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
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 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
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 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