50 Years Ago Today: Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho & Lefty” Is Born

Calling it a “country song” doesn’t seem to do it justice, and almost inadvertently downgrades the impact and importance of the artistic work known as “Pancho & Lefty,” because few other songs can make us feel like this one can. It’s transcendent of country, or song, or even music. It’s “Pancho & Lefty.”
The writer of the song, Townes Van Zandt, would likely agree with this assessment, though he may bashfully cast off its importance. After all, he always considered himself a poet, with the whole music thing just getting in his way. He also once said, “There are only two kinds of songs; there’s the blues, and there’s zip-a-dee-doo-dah.” “Pancho & Lefty” is certainly not the latter.
What makes this composition send chill bumps up our arms and down our spine, and immediately will make you stop down your day and transport you to some other place, is as indefinable as the song itself. It’s the richness of the words, which are both about something very specific, yet somehow about nothing and everything all at the same time. It’s the chord movements—curious and unique, but intuitive and natural as well.
It would be Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard who would take this obscure andcompletely commercially-inapplicable song on the surface to #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1983 on its way to becoming one of the most important and iconic country songs of all time. But it was 50 years ago today that Townes Van Zandt stepped into the studio and recorded the original version of the song for his 1972 album, the presciently-titled The Late Great Townes Van Zandt, captured at the Jack Clement Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
At the time, and for many years to come, “Pancho & Lefty” was just an album cut on a rather obscure record from a rather obscure songwriter. Townes Van Zandt was still a few years away from becoming the highly-respected writer that he’s considered today. But he did know he had something with the song, and when other people in the studio insisted the track needed drums, Van Zandt vetoed the decision.
Don’t let anyone tell you they know what “Pancho & Lefty” truly is about, because not even Townes could tell you. It’s the opening lines that resonate the most:
Living on the road my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
And now you wear your skin like iron
And your breath as hard as kerosene
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
It seems to describe us all in some way—forlorn, ominous, acute with its diagnosis, and with its prognosis. But then the song takes a sharp right turn into giving a rather historically inaccurate portrayal of the life of Mexican bandit and paramilitary leader Pancho Villa, mixing a bit of realism with mostly fantasy. Townes Van Zandt’s own interpretations confound the meaning and purpose of the song more than they helped.
Townes said on the PBS television Series Austin Pickers in 1984, “I realize that I wrote it, but it’s hard to take credit for the writing, because it came from out of the blue. It came through me and it’s a real nice song, and I think, I’ve finally found out what it’s about. I’ve always wondered what it’s about. I kinda always knew it wasn’t about Pancho Villa, and then somebody told me that Pancho Villa had a buddy whose name in Spanish meant ‘Lefty.’ But in the song, my song, Pancho gets hung. ‘They only let him hang around out of kindness I suppose’ and the real Pancho Villa was assassinated.”
Then in the same interview, Van Zandt recalls being pulled over in Berkshire, TX and ending up in the back of the police car. “We got stopped by these two policeman and…they said ‘What do you do for a living?’, and I said, ‘Well, I’m a songwriter’, and they both kind of looked around like ‘pitiful, pitiful’, and so on to that I added, ‘I wrote that song ‘Pancho and Lefty.’ You ever heard that song ‘Pancho and Lefty?’ I wrote that,’ and they looked back around and they looked at each other and started grinning, and it turns out that their squad car, you know their partnership, it was two guys, it was an Anglo and a Hispanic, and it turns out, they’re called Pancho and Lefty … so I think maybe that’s what it’s about, those two guys … I hope I never see them again.”
Emmylou Harris never receives enough credit for her role in making “Pancho & Lefty” a song known well beyond the country music sphere. She was one of the first to see the power in the song, and recorded it for her 1977 album Luxury Liner, though never released it as a single. It wasn’t Townes Van Zandt’s original version recorded on August 24th, 1972 that piqued the interest of Willie Nelson’s daughter Lana, it was Emmylou’s.
When Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard were recording their duet album together at the Pedernales Studio on Willie’s property outside of Austin in November of 1982, they were looking for a song that could really tie the album together. Lana Nelson suggested “Pancho & Lefty,” and those assembled fell so in love with it, they decided to record it right then and there. Merle Haggard had already crawled off to bed in his bus, and had to be roused to sing his part. Haggard doesn’t recall the recording of the song at all, and when he listened back the next day, thought it was dumb.
The synth-y opening with heavily gated drums most certainly dates the Willie and Merle version of “Pancho & Lefty” to the early 80s. But like everything else attached to the song, the intro has become iconic in itself. It ended up becoming the title track of the Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard album released in early 1983. Later, Willie Nelson asked Townes Van Zandt point blank what “Pancho & Lefty” meant. Townes Van Zandt told him that he didn’t know. They had Townes play a Federale in the song’s video. Lana Nelson directed the video, bringing it all full circle.
The success of “Pancho & Lefty” took Townes Van Zandt from broke to flush, and from obscure to as famous and revered as just about any songwriter can get. Now there’s documentary films on Townes, he’s considered by many as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and if there’s any justice, his likeness should at some point adorn the wall of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
But don’t discount “Pancho & Lefty” just as a country song. It’s a portal into pondering the mysteries and magic of life. And it all first came about—at least in recorded form—50 years ago today, to be enjoyed and marveled over for millennium to come.
August 24, 2022 @ 11:13 am
I always thought it was about Townes himself. The first stanza is clearly auto-biographical, while the betrayal of one friend by another mirrors his own two natures at war with each other, and the self-destructive and foolhardy adventurism of “living on the road”.
He wrote it in a couple hours late at night on the balcony of a Motel 6 in suburban Dallas, having no place to stay downtown due to a Billy Graham convention in town.
August 24, 2022 @ 11:14 am
This is the baseline for a well written song, everytime we sit down to write a new song we do so praying it even comes close to Pancho and Lefty. Nobody better to write it than Townes and nobody better to sing it than Willie and Merle. I still feel like this is Merle’s best vocal performance, funny considering he didn’t even remember recording it, maybe that’s what made it so good. The song touched me when I first heard it in my dads car when I was 4, and it still touched me now. Long live Pancho and Lefty.
August 24, 2022 @ 11:28 am
Am I the only one who is pretty sure he remembers that Van Zandt convincingly denied the song was about Pancho Villa?
August 24, 2022 @ 11:29 am
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
That verse knocks me out, too.
August 24, 2022 @ 11:34 am
I was today old when I realized that Townes was in the video.
August 24, 2022 @ 12:00 pm
I have watched the video a dozen times and never noticed. It is crazy the stuff that slips by you.
August 26, 2022 @ 12:48 am
Great song. I’ve got that Willie and Mèrle album. It’s great. I have always been a fan of Merles. I was country when country wasn’t cool. Being a teen in the late 60s, it was not cool to be country. My crowd I ran with teased me about it in between tracks of Zeppelin! Then I got the last laugh in the 80s when they all started listening to country!
August 24, 2022 @ 12:56 pm
Me, too!
August 24, 2022 @ 11:36 am
Cool piece. I never really listened to the song consistently until I stumbled across that Isbell EP with his cover. I always wondered what it was actually about though. Nice to see that TVZ didn’t really even have a dedicated subject in mind and left it up to interpretation as well.
August 24, 2022 @ 11:59 am
It’s in the pantheon. Truly one of the greatest songs of all time. I enjoyed your write up.
August 24, 2022 @ 12:06 pm
an humble interpretation…
lefty killed pancho, took his money, headed to ohio.
federales didn’t have a clue (????, : D)
lefty no longer could sing the blue
for when you knife a friend, a heart does not sing in the end
August 25, 2022 @ 12:38 pm
Close. Lefty betrayed Pancho to the federales for a bribe.
August 25, 2022 @ 2:06 pm
: D Thanks, Brad!
