[Verse 1: Latin-rock male lead, powerful belted latin-rock vocal] Left Michoacan at nineteen with a backpack and a prayer Washin' dishes in Chicago, sleepin' on a borrowed chair Every Friday to the wire shop with the money in my sock Sent it home to Don Ernesto for another load of block Block by block, a house was growin' that I only saw in photographs Blue walls and a green door, built in pieces, built in halves Every winter I would close my eyes and walk across the floor Of the house up on the hill, and put my hand on that green door [Chorus: Latin-rock male lead, full force, searing lead guitar] I built a house I never slept in Brick by brick from somebody else's kitchen Twenty-two years of Fridays and I never missed one I built a house I never slept in [Verse 2: Latin-rock male lead, powerful belted vocal] Twenty-two years of grease and onions, thirteen hours every day Missed the weddings, missed the funerals, missed the fiesta every May Burned my arms on every fryer, burned my Sundays on the line Every check I sent was mortar and every photo was a sign Then my knees gave out at fifty and the kitchen let me go Rode a bus for three days south and walked the hill up slow Heard it from the bottom of the road before I ever saw Forty voices loud as thunder comin' through my window, through my wall [Chorus: Latin-rock male lead, full force, searing lead guitar] I built a house I never slept in Brick by brick from somebody else's kitchen Twenty-two years of Fridays and I never missed one I built a house I never slept in [Bridge: Latin-rock male lead, melisma flourish on the last word] Kids in uniforms on my steps, a chalkboard on my blue wall Times tables in my kitchen, little backpacks down my hall Village never had a school, and my house just stood there, so They filled it up with forty kids and a teacher and a school [Verse 3: Latin-rock male lead, latin-rock vocal, triumphant] Teacher came down with the key, said senor, we didn't ask House was standin' empty and the kids had nowhere for class I looked in at forty faces at the desks my Fridays bought And I said you keep the key, this is better than I thought Now I teach 'em English mornings and I cook their lunch at noon And I sleep in the little back room to the sound of every tune Turns out I never built a house, I built a door for them to walk in Twenty-two years of Fridays and I'd do it all again [Final Chorus: Latin-rock male lead, full force] I built a house I never slept in Brick by brick from somebody else's kitchen Twenty-two years of Fridays and I never missed one I built a house I never slept in [End]
