This has to be one of the most perfect songs ever written. It tells a beautiful, complete story, without one spare word to it.
That said, I've always been intrigued by the first stanza. It seems unrelated to the "plot" that makes up the rest of the song, but somehow the song wouldn't be complete without it. Just on its own, it's an amazing piece of poetry. I like how it sends up all the myths about the freedom and virtue of "living on the road" that were so common in the 60s and 70s. He's talking to all the innocent romantics who went out to live that life, which was never more than a dream, who they could drop out of society and live "free and clean" on the road forever. In reality, all it did was turn them into cold, tough, hard men, and break their mothers' hearts.
Like I say, I love that first stanza, but I can't figure out how it relates to the rest of the song. Maybe Lefty started out as one like them, dreaming of a romantic bandit's life. Then, after circumstances got out of control and he betrayed Poncho, he lost his faith in himself and his own goodness, and now he looks in the mirror and sees himself as the "bad guy" with the skin like iron, breath like kerosene. So I guess the whole thing could be about good intentions gone wrong, the dangers of letting dreams and romance influence your decisions.
@iggy72 To me, the first verse connects to the rest of the song in the sense that it’s about expectations and/or dreams and, also, myths. Whether or not the person spoken of in the first verse is actually Lefty, the idea that living on the road was gonna keep him “free & clean” - two key words within the context of the song - or shield him from the ugliness of life, is mere folly. Lefty teamed up with Pancho, and they felt “free & clean” for a while. Until the “honest world” caught up with (nothing free or clean...
@iggy72 To me, the first verse connects to the rest of the song in the sense that it’s about expectations and/or dreams and, also, myths. Whether or not the person spoken of in the first verse is actually Lefty, the idea that living on the road was gonna keep him “free & clean” - two key words within the context of the song - or shield him from the ugliness of life, is mere folly. Lefty teamed up with Pancho, and they felt “free & clean” for a while. Until the “honest world” caught up with (nothing free or clean about robbery and/or murder), and cornered them. Being shot down by the Federales wasn’t what Lefty had in mind, so he ratted on Pancho, but ratting is hard on his conscience (“Lefty he can’t sing the blues all night long like he used to” ; “the dust that bit down south ended up in Lefty’s mouth” - nobody can sing with a mouthful (and nobody feels right with a mind full of “dirt” or “filth”) of dust (aka DIRT, aka, the opposite of “clean”), and he did it for money (aka “filthy lucre”)… the comments about it being about Jesus & Judas, that makes sense.
@iggy72 To me, the first verse connects to the rest of the song in the sense that it’s about expectations and/or dreams and, also, myths. Whether or not the person spoken of in the first verse is actually Lefty, the idea that living on the road was gonna keep him “free & clean” - two key words within the context of the song - or shield him from the ugliness of life, is mere folly. Lefty teamed up with Pancho, and they felt “free & clean” for a while. Until the “honest world” caught up with (nothing free or clean...
@iggy72 To me, the first verse connects to the rest of the song in the sense that it’s about expectations and/or dreams and, also, myths. Whether or not the person spoken of in the first verse is actually Lefty, the idea that living on the road was gonna keep him “free & clean” - two key words within the context of the song - or shield him from the ugliness of life, is mere folly. Lefty teamed up with Pancho, and they felt “free & clean” for a while. Until the “honest world” caught up with (nothing free or clean about robbery and/or murder), and cornered them. Being shot down by the Federales wasn’t what Lefty had in mind, so he ratted on Pancho, but ratting is hard on his conscience (“Lefty he can’t sing the blues all night long like he used to” ; “the dust that bit down south ended up in Lefty’s mouth” - nobody can sing with a mouthful (and nobody feels right with a mind full of “dirt” or “filth”) of dust (aka DIRT, aka, the opposite of “clean”), and he did it for money (aka “filthy lucre”)… the comments about it being about Jesus & Judas, that makes sense.
Like, what we hear in the first verse are the consequences of informing on Pancho that Lefty is left with after Pancho is killed. He Thought that telling the feds on Pancho would get him out of the corner the two were trapped in, but Lefty ruined his own life. He didn’t know himself at all, didn’t understand how “beautiful” Pancho was until it was too late. Now his skin weighs on him like an iron suit. His breath is hard as kerosene because there’s nothing good or peaceful going on inside him, he will probably never really forgive himself. Lefty took what looked to be the “easy way out”, but he ran smack dab into his conscience.