Hoping was somewhere in the ballpark
August 29, 2022 @ 1:59 pm
N
Nice
August 24, 2022 @ 12:33 pm
Funny thing about the Willie/Merle redording (which is often written as “Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson”): It’s really a Willie Nelson record that’s “featuring” (in current industry terminology) Merle Haggard.
The song has eight 4-line stanzas and a 4-line chorus that’s sung four times. Willie sings six of the stanzas and all of the choruses solo. When Merle comes in for his eight lines, it’s obvious that it’s spliced in and that the two of them did not record it together.
It’s amazing that the recording worked as well as it did, given that Hag had to be roused out of bed to record his part. Whether he remembered it or not, or even undestood or liked the song or not, Hag managed to put in a top-notch performance that elevated his small part to co-equal status with Willie.
August 24, 2022 @ 1:44 pm
Yes Lucky, fully agree. Willies version is definitive in every way. I actually remember when it was a radio hit and Bob Kingsley was playing it on his weekly syndicated Country Countdown. Besides, Willie and Merles vocals, the guitar is another feature that adds to its beauty. You cant beat Willies nylon string licks on Trigger. The solo is otherwordly great.
Townes walked in the gray area between genius and madness. Not surprised he would say he was clueless about the songs meaning. Songwriter Tim Easton has a great story about Townes. Easton once opened for Townes at a hole in the wall, in Columbus, Ohio. Soundcheck came, no Townes. Showtime came, Easton got onstage and did the opening set and nobody had yet seen Townes. Apparently, a homeless guy wandered in at some point, and grabbed a seat in the first or second row. After Eastons set ended, everyone was thinking it would be a no show from Townes, and then the homeless guy got up onstage and asked to borrow his guitar, and started to play. It was in fact a very disheveled Townes Van Zandt, though he was virtually unrecognizable. After he barely fumbled through the first song, it was apparent he was in no shape to sing, play or perform, so he just stopped. Many in the audience walked out, but some stayed. According to Easton, they yelled out support for him, and ultimately jumped onstage and gave him a group hug, which made him cry. He didnt perform that night, but did talk to his fans and managed to sign a few autographs, and then he was gone..disappearing into the night as mysteriously as he had appeared. Crazy stuff. He was an alcoholic of the worst kind, ive heard other stories about him passing out mid-song. If you watch Heartworn Highways movie, he was clearly drunk in that as well. But, what a songwriter!
August 25, 2022 @ 12:02 pm
There’s some people and thoughts that come out of complete drunkenness or on a drug bender for a few days. Just plain brilliant. A great majority of the population will never get there. Guys like keith Whitley, and Hank sr. It obviously takes a toll on their body/health.
August 24, 2022 @ 12:49 pm
Thank you. That was what is known as a “great read”. It is indeed one of the greatest songs ever written.
August 24, 2022 @ 6:37 pm
In Heartworn Highways, when he plays “Pancho and Lefty”, he introduces it by saying “I’d like to do a medley of my hit.”
August 25, 2022 @ 12:11 am
That’s interesting, because all the published information on Heartworn Highways says it was shot in 1975-’76–and the first recording of Panch and Lefty by a prominent artist, Emmylou Harris, only came out at the end of 1976 (and was not even a hit). The Willie-and-Merle recording, as noted above, is from the early ’80s.
Maybe Townes had a premonition.
August 26, 2022 @ 8:31 am
Did Townes say that on the album “Live at the Bluebird” with Guy and Steve Earle? Not certain.
August 26, 2022 @ 9:33 am
I don’t know–I haven’t heard that album.
He did say it in the movie.
September 3, 2022 @ 4:31 pm
Cooter, run, don’t walk, to your nearest record store (lol) or Amazon, and buy Bluebird now! It’s a desert island disc for me.
August 24, 2022 @ 1:59 pm
Where were the desert scenes filmed?
August 25, 2022 @ 3:39 am
There are couple of excerpts from the movie on Youtube, and that song is one of them. Worth looking at. I’d post a link but I’m not clear on the rules about that here.
