition than they have they sure deserve it
Requires good taste.
The general public does not recognise class if it walks up on them on the side walk and grabs them by the balls. Free quote from the movie "The fabulous Baker Boys".
Cause they told the truth
@@g00glyelm0 I'm sorry what does "they told the truth" mean?
I would aspire too this level of talent.
Best version ever. Haunting and manages to nail the harmonies that other greats have failed to get.
In your humble opinion of course?
@@tomformanek3312 Townes Van Zandt's songs are challenging for a lot of people, and his vocal delivery is just about impossible to match. Willie and Merle always seemed too polished, and leaned too hard into the sort of surface cowboy story, without really connecting (to my ear) with the addiction aspects of the story. This really feels like it is leaning into the other side of it, and of course these two play and sing together so brilliantly!
@@tomformanek3312 yeah shut up
David Rawlings is a very talented guitarists. I feel that David and Gillian are a match made in heaven.
wrong again, Bob. Gee dubs (that's what I call her) and myself are made for each other. Got it, Bobby boy? huh? Good. Have a mediocre day, and a FABULOUS NIGHT!
Wonderful to listen to wile your holding your💓💓!!! ....without any kind of doubt your true love ....relaxing n feeling nothing but love come from his breath
I agree wholeheartedly Robert. I love playing along with these guys
They sure are
Sad to think Townes had died only 9 months before this. RIP to one of the true songwriters of our time.
First time I've heard this version. Holy Smokes(!), this is REALLY RIDICULOUSLY GOOD !!!!! LOVE Townes, Gillian and Dave. The three combined make for something special. Thanks for posting this!
... And Dave's soulful subtle solos here: WOW! And yes, Gillian and Dave really have this gift for doing incredible covers. This might actually be my favorite, even though it's the first time I've heard it.
Somewhere Townes is smiling ... and proud and moved.
Simply Beautiful !!!!!
Townes would have loved this
you knew him, personally?
Great musicians, beautiful
Very beautiful and peaceful.
This is god-awfully beautiful.
Beautiful guitar by David. A joy to listen to. Sweet and moving.
amazing!
@mjohnsen7 Wow! I've listened to it for years and never knew that. Thanks so much. This is indeed a great version. And Dave's guitar playing is just exquisite.
"The dust that Pancho bit down south, ended up in Lefty's mouth."
No one ever doing this song has caught that - the way she says, almost sneers "mouth" - just the way Gillian Welch did.
To say this is the best version of this perfectly written, beautifully performed Townes Van Zandt song is somehow an understatement. What a lesson in the fragility of friendship. And the bitter consequences of betrayal.
Well said
Well said💯✖️
I’ve always kind of looked at this song as a meditation on mortality. Pancho gets hung and dies young, but he’s remembered through legend. Lefty survives but fades into obscurity. When he dies no one will remember him. I think the question Townes is asking in this song is which is more preferable? It’s like the Neil Young line, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away”. I think the whole story of the song is sort of a big metaphor for that question. I think people get too hung up on the betrayal aspect of the song. Actually, I think people sometimes get too wrapped up in the story the song tells altogether and misses the deeper meaning. Like I said, I think the story is a metaphor. But that’s just my 2 cents. Dave and Gillian did this song better than just about anyone.
@@cdane7 another great version, but I listen to Emmylou over and over and still rate her as the best I've ever heard.
I love Emmylou's version, but this one's devastating..
hickory ? hell that is right up the road from me, I don't remember what I was doing sept.27 1997, but I know what I should have been doing. I should have been in hickory
Excellent, Cainen; right you are.
About the same Cainen, juust a couple miles for me too. No clue where I was but there I should've been, like too many close-by show since I've had to pass on. The few I have made were always that much more worth it though.
I appreciate this interpretation more and more. It glides relaxed without any haste from word to word and from note to note. The listener gets an impression of getting free from the fetters of time.
Well said. I totally agree
Like a long slow tale round a campfire at days end. Pure elegy.
get a grip. it'a song my townes
their talent is self-evident...they'll play ANY song that tickles their fancy....I especially like this slower tempo version of the Townes van Zandt classic
Gillian's vocals are pitch-perfect and David's guitar work is exquisite. Townes Van Zandt would have loved this performance.
ruclips.net/video/X7zsr9R_S6o/видео.html
Favourite version of this song. Other than the Townes heartworn highways version. They sing it with the conviction of having written it.
Another beautiful rendition of an awesome song; kinda like seeing several vintage cars of the same make and model, but painted differently
I guess its a question of taste --- I think they are great --- I've seen them live a few times --- I could listen to them forever :)
everything welch & rawlings touch is gold.
This masterfully rendered version lures me into a dream-like state- where I appreciate the complex and unapologetic imperfection of David Rawling's harmonies in counterpart with his impeccable lead guitar- and Gillian's simple and believable down-home vocal style. Not many songs can carry on for 7:13 like this one. Excellent work!
she may be the greatest song writer of blugrass music ever writen, and yes I know she did not write this song.
no she didn,Pancho and Lefty" is a song written by country singer and songwriter Townes Van Zandt.
