Three Sheets to Kishkiyya · Track 111 · middle
Milk and Soot
VOLUME V — the CURES, crawling back to life. The idiom and the song's title hook: "Milk and Soot". Its true history: England, Victorian — warm milk with a spoonful of soot (charcoal) to absorb the gin; grim folk blues. Render this beat of the night as the band's affectionate, funny, celebratory tribute — the idiom itself is the chorus hook.
Lyrics
[Intro] Well, London in 1864 was a river of gin And you're trying to remember the shape of the wind Sisukiro, you're trembling like a rusted latch Trying to see what pieces the morning can catch I'm walking to the fireplace, scraping the brick Got an old chimney secret for the beautifully sick [Chorus] You need that milk and soot, yeah, the milk and soot Stir it up black from the heel of your boot Warm up the dairy, drop the chimney right in Let the dark charcoal soak up the gin It's a grim little magic, but it pulls out the root Here’s to the morning, and the milk and soot [Verse 2] Now, it ain't exactly a breakfast for queens Looks like the devil's own washing machine But the carbon is hungry, it swallows the night Turns all your glorious damage back into white You swallow the ashes of yesterday's fire And climb yourself right out of the mire [Bridge] The Fear comes a-knocking, rattling the shade Asking to see all the bar tabs you paid But we’re just weary creatures of habit and bone Drinking down the hearth just to make it back home [Chorus] So drink down the milk and soot, the milk and soot Stir it up thick from the heel of your boot Warm up the dairy, drop the chimney right in Let the old Victorian charcoal soak up the gin It's a grim little magic, but it pulls out the root Here’s to the morning, and the milk and soot [Outro] Yeah, scrape the back wall. Washes it all away. Don't mind the grit. It just means you're still here, I suppose. Down the hatch.