“I just consider it a kind of my song” – Emmylou Harris on the lack of recognition she received for “Pancho & Lefty”

It’s always strange when the artist most famous for the interpretation of a song is not the original artist. But it’s even stranger when there are several legendary artists who have recorded the song for an album.

“Pancho & Lefty” is one of the most iconic songs in country music history. It was written and first released by Townes Van Zandt for his 1972 album The late great Townes Van Zandt But most fans only know the song because Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard teamed up in 1983 for a version that became a real hit, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and number 21 on the US Adult Contemporary chart.

But somewhere in the middle of those two performances, Emmylou Harris performed the piece and she always felt she deserved more recognition for it.

Emmylou included “Pancho & Lefty” on her 1977 album entitled Luxury linerand although it was never released as a single, it was actually their version that sparked Willie Nelson’s interest in doing his own version with Merle.

Side note: Merle Haggard was extremely drunk during the recording of the song and did not like it when he woke up in the morning. Eric Church tells the story here in detail.

In the 2004 documentary about Townes Van Zandt’s life Be here to love meEmmylou was interviewed and said the following about the song:

“Even though Willie and Merle did it later and had a hit with it and it’s kind of famous, I just consider it kind of my song because I did it first.

But it gives me strength to sing it, and people still want it, and I do it practically every night.”

I have to say, she’s right. Townes Van Zandt remains a criminally underrated artist in country music, but so is Emmylou Harris. Much like John Prine, Emmylou clearly fits the category of “your favorite artist’s favorite artist,” and while her name comes up in discussions about major influencers in the scene, it’s probably true that in a perfectly fair world, the commercial success of “Pancho & Lefty” would have gone to her and Townes.

That’s not how it worked and she’s done very well for herself by consistently staying true to her desired sound and direction and doing nothing more, a trait that deserves great praise, but the fact that “Pancho & Lefty” isn’t a big part of her resume seems to be one of the things she’ll never be fully happy with.

This interview excerpt takes place at 1:10:28 of the following documentary.

And here is her version of the song.