Gustavo

I wrote a check and I bought an old house

I got a tv and a worn out couch

Hired a guy named Gustavo and his friends to fix it up from the foundation

Oh god, those mother fuckers drove me nuts

With their electrical saws and mariachi music

But they really stepped it up man, and put their backs into it

But they lived pretty far away

They wanted to stay for a couple of months

'Til the work got done and I said, "Sure"

Made 'em a key and got 'em a microwave

Gustavo was an illegal immigrant

He took the money I gave him and he went and spent it

On strippers and casinos and every once in a while with them, I'd go

It gets boring out in the mountains, you know

Chopping wood, falling asleep to the tv snow

Making ground beef tacos on the top of a pot-bellied stove

Eating noodles from a styrofoam cup

Waiting for a ride who never shows up

Walking into town, browsing the windows

Rifles, looking at ammo

At night when everything's closed

In my wet boots, in my winter clothes

One night, they were headed for Tahoe

They asked me along but I said fuck no

'Cause I was tired and my money was tight

And they just laughed and said alright

And on the way back, they got stopped by a redneck sunnyside highway cop

Gustavo was drunk and had an ounce of pot and spent out the night on a jailhouse cot

They deported him back to Mexico

He called me collect from a Tijuana pay phone

Asking man, could you wire me money? 2500 for a border coyote

He needed work and he missed his family

But I hung up and I said I'm sorry

But I hung up and I felt uneasy

I hung up and my heart was heavy

I hung up and my back was aching

Picking up the work they'd left in front of me

The demoed walls and the pulled up floors

The busted up cabinets and the broken drawers

The kitchen sink was laying in the backyard

And I looked down and my hands were trembling

And I looked up and my roof was leaking

Now I still sleep on my beat up old couch in the living room of my unfinished house

I got a licensed contractor, but he quit 'cause his wife was dying of cancer

But what the hell, I'm just here trying to find answers

To find peace of mind, to get a piece of the rock

A place to put my mental clock and my old guitars and gently rock

Back and forth in my front porch chair without a worry without a care

I'm doing alright but I'm still not there

My house ain't done, but it's alright

Floors ain't level but I ain't some suburban

Who cares about bathroom tiles, straight lines and building codes and Chinese wind chimes

My house ain't done, but it's fine

Come out here from time to time

In December for the snow, and in July to watch the roses

My gardener asks had I seen Gustavo I just laughed and I said fuck no

Not since that night he left

His hair combed back, headed for Tahoe

My girlfriend asked had I heard from that guy from Mexico

I said you mean Gustavo?

And I just laughed and I said no, not since he called from the Tijuana pay phone

Really, I don't give much thought to Gustavo

I love to go out to the mountains, though

And in the fall, feel the breeze blow

And in the winter, watch the falling snow

And in the spring, love the rainbows

And in the summer, smell the roses, white and red and yellow