Editing Pancho and Lefty (section)

{{Short description|1972 country song}}
{{for|the album of the same name on which this song is featured|Pancho & Lefty (album)}}
{{Infobox song
| name     = Pancho and Lefty
| cover    =
| alt      =
| type     =
| artist   = [[Townes Van Zandt]]
| album    = [[The Late Great Townes Van Zandt]]
| released = 1972
| format   =
| recorded =
| studio   =
| venue    =
| genre    = [[Country music|Country]], [[Folk music|folk]]
| length   = {{Duration|m=3|s=40}}
| label    = [[Tomato Records|Tomato]]
| writer   = Townes Van Zandt
| producer = {{hlist|Kevin Eggers|[[Jack Clement]]}}
}}"'''Pancho and Lefty'''", originally "'''Poncho and Lefty'''",{{efn|When originally released in 1972 as a single by Townes Van Zandt<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=''"Poncho and Lefty"'' |title-link= |last= |first= |author-link= |first2= |last2= |author-link2= |others=[[Townes Van Zandt]] |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/8183703-Townes-Van-Zandt-Poncho-Lefty/image/SW1hZ2U6MjQ4NTY2ODc= |date=1972 |access-date= |chapter= |page= |pages= |at= |type= |publisher=United Artists Records, Inc. |id= |location= }}</ref> and on his ''The Late Great Townes Van Zandt'' album that same year,<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=The Late Great Townes Van Zandt |title-link= |last= |first= |author-link= |first2= |last2= |author-link2= |others=[[Townes Van Zandt]] |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/12976634-Townes-Van-Zandt-The-Late-Great-Townes-Van-Zandt/image/SW1hZ2U6Mzc3NTYwMjE= |date=1972 |access-date= |chapter= |page= |pages= |at= |type= |publisher=United Artists Records, Inc. |id= |location= }}</ref> the song title was spelled "'''P''o''ncho and Lefty'''".<ref>Donald Clarke. ''The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music.'' Penguin Books, 1990. pp. 518. {{ISBN|9780140511475}}</ref><ref>Richard Carlin. ''The Big Book of Country Music: A Biographical Encyclopedia.'' Penguin, 1995. p. 472. {{ISBN|9780140235098}}</ref>  Emmylou Harris's 1977 album ''[[Luxury Liner (album)|Luxury Liner]]''<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Luxury Liner  |title-link= |last= |first= |author-link= |first2= |last2= |author-link2= |others=Emmylou Harris |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/11103938-Emmylou-Harris-Luxury-Liner-/image/SW1hZ2U6MzExNDA5MzI= |date=1977 |access-date= |chapter= |page= |pages= |at= |type= |publisher=Warner Bros. Records Inc. |id= |location= }}</ref> included a version of the song also spelled "Poncho".<ref>Nathan Brackett and Christian David Hoard. ''The New Rolling Stone Album Guide.'' Simon and Schuster, 2004. p. 366. {{ISBN|9780743201698}}</ref>  Initial releases of Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson's [[Pancho & Lefty (album)|1983 album]] were also called "Poncho & Lefty",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9iMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT37 "'Poncho And Lefty' Push."] ''Billboard.'' '''95'''.5. 12 February 1983. p. 42. {{ISSN|0006-2510}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=oSQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT47 "Hot Country LPs."] ''Billboard.'' '''95'''.13. 26 March 1983. p. 48. {{ISSN|0006-2510}}</ref> but the title spelling was mixed (some labels read "Pancho", while liner notes read "Poncho"<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Poncho & Lefty |title-link= |last= |first= |author-link= |first2= |last2= |author-link2= |others=Merle Haggard / Willie Nelson |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/15953043-Merle-Haggard-Willie-Nelson-Poncho-Lefty/image/SW1hZ2U6NDg5MDI3MzE= |date=1982 |access-date= |chapter= |page= |pages= |at= |type= |publisher= |id= |location= }}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Poncho & Lefty |title-link= |last= |first= |author-link= |first2= |last2= |author-link2= |others=Merle Haggard / Willie Nelson |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/6411789-Merle-Haggard-and-Willie-Nelson-Poncho-Lefty/image/SW1hZ2U6MjI0MDQzNjE= |date=1982 |access-date= |chapter= |page= |pages= |at= |type= |publisher= |id= |location= }}</ref>) and changed in the years following the release of the title track as the albums's second single with the spelling "'''P''a''ncho and Lefty'''".<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=''"Pancho And Lefty"'' |title-link= |last= |first= |author-link= |first2= |last2= |author-link2= |others=Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/13547233-Willie-Nelson-and-Merle-Haggard-Pancho-And-Lefty/image/SW1hZ2U6Mzk4NDI0NjY= |date=1982 |access-date= |chapter= |page= |pages= |at= |type= |publisher=CBS Inc. |id= |location= }}</ref>  The "Pancho" spelling has persisted and even some later releases of Van Zandt<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=The Late Great Townes Van Zandt |title-link= |last= |first= |author-link= |first2= |last2= |author-link2= |others=Townes Van Zandt |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2680458-Townes-Van-Zandt-The-Late-Great-Townes-Van-Zandt/image/SW1hZ2U6NjI0MTU4NTk= |date=2003 |access-date= |chapter= |page= |pages= |at= |type= |publisher=The Tomato Music Works Limited |id= |location= }}</ref> and Harris's<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Luxury Liner  |title-link= |last= |first= |author-link= |first2= |last2= |author-link2= |others=Emmylou Harris|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/2621399-Emmylou-Harris-Luxury-Liner/image/SW1hZ2U6MjgyMzE1MDU= |date=2004 |access-date= |chapter= |page= |pages= |at= |type= |publisher=Warner Bros. Records Inc. |id= |location= }}</ref> albums on CD have been altered to match the Haggard and Nelson hit.}} is a song written by American country singer-songwriter [[Townes Van Zandt]]. Perhaps his most well-known song, Van Zandt recorded his original version of this song for his 1972 album ''[[The Late Great Townes Van Zandt]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Beviglia|first=Jim|title=Townes Van Zandt, "Pancho and Lefty"|url=http://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/04/townes-van-zandt-pancho-and-lefty//|access-date=June 5, 2012|publisher=American Songwriter|date=April 30, 2012}}</ref> The song has been recorded by several artists since its composition and performance by Van Zandt, with a 1983 version by [[Willie Nelson]] and [[Merle Haggard]] reaching number one on the [[Billboard (magazine)|''Billboard'']] [[Hot Country Singles|country chart]]. In 2021, Van Zandt's version was ranked number 498 on Rolling Stone's [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|500 Greatest Songs of All Time]].