I played and sang this song for years before it dawned on me what it was about--a classic case of betrayal. They gave Lefty a choice: turn in Pancho, or do hard time. He got his 30 pieces of silver and fled to Ohio (" Where he got the bread to go, there ain't nobody knows") So he sits in his cheap hotel, regretting the choice he made. Brilliant, Townes ( and great version, Gillian and David)
@@claudioalcara I’ve always thought this too! I just figured I was wrong because no one else mentioned this theory. Mine differs a little from yours though. I think Pancho faked his own death or killed someone in his place. Then he took the name Lefty and fled to Ohio to get away from the federales and his old life of crime.
Dave and Gillian both are top end musicians. Love them both. I played clarinet for 8 years in school, there tone and their harmonies are both excellent to my trained ear.
What a wonderful rendition of this song. Poignant, heartfelt, sung with mournful sadness. Yes, it's Townes' song, but I feel it is his story, & it's our story. A story of conflict of decision, loneliness, sadness & regret in old age, the acceptance of that which we cannot change. One of the best songs that reveals the soul of a life lived with regrets. A song that never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
The general public does not recognise class if it walks up on them on the side walk and grabs them by the balls. Free quote from the movie "The fabulous Baker Boys".
Wow. I always considered the Merle and Willie version to be the definitive take on that song. But I always heard Merle and Willie. With this one, I heard the song. Heartbreaking.
@@tomformanek3312 Townes Van Zandt's songs are challenging for a lot of people, and his vocal delivery is just about impossible to match. Willie and Merle always seemed too polished, and leaned too hard into the sort of surface cowboy story, without really connecting (to my ear) with the addiction aspects of the story. This really feels like it is leaning into the other side of it, and of course these two play and sing together so brilliantly!
wrong again, Bob. Gee dubs (that's what I call her) and myself are made for each other. Got it, Bobby boy? huh? Good. Have a mediocre day, and a FABULOUS NIGHT!
Wonderful to listen to wile your holding your💓💓!!! ....without any kind of doubt your true love ....relaxing n feeling nothing but love come from his breath
beautiful cover of a great song , Gillian and David are the greatest Americana artists out there , Townes never got recognition when he was alive sadly but he was a great songwriter and a true artist
"The dust that Pancho bit down south, ended up in Lefty's mouth." No one ever doing this song has caught that - the way she says, almost sneers "mouth" - just the way Gillian Welch did. To say this is the best version of this perfectly written, beautifully performed Townes Van Zandt song is somehow an understatement. What a lesson in the fragility of friendship. And the bitter consequences of betrayal.
I’ve always kind of looked at this song as a meditation on mortality. Pancho gets hung and dies young, but he’s remembered through legend. Lefty survives but fades into obscurity. When he dies no one will remember him. I think the question Townes is asking in this song is which is more preferable? It’s like the Neil Young line, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away”. I think the whole story of the song is sort of a big metaphor for that question. I think people get too hung up on the betrayal aspect of the song. Actually, I think people sometimes get too wrapped up in the story the song tells altogether and misses the deeper meaning. Like I said, I think the story is a metaphor. But that’s just my 2 cents. Dave and Gillian did this song better than just about anyone.
their talent is self-evident...they'll play ANY song that tickles their fancy....I especially like this slower tempo version of the Townes van Zandt classic
Gillian's voice has a very calming effect on me. I'd listen to her sing the phone book. She's a beautiful person and it shows through. I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting her once and she was very quiet and unassuming but very polite and friendly.
This masterfully rendered version lures me into a dream-like state- where I appreciate the complex and unapologetic imperfection of David Rawling's harmonies in counterpart with his impeccable lead guitar- and Gillian's simple and believable down-home vocal style. Not many songs can carry on for 7:13 like this one. Excellent work!
Wow! I could also listen to them forever....their voices have soft wavering edges and their harmony is gentle like the unexpected breeze, wavering and trembling. This makes for some powerful music.
I appreciate this interpretation more and more. It glides relaxed without any haste from word to word and from note to note. The listener gets an impression of getting free from the fetters of time.
I love the way David Rawlings and Gillian Welch sound together. I would not want it any other way. I think their delivery is right on the money every time.
First time I've heard this version. Holy Smokes(!), this is REALLY RIDICULOUSLY GOOD !!!!! LOVE Townes, Gillian and Dave. The three combined make for something special. Thanks for posting this! ... And Dave's soulful subtle solos here: WOW! And yes, Gillian and Dave really have this gift for doing incredible covers. This might actually be my favorite, even though it's the first time I've heard it. Somewhere Townes is smiling ... and proud and moved. Simply Beautiful !!!!!
Pop quiz: If the earth is spinning at the rate of ~1000 miles per hour, how far have we come in that seven minutes and thirteen seconds? This is one of the greatest things that these two have ever performed, and thank God someone was there to record it.
So very well sayed, JyHiable - "an impression of getting free from the fetters of time." - such a gift of their performance! I LOVE Gillian's tiny sigh at .02 -the very beginning (that is her letting slip the fetters of time, preparing to Join with David in performance) free."
It's definitely a subtle, unique feeling to their version of it. A gentle but powerful solemness they way Rawling's melody on the guitar fits with Welch's voice singing the lyrics. They make it sound like Townes Van Zandt wrote it to be sung with a female voice.
hickory ? hell that is right up the road from me, I don't remember what I was doing sept.27 1997, but I know what I should have been doing. I should have been in hickory
About the same Cainen, juust a couple miles for me too. No clue where I was but there I should've been, like too many close-by show since I've had to pass on. The few I have made were always that much more worth it though.
thats very poetic - im a not very talented singer songwriter, but I am so happy to have recently discovered Davis Rawlings, I cannot find anything wrong with his tones, there are a couple of mistakes in live playing, but for christ sake he is human and as musicians, we all hit bum notes. I'v been playing a tiny bit with his style, it's a bloody killer, in truth he is in my mind, brilliant - we could get perfection with computers but god that would be really dull in truth.
love this. Saw them do this many years ago. Brings back a lot of memories. I've changed a lot since those days but this song remains and it's haunting and lovely. Townes would have loved this
Yes it's quite lovely but in all honesty it isn't a patch on the version Emmylou Harris did on one of her 70's album - I think it was LUXURY LINER but I'm not certain... That is one hell of a version of this great song.
People in a recording studios labor for weeks, using 64 tracks, twiddling knobs on compressors and limiters, adjusting this and that, splicing this take into that take, all to try to simulate something close to the sound and the feeling created by Gillian and David in this live recording.
@@pmichaelsummer The info on the video identifies this as a live recording from September 27, 1997 at Hickory, NC. My ears tell me that that info is correct. FWIW an "outtake" is a track which was recorded but not selected to be included on an album, and could be either a live recording or a studio recording.
Wow, the slow tempo provides the desolate emotional space of this song. What an awesome version. Seems to me their sound on this song is a precursor to the style of the Milk Carton Kids.
It's a shame 480p isn't very clear on a big screen TV. This version is very good and so is Emmylou Harris's version way back before the turn of the Millennium century where we didn't have the luxury of you tube. Like in the 1970s when broadcast TV disappointed many of us.
no she didn,Pancho and Lefty" is a song written by country singer and songwriter Townes Van Zandt. The song became a number one country hit in 1983 when Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson adopted it as the title track of their duet album Pancho & Lefty.
@mjohnsen7 Wow! I've listened to it for years and never knew that. Thanks so much. This is indeed a great version. And Dave's guitar playing is just exquisite.
