Gustavo

Lyrics

I wrote a check and I bought an old house I got a TV and a worn-out couch I hired a guy named Gustavo and his friends To fix it up from the foundation Oh god, those motherfuckers drove me nuts With their electrical saws and mariachi music But they really stepped it up, man And they put their backs into it But they lived pretty far away They wanted to stay for a couple of months Till 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 that I gave him And he went and spent it on strippers and casinos And, hey, every once in a while with them I'd go It gets boring out in the mountains, you know Choppin' wood, fallin' asleep to the TV snow Makin' ground beef tacos On the top of a pot-belly stove Eatin' noodles from a Styrofoam cup Waitin' for a ride who never shows up Walkin' into town, browsin' the windows Lookin' at rifles, lookin' at ammo At night when everything's closed In my wet boots and 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 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?" Twenty-five hundred 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 Pickin' up the work they 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 layin' in the backyard And I looked down and my hands were tremblin' 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 dyin' of cancer But what the hell, I'm just here tryin' to find answers To find peace of mind, to get a piece of the rock A place to put my mantle 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 suburbanite 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 grow 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