Living on the road my friend was gonna keep you free and clean. And now you wear your skin like iron and your breath is as hard as kerosene.
You weren't your mama'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 dying words,
but that's the way it goes.
All the Federales say they could have 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, ain't nobody knows.
All the Federales say We could have had Lefty any day, only let him slip away out of kindness, I suppose.
The poets tell how Pancho fell while Lefty was living in cheap hotels.
The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold, and so the story ends, we're told.
You weren't your mama'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 dying words,
but that's the way it goes.
All the Federales say they could have 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, ain't nobody knows.
All the Federales say We could have had Lefty any day, only let him slip away out of kindness, I suppose.
The poets tell how Pancho fell while Lefty was living in cheap hotels.
The desert's quiet, Cleveland's cold, and so the story ends, we're told.
I know "Pancho and Lefty" wasn't written by Merle but chose that song cuz it was the one that made me most thiink of him leaving home as early in life as he did.
Any Disrespect to Merle who wrote many many Great songs that lyrics could have been used from instead is apologized for.
When he was 14, Haggard ran away to Texas with his friend Bob Teague.[SUP][8][/SUP]
He rode freight trains and hitchhiked throughout the state.[SUP][11][/SUP][SUP][12][/SUP]
When he returned the same year, he and his friend were arrested for robbery.
Haggard and Teague were released when the real robbers were found.
Haggard was later sent to the juvenile detention center, from which he and his friend escaped again to Modesto, California.
He worked a series of laborer jobs, including driving a potato truck, being a short order cook, a hay pitcher, and an oil well shooter.[SUP][11][/SUP]
His debut performance was with Teague in a Modesto bar named "Fun Center," being paid US$5, with free beer.[SUP][13][/SUP]
He returned to Bakersfield in 1951, and was again arrested for truancy and petty larceny and sent to a juvenile detention center.
After another escape, he was sent to the Preston School of Industry, a high-security installation.
He was released 15 months later, but was sent back after beating a local boy during a burglary attempt. After his release, Haggard and Teague saw Lefty Frizzell in concert. After hearing Haggard sing along to his songs backstage, Frizzell refused to sing unless Haggard would be allowed to sing first.
He sang songs that were well received by the audience. Due to the positive reception, Haggard decided to pursue a career in music.
While working as a farmhand or in oil fields, he played in nightclubs. He eventually landed a spot on the local television show Chuck Wagon, in 1956.[SUP][8]
[/SUP] Married and plagued by financial issues,[SUP][8][/SUP] he was arrested in 1957 shortly after he tried to rob a Bakersfield roadhouse.[SUP][14][/SUP]
He was sent to Bakersfield Jail,[SUP][7][/SUP] and was later transferred after an escape attempt to San Quentin Prison, on February 21, 1958.[SUP][15][/SUP]
He was fired from a series of prison jobs, and planned to escape along with another inmate nicknamed "Rabbit".
Haggard was convinced not to escape by fellow inmates.[SUP][16][/SUP]
Haggard started to run a gambling and brewing racket with his cellmate.
After he was caught drunk, he was sent for a week to solitary confinement where he encountered Caryl Chessman, an author and death row inmate.[SUP][17][/SUP]
Meanwhile, "Rabbit" had successfully escaped, only to shoot a police officer and return to San Quentin for execution.[SUP][16][/SUP]
Chessman's predicament, along with the execution of "Rabbit," inspired Haggard to turn his life around.[SUP][17][/SUP]
Haggard soon earned a high school equivalency diploma and kept a steady job in the prison's textile plant,[SUP][17][/SUP] while also playing for the prison's country music band,[SUP][18][/SUP] attributing a 1958 performance by Johnny Cash at the prison as his main inspiration to join it.[SUP][19][/SUP]
He was released from San Quentin on parole in 1960.[SUP][20]
[/SUP]
According to Rolling Stone, "In 1972, then–California governor Ronald Reagan expunged Haggard's criminal record, granting him a full pardon."[SUP][21][/SUP]
Any Disrespect to Merle who wrote many many Great songs that lyrics could have been used from instead is apologized for.
When he was 14, Haggard ran away to Texas with his friend Bob Teague.[SUP][8][/SUP]
He rode freight trains and hitchhiked throughout the state.[SUP][11][/SUP][SUP][12][/SUP]
When he returned the same year, he and his friend were arrested for robbery.
Haggard and Teague were released when the real robbers were found.
Haggard was later sent to the juvenile detention center, from which he and his friend escaped again to Modesto, California.
