Editing Pancho and Lefty (section)

== Reception ==

The song reached No. 1 on ''Billboard''{{'}}s [[Hot Country Songs]] chart dated July 23, 1983.  The Willie Nelson release has sold 648,000 digital copies in the United States as of October 2019 since becoming available for download.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://roughstock.com/news/2019/10/43984-top-30-country-digital-singles-chart-october-7-2019 |title=Top 30 Country Digital Singles Chart: October 7, 2019|work=RoughStock|first=Matt |last=Bjorke |date= October 8, 2019 |access-date=October 11, 2019 }}</ref>
{{Infobox song
| name       = Pancho and Lefty
| cover      =
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Merle Haggard]] and [[Willie Nelson]]
| album      = [[Pancho & Lefty (album)|Pancho & Lefty]]
| B-side     = Opportunity to Cry
| released   = April 30, 1983
| format     =
| recorded   =
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      = 
* [[Country music|Country]]
* [[outlaw country]]<ref name="RS 1983">{{cite magazine|last= Sheffield|first= Rob|date= February 24, 2023|title=The 100 Best Songs of 1983, the Year Pop Went Crazy|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-1983-1234681014/|access-date=September 4, 2023|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|quote=Two great country outlaws team up for a classic outlaw ballad: “Pancho and Lefty,” by Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt.}}</ref>
| length     = 4:44
| label      = [[Epic Records|Epic]]
| writer     = Townes Van Zandt
| producer   = {{hlist|[[Chips Moman]]|Willie Nelson|Merle Haggard}}
| chronology = [[Merle Haggard]]
| prev_title = [[You Take Me for Granted]]
| prev_year  = 1983
| next_title = [[What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)]]
| next_year  = 1983
| misc       = {{Extra chronology
 | artist     = [[Willie Nelson]]
 | type       = singles
 | prev_title = [[Little Old Fashioned Karma]]
 | prev_year  = 1983
 | title      = Pancho and Lefty
 | year       = 1983
 | next_title = [[Why Do I Have to Choose]]
 | next_year  = 1983
}}
}}

===Legacy===
"Pancho and Lefty" was covered by [[Merle Haggard]] and [[Willie Nelson]]; it was the title track of their duet album ''[[Pancho & Lefty (album)|Pancho & Lefty]]'', and a number one country hit<ref>{{cite book |title= The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=148}}</ref> that entered the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]] in 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Grammy Hall of Fame |url=https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame#p |publisher=Grammy Awards |access-date=7 Feb 2022}}</ref>

Members of the [[Western Writers of America]] chose it as the 17th-greatest Western song of all time.<ref name="Top100">{{Cite web |title=The Top 100 Western Songs |author=Western Writers of America |year=2010 |author-link=Western Writers of America |publisher=American Cowboy |url=http://www.americancowboy.com/culture/top-100-western-songs |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019002745/http://americancowboy.com/culture/top-100-western-songs |archive-date=October 19, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In June 2004, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked "Pancho and Lefty" 41st on its list of the "100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-country-songs-of-all-time-11200/41-townes-van-zandt-pancho-and-lefty-1972-17040/ |title = 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time - Rolling Stone| magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] | date=June 2014 }}</ref>

In 2021, the original version was listed at #498 on [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=2021-09-15|title=The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/|access-date=2021-09-16|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref>

===Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard===

====Weekly charts====
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!align="left"|Chart (1983)
!align="center"|Peak<br />position
|-
{{singlechart|Billboardadultcontemporary|21|artist=Willie Nelson|access-date=June 20, 2021}}
|-
{{singlechart|Billboardcountrysongs|1|artist=Willie Nelson|access-date=June 20, 2021}}
|-
|align="left"|Canadian ''RPM'' Country Tracks
|align="center"|1
|}

====Year-end charts====
{|class="wikitable"
!Chart (1983)
!Position
|-
|US Hot Country Songs (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1983/BB-1983-12-24.pdf|title=1984 Talent Almanac|magazine=Billboard|volume=95|issue=51|page=TA-24|date=December 24, 1983|access-date=June 20, 2021}}</ref>
|align="center"|6
|}