Three Sheets to Kishkiyya · Track 70 · middle
Bow Down Before the Porcelain Throne
VOLUME III — being SICK, the small-hours reckoning at the porcelain. The idiom and the song's title hook: "Bow Down Before the Porcelain Throne". Its true history: US, 20th c. on — the royal, god-like version of toilet-worship; monumental, crushing, slow. Render this beat of the night as the band's affectionate, funny, celebratory tribute — the idiom itself is the chorus hook.
Lyrics
[Intro] The hallway stretches like a palace nave The shadows gather and the knees give way A slow procession to the final room Where every giant meets the humbling gloom. [Verse 1] The tile is freezing on my trembling hands I bear the tribute from the dizzy lands It waits in silence, gleaming heavy and wide The undisputed monarch of the night. I crossed the desert of the living room rug To find the sanctuary and the flood. [Chorus] Bow down before the porcelain throne The coldest king that man has ever known You bring your ruin and you bend the knee In deep and heavy majesty Surrender every kingdom you have outgrown And bow down before the porcelain throne. [Verse 2] Cast in the mold of a 20th-century dream American vitreous china catches the gleam It does not judge the stumbling way you tread It only waits to cool the fevered head. My forehead rests upon the holy seat A massive offering at the royal feet. [Chorus] Bow down before the porcelain throne The coldest king that man has ever known You bring your ruin and you bend the knee In deep and heavy majesty Surrender every kingdom you have outgrown And bow down before the porcelain throne. [Bridge] The rumble starts from deep inside the chest A seismic echo of the wild excess We pay the toll to keep the body whole The ceramic basin claims another soul But grants a pardon when the ritual fades. [Outro] The water turns, the temple clears The heavy monarch disappears I pull myself up from the holy ground My legs are shaking And the crown is just a lid upon the tank.