Three Sheets to Kishkiyya · Track 61 · middle

Pavement Pizza

VOLUME III — being SICK, the small-hours reckoning at the porcelain. The idiom and the song's title hook: "Pavement Pizza". Its true history: Australia/US, 20th c. — the sidewalk's grim mosaic; deliver it deadpan. Render this beat of the night as the band's affectionate, funny, celebratory tribute — the idiom itself is the chorus hook.

Lyrics

[Intro]
Step out the pub into the frost.
The yellow cab is blinking late.
You lean against the corner pole,
To quietly renegotiate.

[Verse 1]
It isn't tragic, it’s a craft.
A little tribute to the gin.
You're painting on the concrete slate,
Before the daylight can begin.
The stomach gives a little twist,
A sudden rumble in the frame.
And now you're leaving something bright,
To glorify the streetlamp rain.

[Chorus]
Baking up a pavement pizza.
Right there on the avenue.
A masterpiece of late-night magic,
Decorating something new.
A sidewalk mosaic for the morning walk.
A bit of abstract culinary art.
Bless your heart.

[Verse 2]
They coined the phrase in sunny Oz,
Sometime round 1981.
A public gallery on the street,
Beneath the absent morning sun.
No oven required, no delivery time.
Just gravity pulling the weight.
You look at the slab with a critical eye,
And marvel at what you create.

[Bridge]
The etymology is purely visual.
A vivid fresco on a flat grey stone.
It's not a disaster, it's highly traditional.
You're claiming the sidewalk as your own.
With a dash of the vivid and a touch of the brave,
A beautiful offering left on the pave.

[Chorus]
Baking up a pavement pizza.
Right there on the avenue.
A masterpiece of late-night magic,
Decorating something new.
A sidewalk mosaic for the morning walk.
A bit of abstract culinary art.
Bless your heart.

[Outro]
Wipe your mouth.
The exhibition is over.
Mind the crust.
We're walking home.