If you’re going to read one of these posts, read the one farther down the page, it’s got an extra couple sentences, I didn’t expect it to post both full posts, thought I was continuing my thought…
If you’re going to read one of these posts, read the one farther down the page, it’s got an extra couple sentences, I didn’t expect it to post both full posts, thought I was continuing my thought…
I’m probably confusing my responses but another thought, there’s the idea of living “free and clean”, but you don’t get both, you get one or the other ( the person in the first verse is very young and inexperienced, raised on myth and dreams” )…
I’m probably confusing my responses but another thought, there’s the idea of living “free and clean”, but you don’t get both, you get one or the other ( the person in the first verse is very young and inexperienced, raised on myth and dreams” )…
Living outside the law is a complicated undertaking (Bob Dylan wrote, “To live outside the law, you must be HONEST”), and Pancho wasn’t one to lie low so as to draw less attention. He wanted the “honest world to feel” him. Lefty wasn’t as sure of himself as Pancho. Pancho was a “force of...
Living outside the law is a complicated undertaking (Bob Dylan wrote, “To live outside the law, you must be HONEST”), and Pancho wasn’t one to lie low so as to draw less attention. He wanted the “honest world to feel” him. Lefty wasn’t as sure of himself as Pancho. Pancho was a “force of nature”, something free, beautiful…and people (in the guise of “society”) don’t like it when other people have more balls than they do to live the way they choose. So Pancho would’ve been a target of a jealous people.
Pancho just LIVED (& Died), he wasn’t caught up in making any “dreams” come true, he just WAS. Lefty, we know from verse 1, is a dreamer, and dreamers come complete with expectations. Anyway, Lefty thought ratting on the hunted Pancho would “free him”, but he’s now a prisoner of his (Dirty) conscience. Pancho, being dead, is the free one. (Eli Wallace, in ‘How The West Was Won’, said “Ya want PEACE, huh Marshall? Well, there’s only one kinda “peace” I know of…’).
This has to be one of the most perfect songs ever written. It tells a beautiful, complete story, without one spare word to it.
That said, I've always been intrigued by the first stanza. It seems unrelated to the "plot" that makes up the rest of the song, but somehow the song wouldn't be complete without it. Just on its own, it's an amazing piece of poetry. I like how it sends up all the myths about the freedom and virtue of "living on the road" that were so common in the 60s and 70s. He's talking to all the innocent romantics who went out to live that life, which was never more than a dream, who they could drop out of society and live "free and clean" on the road forever. In reality, all it did was turn them into cold, tough, hard men, and break their mothers' hearts.
Like I say, I love that first stanza, but I can't figure out how it relates to the rest of the song. Maybe Lefty started out as one like them, dreaming of a romantic bandit's life. Then, after circumstances got out of control and he betrayed Poncho, he lost his faith in himself and his own goodness, and now he looks in the mirror and sees himself as the "bad guy" with the skin like iron, breath like kerosene. So I guess the whole thing could be about good intentions gone wrong, the dangers of letting dreams and romance influence your decisions.
@iggy72 To me, the first verse connects to the rest of the song in the sense that it’s about expectations and/or dreams and, also, myths. Whether or not the person spoken of in the first verse is actually Lefty, the idea that living on the road was gonna keep him “free & clean” - two key words within the context of the song - or shield him from the ugliness of life, is mere folly. Lefty teamed up with Pancho, and they felt “free & clean” for a while. Until the “honest world” caught up with (nothing free or clean...
@iggy72 To me, the first verse connects to the rest of the song in the sense that it’s about expectations and/or dreams and, also, myths. Whether or not the person spoken of in the first verse is actually Lefty, the idea that living on the road was gonna keep him “free & clean” - two key words within the context of the song - or shield him from the ugliness of life, is mere folly. Lefty teamed up with Pancho, and they felt “free & clean” for a while. Until the “honest world” caught up with (nothing free or clean about robbery and/or murder), and cornered them. Being shot down by the Federales wasn’t what Lefty had in mind, so he ratted on Pancho, but ratting is hard on his conscience (“Lefty he can’t sing the blues all night long like he used to” ; “the dust that bit down south ended up in Lefty’s mouth” - nobody can sing with a mouthful (and nobody feels right with a mind full of “dirt” or “filth”) of dust (aka DIRT, aka, the opposite of “clean”), and he did it for money (aka “filthy lucre”)… the comments about it being about Jesus & Judas, that makes sense.