I always assumed he made the ironic joke because the song got some local spins and was requested when played shows. Or maybe it was a premonition!
August 25, 2022 @ 7:12 am
Feel free to post links as long as it’s relevant to the conversation.
August 25, 2022 @ 7:52 am
Gotcha. Thank you.
August 24, 2022 @ 2:08 pm
Shout out for Willie’s truly great guitar solo!
August 27, 2022 @ 5:27 pm
The Song and story is explained very well in Ken Burns ” The History of Country Music.( I believe in episode 6 or 7,) and Willy tells it clearly, Ken Burns wraps up a excellent summary of how Country Music is a collective art by many. It’s worth checking it out !
Doug B.
August 28, 2022 @ 6:47 pm
Townes was a pedophile and the song is okay at best
August 28, 2022 @ 9:41 pm
What the frack is that supposed to mean, ya big galoot?
August 30, 2022 @ 7:45 am
Phil, could you elaborate on the pedophile thing?
October 14, 2023 @ 4:37 am
That,s right, telling Phil to elaborate on his statement that Townes van Zandt was a pedophile, no answer from Phil….Phil is probably a sodomizer of young boys, the rectum wrecker ????
August 24, 2022 @ 2:09 pm
One of the things I’ve always loved about Emmylou Harris is the long list of lesser known artists she’s helped by recording their songs or singing on their records. TVZ is probably the best known but there’s a bunch.
August 24, 2022 @ 2:43 pm
Way to go Trigger for your most eloquent piece about one of our nation’s most puzzling and enduring songs, the sbest known perhaps but far fromthe only masterpiece Townes wrote.
In 1977 my brother Joe and I collaborated on FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG, sub-titled The Townes Van Zandt Songbook. Townes helped choose the 12 songs and commented on each one. Here is what he said then about “Pancho & Lefty”:
“I remember thinking when I was writing ‘Pancho & Lefty’ that it was not about Pancho Villa. So many people feel that it is, however, that it might be. I’ve heard that a grad student at Yale or Harvard is doing his doctorate on the song so the answer may be forthcoming”.
.
August 24, 2022 @ 4:30 pm
I actually like the synthesizer at the start of the song… but maybe I’m just used to it after hearing it for nearly 40 years…
August 24, 2022 @ 6:46 pm
I’ve always agreed with Merle. The song is dumb, and always has been. Now that I’m thinking about it, I can’t think of a dumber single with Hag’s voice on it. The best song on that album is “Reasons To Quit”.
Also, Van Zandt is terribly overrated. The praise he gets is obnoxious. It’s trendy to name-drop him.
August 24, 2022 @ 7:25 pm
Methinks you need some more roughage in your diet in order to try to make you a little less cranky.
August 24, 2022 @ 9:43 pm
I’m with you. Pancho and Lefty were Communists who invented Covid and Bitcoin.
August 24, 2022 @ 11:45 pm
Not bad, Jason. But isn’t Bitcoin a Libertarian thing?
August 25, 2022 @ 8:08 am
I don’t know. You’re the expert
August 25, 2022 @ 8:15 am
True.
August 25, 2022 @ 9:07 am
Well it’s good to know you’re out there fighting the good fight for us Cracker! All I do is collect country records.
I wonder if I’m a Communist. How can I tell?
August 25, 2022 @ 3:49 pm
….”I wonder if I’m a Communist. How can I tell?”…..
If 3 of the following things are true, there is a 97% chance you are a communist. If 4 are true, there is a 100% chance you are a communist.
◦ You have an inferiority complex.
◦ You hate God, or pretend he doesn’t exist.
◦ You love destroying institutions, nations, cultures, statues, people, families, or books.
◦ You had an upperclass, or upper middle-class upbringing.
◦ You love calling people names, like “racist”, for the sole purpose of getting them to denounce something that you’ve arbitrarily associated with racism, so that whatever that thing is can eventually be destroyed or “erased” as the result of people being unwilling to associate themselves with it.