He worked a series of laborer jobs, including driving a potato truck, being a short order cook, a hay pitcher, and an oil well shooter.[SUP][11][/SUP]
His debut performance was with Teague in a Modesto bar named "Fun Center," being paid US$5, with free beer.[SUP][13][/SUP]
He returned to Bakersfield in 1951, and was again arrested for truancy and petty larceny and sent to a juvenile detention center.
After another escape, he was sent to the Preston School of Industry, a high-security installation.
He was released 15 months later, but was sent back after beating a local boy during a burglary attempt. After his release, Haggard and Teague saw Lefty Frizzell in concert. After hearing Haggard sing along to his songs backstage, Frizzell refused to sing unless Haggard would be allowed to sing first.
He sang songs that were well received by the audience. Due to the positive reception, Haggard decided to pursue a career in music.
While working as a farmhand or in oil fields, he played in nightclubs. He eventually landed a spot on the local television show Chuck Wagon, in 1956.[SUP][8]
[/SUP] Married and plagued by financial issues,[SUP][8][/SUP] he was arrested in 1957 shortly after he tried to rob a Bakersfield roadhouse.[SUP][14][/SUP]
He was sent to Bakersfield Jail,[SUP][7][/SUP] and was later transferred after an escape attempt to San Quentin Prison, on February 21, 1958.[SUP][15][/SUP]
He was fired from a series of prison jobs, and planned to escape along with another inmate nicknamed "Rabbit".
Haggard was convinced not to escape by fellow inmates.[SUP][16][/SUP]
Haggard started to run a gambling and brewing racket with his cellmate.
After he was caught drunk, he was sent for a week to solitary confinement where he encountered Caryl Chessman, an author and death row inmate.[SUP][17][/SUP]
Meanwhile, "Rabbit" had successfully escaped, only to shoot a police officer and return to San Quentin for execution.[SUP][16][/SUP]
Chessman's predicament, along with the execution of "Rabbit," inspired Haggard to turn his life around.[SUP][17][/SUP]
Haggard soon earned a high school equivalency diploma and kept a steady job in the prison's textile plant,[SUP][17][/SUP] while also playing for the prison's country music band,[SUP][18][/SUP] attributing a 1958 performance by Johnny Cash at the prison as his main inspiration to join it.[SUP][19][/SUP]
He was released from San Quentin on parole in 1960.[SUP][20]
[/SUP]
According to Rolling Stone, "In 1972, then–California governor Ronald Reagan expunged Haggard's criminal record, granting him a full pardon."[SUP][21][/SUP]
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Thanks to all you guys......especially for posting some of his songs.
I don't know another artist in my life time who had more influence on country music
and young want-a-be country music singers than Merle.
Hell, Toby Keith who has made more money in the business than anyone worshiped Hag.
I don't know another artist in my life time who had more influence on country music
and young want-a-be country music singers than Merle.
Hell, Toby Keith who has made more money in the business than anyone worshiped Hag.
All the old stations are being torn down and the high flying trains no longer roll
The floors're all sagging with boards that are suffering from not being used anymore.
Things're all changing
...the world's rearranging,
........a time that will soon be no more
Where has a slow movin'
once quickdraw outlaw
got to go?
The whiskey that once settled the dust
and tasted so fine
now tastes of pain.
and the mem'ries it once blotted out
come back more clearly
with each drink you take.
The women that warmed you once thought so pretty now look haggard and old.
Where has a slow movin
Once quickdraw outlaw
got to go?
The land where I travelled once fashioned with beauty now stands with scars on her face.
The wide open spaces are closing in quickly from the ways of the whole human race.
And it's not that I blame them for claiming her bounty, I just wish they'd takin it slow
'Cause where has a slow movin'
Once quick draw outlaw
got to go?
The floors're all sagging with boards that are suffering from not being used anymore.
Things're all changing
...the world's rearranging,
........a time that will soon be no more
Where has a slow movin'
once quickdraw outlaw
got to go?
The whiskey that once settled the dust
and tasted so fine
now tastes of pain.
and the mem'ries it once blotted out
come back more clearly
with each drink you take.
The women that warmed you once thought so pretty now look haggard and old.
Where has a slow movin
Once quickdraw outlaw
got to go?
The land where I travelled once fashioned with beauty now stands with scars on her face.
The wide open spaces are closing in quickly from the ways of the whole human race.
And it's not that I blame them for claiming her bounty, I just wish they'd takin it slow
'Cause where has a slow movin'
Once quick draw outlaw
got to go?