@iggy72 To me, the first verse connects to the rest of the song in the sense that it’s about expectations and/or dreams and, also, myths. Whether or not the person spoken of in the first verse is actually Lefty, the idea that living on the road was gonna keep him “free & clean” - two key words within the context of the song - or shield him from the ugliness of life, is mere folly. Lefty teamed up with Pancho, and they felt “free & clean” for a while. Until the “honest world” caught up with (nothing free or clean...
@iggy72 To me, the first verse connects to the rest of the song in the sense that it’s about expectations and/or dreams and, also, myths. Whether or not the person spoken of in the first verse is actually Lefty, the idea that living on the road was gonna keep him “free & clean” - two key words within the context of the song - or shield him from the ugliness of life, is mere folly. Lefty teamed up with Pancho, and they felt “free & clean” for a while. Until the “honest world” caught up with (nothing free or clean about robbery and/or murder), and cornered them. Being shot down by the Federales wasn’t what Lefty had in mind, so he ratted on Pancho, but ratting is hard on his conscience (“Lefty he can’t sing the blues all night long like he used to” ; “the dust that bit down south ended up in Lefty’s mouth” - nobody can sing with a mouthful (and nobody feels right with a mind full of “dirt” or “filth”) of dust (aka DIRT, aka, the opposite of “clean”), and he did it for money (aka “filthy lucre”)… the comments about it being about Jesus & Judas, that makes sense.
Like, what we hear in the first verse are the consequences of informing on Pancho that Lefty is left with after Pancho is killed. He Thought that telling the feds on Pancho would get him out of the corner the two were trapped in, but Lefty ruined his own life. He didn’t know himself at all, didn’t understand how “beautiful” Pancho was until it was too late. Now his skin weighs on him like an iron suit. His breath is hard as kerosene because there’s nothing good or peaceful going on inside him, he will probably never really forgive himself. Lefty took what looked to be the “easy way out”, but he ran smack dab into his conscience.
If you’re going to read one of these posts, read the one farther down the page, it’s got an extra couple sentences, I didn’t expect it to post both full posts, thought I was continuing my thought…
If you’re going to read one of these posts, read the one farther down the page, it’s got an extra couple sentences, I didn’t expect it to post both full posts, thought I was continuing my thought…
I’m probably confusing my responses but another thought, there’s the idea of living “free and clean”, but you don’t get both, you get one or the other ( the person in the first verse is very young and inexperienced, raised on myth and dreams” )…
I’m probably confusing my responses but another thought, there’s the idea of living “free and clean”, but you don’t get both, you get one or the other ( the person in the first verse is very young and inexperienced, raised on myth and dreams” )…
Living outside the law is a complicated undertaking (Bob Dylan wrote, “To live outside the law, you must be HONEST”), and Pancho wasn’t one to lie low so as to draw less attention. He wanted the “honest world to feel” him. Lefty wasn’t as sure of himself as Pancho. Pancho was a “force of...
Living outside the law is a complicated undertaking (Bob Dylan wrote, “To live outside the law, you must be HONEST”), and Pancho wasn’t one to lie low so as to draw less attention. He wanted the “honest world to feel” him. Lefty wasn’t as sure of himself as Pancho. Pancho was a “force of nature”, something free, beautiful…and people (in the guise of “society”) don’t like it when other people have more balls than they do to live the way they choose. So Pancho would’ve been a target of a jealous people.
Pancho just LIVED (& Died), he wasn’t caught up in making any “dreams” come true, he just WAS. Lefty, we know from verse 1, is a dreamer, and dreamers come complete with expectations. Anyway, Lefty thought ratting on the hunted Pancho would “free him”, but he’s now a prisoner of his (Dirty) conscience. Pancho, being dead, is the free one. (Eli Wallace, in ‘How The West Was Won’, said “Ya want PEACE, huh Marshall? Well, there’s only one kinda “peace” I know of…’).