◦ You’re skin is very pasty and white, like the color of Wonderbread.
◦ Your hair is blue, pink, purple, orange, or green.
August 25, 2022 @ 4:27 pm
Once again, we’re extremely off-topic. I try to let folks have their fun in the comments, but some just can’t resists taking it too far, and bogging down the comments section.
No more comments on this thread.
August 25, 2022 @ 3:16 am
I agree TVZ is overrated, but disagree that this song is dumb.
August 25, 2022 @ 12:39 pm
He’s not rated highly enough.
August 30, 2022 @ 2:57 pm
TRUE. Natural God given talent. If you think he’s overrated, then you don’t have the skills to appreciate a True Poet!
August 26, 2022 @ 8:40 am
Over rated? Really? Was listening Guy sing “No Lonesome Tune”. I’m like, “damn that’s a good song”. It’s a Townes song though the arrangement on Guy’s album is much better. Also, Steve Earle’s album “Townes” really highlights Townes’ real talent with better arrangements.
August 26, 2022 @ 7:23 pm
I have to ask, have you ever written a song? I find it hard to believe that anyone who has written even a bad song would come to that conclusion. For example, Mr Mud and Mr Gold is possibly one of the best gambling songs ever written. Any true songwriter would shit themselves if they wrote that.
August 26, 2022 @ 8:14 am
I’m pretty sure “Bar Room Buddies” takes the cake as Hag’s worst single. It was almost a prototype for “Red Solo Cup” (and I even like the song, despite that).
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to be none too big a fan of the Outlaw country sound. I’ve seen you mention Chet Atkins at one point in relation to Sturgill Simpson, so I’d imagine that’s the style you prefer. I, myself, have very little use for the Nashville Sound as it existed in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but I’m also not a big fan of gaudy string sections for the most part. Anywho, is Outlaw country just too stripped down for you? Or am I completely off base?
August 26, 2022 @ 11:08 am
I’m a honky tonk man, Mr. Dacca.
It’s not that I don’t like Outlaw Country; I like a lot of it actually. But Willies music was more country(lowercase c), prior to him becoming an Outlaw performer.
My problem with Outlaw Country is not the music itself; it’s the way it’s treated, as though there was no C(c)ountry Music prior to 1971. I know you’re educated enough to understand my point, so I won’t elaborate further, unless you want me to.
August 28, 2022 @ 12:14 pm
I understand that completely. Fans can sometimes ruin things for other people by loving it too much, or being pretentious about it. They’re not country, but that’s the main reason I have very little use for The Beatles, Beach Boys, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, etc., certain classic songs notwithstanding. Same with Sturgill Simpson. For me, personally, that feeling tends to corral around Johnny Cash and the “I hate country music but say I like Johnny Cash because it makes me look cultured” hipster crowd (who also tend to be the ones who swear by those others like they’re gospel).
When I think of honky tonk, I tend to picture more stripped-down arrangements, and that lends itself to the outlaws moreso than a lot of Nashville Sound country. I like Eddy Arnold and Glen Campbell decently enough, for instance, but I can’t shake the impression that the country pop of the day was just imitating Sinatra and the like. I’d much rather hear Johnny Paycheck’s Little Darlin’ records and his “outlaw” records than that, even if I like some of it (“It Won’t Be Long (And I’ll Be Hating You)” is an all-time favorite song of mine). Willie’s early material sounds more like the former than the latter to me, so I automatically cotton more to his outlaw records.
Of course, I wasn’t around for any of that, so my own personal bias might simply be informed by my preference for the ‘90s country of my childhood. And I don’t presume to know more about C(c)ountry Music than you, but some of your opinions on what is and isn’t “more country” sometimes bewilder me. I hate to show my ignorance, but I’m looking for a baseline of your take on what is and isn’t “authentic.” We all see you talk about what you hate constantly, I’d like to hear about the music you like.
