Richmond Fontaine I Fell into Painting Houses in Phoenix, Arizona lyrics

I fell into painting houses in Phoenix
I'd been there a week and we picked up an illegal on the street
The kid was 19 years old and had a wife and kid in Laredo, Mexico
The suburbs in that town are a sprawl
We never knew where we were at all

We worked 5 days straight then we didn't pick him up and
I knew that the kid had never been paid
Probably just waited at the meeting spot all day
We drove to a different part of town and picked up another kid
For a job in a suburb

I didn't show up the next day, I ain't shit but I ain't that way

Got a job as a janitor at Turf Paradise and
I moved in with a girl who worked on the backside
At night I'd always read the news
The Metro section of the Scottsdale Tribune
A family left in the trunk of a car, or a family abandoned in the
Desert alone

To watch a horse break down or your girlfriend who can't stand the
Sight of her own face, or to watch your sister drink her life away
Get me out of here