Three Sheets to Kishkiyya · Track 117 · middle

Khash

VOLUME V — the CURES, crawling back to life. The idiom and the song's title hook: "Khash". Its true history: Caucasus (Armenia/Georgia) — the slow-cooked cow or sheep head-and-trotter soup eaten at dawn; deep, monastic, fortifying. Render this beat of the night as the band's affectionate, funny, celebratory tribute — the idiom itself is the chorus hook.

Lyrics

[Intro]
Deep in the root.
Deep in the horn.

[Verse 1]
The sun is buried under the ice of the Caucasus.
Your skull is cracking, brittle as winter wood.
But down in the valley, the fire has burned since dusk.
The iron cauldron is doing what it should.
They took the trotters, they took the heavy sheep head.
And laid them in the water while you wished you were dead.

[Chorus]
Khash.
Thick as the earth, slow as the stone.
Khash.
Pulling the marrow out of the bone.
When the dawn breaks over the mountain pass,
You will rise on the quiet strength of the Khash.

[Verse 2]
No sudden movements, just the ache in your chest.
The broth is gathering the pieces you lost in the dark.
Garlic and salt for the shivering guest.
The long slow simmer leaving its mark.
It takes twelve hours to boil away the fright.
To knit up the fragile damage of the night.

[Chorus]
Khash.
Thick as the earth, slow as the stone.
Khash.
Pulling the marrow out of the bone.
When the dawn breaks over the mountain pass,
You will rise on the quiet strength of the Khash.

[Bridge]
Tear up the lavash, let it soak in the deep.
The silver spoon lifting the weight of the cure.
This is not a punishment, this is a sleep.
Rendered to liquid, heavy and pure.

[Outro]
Drink the amber gold.
Feel the cartilage hold you together.
Khash...
Down in the belly of the valley...
You are walking out of the frost now, steady.
Just walking.