September 4, 2022 @ 8:14 pm
That’s fair. I’ll put it this way: my definition of what is C(c)ountry is wide, but rigid. A lot of different styles fit in it, from Hank to Eddie Rabbitt, but my definition of what qualifies is immovable.
Can you give me an example of when I’ve bewildered you?
August 26, 2022 @ 11:29 am
Doesn’t Terry Bradshaw actually “sing” on that?
August 26, 2022 @ 11:31 am
Whoops. That was another forgettable song from that era. It was Clint Eastwood.
August 24, 2022 @ 7:01 pm
Great article about one of my favorites of all time. Until I get to Billy Joe Shaver’s grave, Townes is the only musician thus far I have had the chance to pay my respects for after they passed.
August 24, 2022 @ 10:22 pm
Love the Old & In The Gray version…Peter Rowan, Dave Grisman, Vassar Clements, Herb Petersen, Bryan Bright
August 25, 2022 @ 12:46 am
Undoubtedly a great song, There is a very good version on Tennesse Jet´s album “The Country” featuring Paul Cauthen, Elizabeth Cook, and Cody Jinks.
August 25, 2022 @ 2:16 am
I still think that the version by Emmylou that inspired Willie to record it with Merle is the most haunting and moving version. I’m surprised you didn’t link to it: https://youtu.be/l3LQeRqTBK4
August 25, 2022 @ 2:28 am
I first heard the song back in early 1977 through Emmylou’s third, (and for me, probably still best album), “Luxury Liner”. Never really got the entire Merle & Willie thing, just didn’t compared with EH, who, even now, 46 odd years later, has recorded the definitive version, her voice on this is just outstanding. I’d even go as far as to say, that cut is better than any of Townes’s own attempts, personally I think he sings the song too fast, thereby losing some of the emotion.
August 25, 2022 @ 2:42 am
Townes Van Zandt playing a medley of his hit. This is “Pancho & Lefty” played at Uncle Seymour’s place. Taken from the DVD extras on “Heartworn Highways”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zprRZ2wFQD4
August 25, 2022 @ 4:06 pm
For my money, the Willie & Merle version is inferior to TVZ’s in the video mentioned here. Again, I consider Van Zant the equal of Guy Clark as a writer. Many of his songs are classics as some have mentioned on this thread,. Rex’s Blues is a favorite of mine.
August 26, 2022 @ 7:22 am
I’m with you; TVZ’s version has the pathos that song requires. It’s meant to be sung by some fatigued storyteller at the end of his/her rope. Yeah, other voices may sound “prettier” on it, but it’s not a song about pretty.
August 25, 2022 @ 3:35 am
I’ve gotten into arguments over the meaning of this song (I think Pancho and Lefty didn’t actually know each other, that their connection is existential) but I think Trigger is right when he says there’s no right answer to its riddle.
August 25, 2022 @ 5:31 am
The first time I ever heard this song was on the Emmylou album Luxury Liner and it has remained a favourite ever since. Her version is for me my favourite. However, it is such a good song, it sounds good whoever writes it. Just a great great song that it stands the test of time which is as good an indication how good it is, an any. Townes was a great songwriter, His Pancho & Lefty and If I Needed You are my 2 favourites of his.
August 25, 2022 @ 6:37 am
Not sure why this song has been elevated to such legendary status. It is an interesting story song made more memorable by somewhat vague lyrics that subject it to different interpretations. But I would not place it at the lofty level of classic songs by Hank Williams, Don Gibson, Harlan Howard, Dallas Frazier, Tom T. Hall or some of Willie & Merle’s finest creations. Though Van Zandt has been credited as an influence to other writers, his own roster of successful songs is quite minimal. The amount of time devoted to him in Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary was very puzzling. But then again much of the focus of that documentary was misplaced. Country music is not Americana but Burns’ writers obviously did not receive that memo and went off on tangents.
