Pancho’s Farewell

Words and Music © 2025 by Geoffrey Clarfield.

Written in Newton, North Carolina, on April 2, 2025.

Pancho’s Farewell

It was down in old Durango

Say way back when

I spied a thoroughbred stallion

And I made her my best friend

A descendant of a Spaniard

From when Cortes ruled the land

She could outride any charro

She was loyal to the end

And so I rode down

Cross that border

And I offered him my hand

He said welcome

To you gringo

And to your pistol

And knife’s end

He said

This I must tell you

On Pancho you can depend

There's so many Federalistas

Who are fated to meet their end

So we rode up

To the railroad

With the wind in our hair

No more homage to the ranchers

No more serfdom to their heirs

Because we were hungry

We were thirsty

We got cactus our hair

We fought the Federalistas

And we fought them more than fair

Then we met the Zapatistas

Who fought in their bare feet

And we walked through

Mexico City

And had a few more tortillas to eat

Well they say that Pancho Villa

Did not live for long in his house

They shot him in an ambush

Before his cigarette had burnt out

So if you’re going to Durango

You’re ridin' north from south

And remember those old peasant fighters

Who had been livin' hand to mouth

They were fightin' for their freedom

They were fightin' for their rights

For an acre and a donkey

And for a small house painted white

And now that I'm back in Texas

Will it ever stop?

I still ride my white stallion

I remember quite a lot

So farewell young Pancho Villa

May your soldiers remember you well

And I'm sure

We’ll meet in heaven

After we've spent awhile in hell