Three Sheets to Kishkiyya · Track 69 · middle

Yodel in the Porcelain Canyon

VOLUME III — being SICK, the small-hours reckoning at the porcelain. The idiom and the song's title hook: "Yodel in the Porcelain Canyon". Its true history: Contemporary — the echoing canyon of the bowl; a mock-hymn drenched in reverb. Render this beat of the night as the band's affectionate, funny, celebratory tribute — the idiom itself is the chorus hook.

Lyrics

[Intro]
Let us gather on the icy mosaic floor,
Beneath the buzzing fluorescent light.
The sanctuary door is locked securely,
To guard the parishioner of the night.
O, vitreous china, molded and glazed,
A modern marvel of the plumbing age.
We bow our heavy heads and wait,
Upon this acoustic, watery stage.

[Chorus]
And we yodel in the porcelain canyon,
A lonely echo in the deep white bowl.
Sending a midnight hymn down the drainpipe,
From the very bottom of an aching soul.
Hear the reverb ring from the water trap,
A glorious, terrible, resonant tone.
We yodel in the porcelain canyon,
In this tiled cathedral all alone.

[Verse]
Behold the geometry of the rim,
Designed to carry every sacred groan.
The curved ceramic acts as a nave,
Magnifying the sinner's humble moan.
It is a contemporary canyon, true,
No alpine peaks or grassy hill.
Just standard-issue bathroom white,
Where a frantic liturgy spills.

[Bridge]
Who knew the human frame could sing
A bass note of such alarming depth?
Bouncing off the fiberglass walls,
Caught on a sudden, ragged breath.
I find a strange and awful grace,
In the physics of this narrow space.

[Chorus]
As we yodel in the porcelain canyon,
A lonely echo in the deep white bowl.
Sending a midnight hymn down the drainpipe,
From the very bottom of an aching soul.
Hear the reverb ring from the water trap,
A glorious, terrible, resonant tone.
We yodel in the porcelain canyon...

[Outro]
Yes, let the echoes fade to peace.
The plumbing settles in the wall.
A quiet flush to end the mass,
And I suppose I will just sleep in the hall.