Some sidebar facts about the Merle & Willie recording:
The Pancho And Lefty duet album was released on Epic, Merle’s record label. Willie was on Columbia at that time. So the artist credit for that album was “Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson.” Early pressings of that album spelled Pancho with an “o” (Poncho) but was later amended to an “a” for subsequent releases.
The order of artist credit for first single release “Reasons To Quit” was “Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson.” The second single “Pancho And Lefty” reversed it to “Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.” Given that Willie’s vocal dominated that performance it was appropriate to give him top billing.
According to Willie Nelson he did not play the instrumental bridge on Pancho And Lefty. Willie said after several attempts neither he nor Grady Martin could get the proper feel so co-producer Chips Moman stepped in to pick that guitar solo.
The album was recorded at Willie’s Texas studio over five days. Sessions ran from late afternoon through the overnight hours. Merle said that after he had left the sessions to go to bed Willie woke him up to participate in the song. With only about an hour’s sleep Merle added his vocal but believed he’d need to re-do at a later time when he was fully awake. But that early morning performance was the one used for the released recording.
August 25, 2022 @ 8:33 am
WillieFan
Interesting, always thought Willie was playing that solo. I mean, who else but Willie played a nylon string? Chips Moman is interesting. He wrote Luckenbach Texas. But ive seen Willie play this song live more times than i can count. And in concert, he always had Jody Payne sing Hags part. As to why the song is so highly beloved, i believe its a combination of great lyrics and a superb MELODY, coupled with a great hook. You can make an ok song great if you have a killer melody and a solid hook. I know you disagree and thats fine.
As for Townes, im not a fanatic, i prefer to think i have a more realistic view of him. Highly flawed man, with a so-so voice, quite undependable, but an impressive writer. Decent body of work. Why is he so praised and fawned over? Its this romantic notion that he was this vagabond artist who starved for the sake of his art. People love the hobo, drifter thing. Boxcar Willie, Jack Kerouac, Hemmingway, etc. The wandering free spirit, who just happened to be in the same circle as Guy Clark and Rodney Crowell and Steve Earle. Its that exaggerated mythos that made Townes intriguing to the bohemian crowd. Overrated? Sure, id agree. But songs like this one, and Waitin around to Die, Tecumseh Valley, Mr Gold and Mr Mudd, are in their own way, important representations of a very distinct and important era of songwriters.
August 25, 2022 @ 6:38 am
If I recall correctly from Merle’s autobiography, he recorded his part and woke up later and wanted to re-record it. He found Willie on the golf course and told him this, but Willie had already mailed the masters off. Merle was irate about it, but that’s just how Willie works.
August 25, 2022 @ 8:23 am
In the Willy and Merle video at the end, in the bar, some of the characters looked familiar. Was one Marty Robbins, or Tom T. Hall? I know Van Zant was playing the guitar, but who else was in the video that was famous.?
August 25, 2022 @ 10:59 am
North Texas Press has just issued FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG – Essays on Townes Van Zandt, UPC 9781574 418590
Here’s the URL https://untpress.unt.edu/catalog/holbrook-for-the-sake-of-the-song/
August 25, 2022 @ 1:16 pm
Thanks for the article. That song is one of my all time favorite and I first heard with Emmylou Lou.I think you can love a song even if you don’t understand. In fact I think you can love it even more just because you dont understand it. It leaves more to your imagination…
My favorite verse is :
“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”
Love the episode with the cops, simple twist of fate?
This is another song that I find hard to completely understand. But I love it: “Paper Kit” here sung by Willie and Emmylou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjbIzDZ-gVQ
August 25, 2022 @ 1:38 pm
Sorry,”Paper Kid”
August 26, 2022 @ 7:53 am
Steve Earle has called Townes “the best songwriter in the whole world.” This tune just grabs your heart…..