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.
nwk38 ugh
nwk38 capn obvious
A great version, more peaceful and accepting than most versions.
beautiful cover of a great song , Gillian and David are the greatest Americana artists out there , Townes never got recognition when he was alive sadly but he was a great songwriter and a true artist
Very, very nice.
I do love their picking. AND her voice.
The version's a lil bit slow for my tastes but damn can they intertwine those harmonies.
The song is an elegy, a dirge, a sad song, and you want to have this version go up-tempo? Some of us like it as it is. Just sayin'.
They slso intertwine their picking in a complicated complementary way
really a fine cover - nice vocal feeling and moody guitar play
Wow, the slow tempo provides the desolate emotional space of this song. What an awesome version. Seems to me their sound on this song is a precursor to the style of the Milk Carton Kids.
Agreed! Dave Rawling’s style reminds me very much of the Milk Carton Kids.
I've seen Gillian and MCK several times, the kids seem influenced by Gillian and David, maybe not with the writing chops, though.
My band does this song. We will never do it again until we get somewhere close to this arrangement. SUPER!
keep on playin amigo
It's a shame 480p isn't very clear on a big screen TV. This version is very good and so is Emmylou Harris's version way back before the turn of the Millennium century where we didn't have the luxury of you tube. Like in the 1970s when broadcast TV disappointed many of us.
David Rawlings...fantastic guitar picking....
Livin on the road my friend, is gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron
Your breath as hard as kerosene
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
Pancho was a bandit boy, his horse was fast as polished steel
He wore his gun outside his pants
For all the honest world to feel
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
All the Federales say, they could've had him any day
They only let him slip away, out of kindness I suppose
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
All the Federales say, they could've had him any day
They only let him slip away out of kindness I suppose
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
All the Federales say, they could've had him any day
They only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose
A few gray Federales say, they could've had him any day
They only let him go so long, out of kindness I suppose
--www.songlyrics.com/willie-nelson/pancho-and-lefty-lyrics/
wow. Love this song. didn't think it could be covered. I was wrong. But then David Rawlings is a genius.
But the most famous version is a cover?
@@johnanderson1038 Right - I doubt the percentage of people who've heard the TvZ version is a small percentage.
Exquisitely beautiful cover.
She's got a great voice and he's a superb guitar player..nice cover.
fh horn
Not a cover - their song - they wrote it!
angliase Townes van zandt
They did not write it. Townes wrote it.
She would have been a big star back when phony looks didn't mean everything. Now it's Carrie Underwood. Give me a break.
I think Emmylou did the best cover of this one, but this is a close second.
blees yer heart
Bo,Will. Dirt and Rocky - Never forgotten.
Love her voice. Very distinctive. Good cover of a great song.
I enjoyed this. I don't enjoy many Townes covers.
Daves guitar style is incredible. Gillian and he match up so well.
One of my all-time fave songs. What a FANTASTIC version., which I've never heard before. Townes' songs will last forever!
my god ,what a beautiful version of this...
Musik kann so schön sein
about me and Bob - the dust that Pancho bid down south ended up in Lefty's mouth. Get it dust=garbage of course you don't
Second only to Townes
beautifull voice(s), beautifull guitar playing.
david & gillian are the best.....
thanks for posting
Every now and then, something beautiful comes out of heaven...
Towns Van Zandt is what's missing here.
John Harrington The whole world is missing Townes. Only the lucky know they miss Townes.
BEST VERSION OF THIS SONG BY FAR!!!!!!
pancho & lefty is golden music
It's definitely a subtle, unique feeling to their version of it. A gentle but powerful solemness they way Rawling's melody on the guitar fits with Welch's voice singing the lyrics. They make it sound like Townes Van Zandt wrote it to be sung with a female voice.
I think Townes would have liked this version. As a Townes fan, I know I do.
So very well sayed, JyHiable - "an impression of getting free from the fetters of time." - such a gift of their performance!
I LOVE Gillian's tiny sigh at .02 -the very beginning (that is her letting slip the fetters of time, preparing to Join with David in performance) free."
5 people with poor taste, clearly
Since Emmylou, Willie and Merle covered this song, I thought that the job was done, but then, I was wrong...
i love them, but this is too slow and lazy
Hi Friends! Many thanks for this great cover of my love Townes van Zandt. You are wonderful! Many thanks from Rome!. Claudio.
Tops
Best country song Ever
thanks for posting this. I've been following Gillian and David's work since '97, and have never heard them cover any of Townes' work.
yes,
Your comment on supposedly "off" harmonies is so damn irrelevant that I'm surprised it even made it to the correct video
I always liked this song . Now I love it
Lovely version. Second only to the Willie Nelson/Bob Dylan live version, which isn’t as pretty but really makes you feel the pain of betrayal.
Yes Tom I suspect you are!
Pity, it's only a still. I wish this concert was available somewhere. Great song and performing duo.
Fabulous...as you would expect.
I had an argument with David Rawlings once about Morrisey. Some asshole recorded it and put it on the net.
to tom getchell lacey, Yes, you are probably the only one who thinks that.
Yes, Tom you don't need to be here or write nonsence!
This and Steve Earle's version are the best covers of Towne's song. Haunting.
Fabulous version.