We used to smoke on the fire escape now we just smoke in the living room
In the plastic patio chairs that the last tenant left
I came to Reseda for the cheap rent and the distant listless gloom
I answered a Craigslist ad for a roommate, Rosa was it

She waits tables on the weekdays
Picks up any shift she can
I paint houses that I can't afford to live in
Scraping by with what we've got to pay the rent

We used to smoke on the fire escape now we just smoke in the living room
And I play her the songs that I wrote last year when things got dim
And her boyfriend's a real great guy
He works down at the Jiffy Lube
They teach me Spanish at night
We eat what she takes from her shift

They both think that I can be something if I try
They come out to all the open mics
He's looking around to help me find a van that I could buy

She waits tables on the weekdays
Picks up any shift she can
I paint houses that I can't afford to live in
Scraping by with what we've got to pay the rent

And Mom wants to know how sunny California is
Says the Island's been cold, it sounds like she's over it
Tells me Catherine's moving home, her husband's been pretty sick
There's a Doctor they hope has better luck diagnosing him

We used to smoke on the fire escape now we just smoke in the living room
Well the lease is up and we'll never see that deposit again
Rosa's moving in with her boyfriend
I'm going to drive off somewhere new
When I so desperately needed a friend
Rosa was a friend