August 26, 2022 @ 4:09 pm
Another version worth mentioning is Ashley Campbell’s (daughter of Glen Campbell).
https://youtu.be/WpNrcAmmTxE
August 26, 2022 @ 8:39 pm
Trigger I shared this write up via Facebook on the TVZ group I am a member off. It has several hundred likes and a lot of positive comments
August 27, 2022 @ 7:25 am
I think I heard OF this song years before actually hearing it on Luxury Liner after doing a deep dive into Emmylou’s earlier albums in the late ’90s after getting and digging her live album Spyboy.
I first heard the name TVZ via the Cowboy Junkies album Black Eyed Man from ’91. They covered To Live Is to Fly. Also on that album was a song they wrote about him called Townes’ Blues, which is about him hustling the band members playing dice when they toured together. And there was also a song he wrote about them called Cowboy Junkies Lament. Great album and one of my favorites of the ’90s. And then a couple of years later, Nanci Griffith did a heartbreaking version of Tecumseh Valley (with Arlo Guthrie doing some harmony) on her classic Other Voices, Other Rooms cover album. I ended up picking up one of his albums called At My Window at a Tower around this time (it’s the only one they had), but didn’t end up listening to it much. I think maybe I was underwhelmed by his voice at the time and couldn’t get past that at that particular time in my life. I do remember that a version of For The Sake of the Song is on that album. I’ve since enjoyed Live at the Old Quarter and a couple of his earlier albums. Should probably give At My Window another listen.
Anyway, thanks for this article.
August 27, 2022 @ 11:07 am
By the way they sing it, I always thought the song was about Willie and Merle. Townes probably wrote it when he was half-drunk, so it moves in and out of the sun like a lizard on a rock.
There are some beautiful images in it, and I can’t help but think that another gifted old drunk, Lefty Frizzell, moved through Townes’ mind as he jotted things down. The song is as much about the sounds of its own rhymes than it is about communists or Mexicans.
Give it another chance, Honk. Country people hallucinate, too.
August 27, 2022 @ 11:31 am
I’ve always felt the willie and merle version suffers from the 1980s overproduced country sound. Its still an iconic tune.
August 27, 2022 @ 10:49 pm
Agreed. I love the vocals, and they are Tom of my favourites, but it’s overcooked.
August 29, 2022 @ 2:30 pm
Pancho&Lefty in my opinion is in the top ten country western songs of certainty the last half century. Townes was a great songwriter and just think what he may have written if he was still with us! The first major recording artist was Emmylou’S and the most heartfelt as if the mother of pancho knew her son was no darn good and a criminal but loved him the most of all her sons, and began to cry when he said goodbye knowing she would not see her son alive again. POWERFUL LYRICS. WHAT A SONG And loved by many
September 4, 2022 @ 7:41 pm
Two things:
1. My favorite line:
The dust that Pancho bit down south
Ended up in Lefty’s mouth
2. Trigger, can you elaborate about TVZ deserving to be in the Hall? He had two songs that were hits. I know he has a large body of work that are revered by a small group of fans and musicians, but he had two songs that actually did more than make a dent, or even got heard, by 98% of country fans. That’s not a Hall-worthy body of work. But on the other hand, I could see him being inducted as an influencer.
September 5, 2022 @ 11:25 am
We can debate whether Townes Van Zandt is Hall of Fame worthy. My only thing is that I think there should be an avenue for artists who were both songwriters and performers. They’re not popular enough as performers to go in, or have as many cuts as dedicated professional songwriters to get in. But you combine the two, and these artists are super important to country music. I’m talking about people like Guy Clark, John Prine, Lucinda Williams, and I would include Townes in that too. The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame has this category. It feels like the Country Hall of Fame should too, even if it rotates in and out every few years like they do for songwriters/musicians/non-performers.
September 5, 2022 @ 5:31 pm
I see why it sounds like I’m interested in a debate, but I’m really not. Asking for your reasons why he should be in.
March 30, 2024 @ 1:23 pm
Had a question about the Pancho and Lefty version by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. I used to hear this on country music radio back in the early 80s and I recall it as a very stripped down sound – I honestly don’t recall that weird opening or the background vocals. Was there another version that they played on radio at the time or is my memory just really bad?