Three Sheets to Kishkiyya · Track 119 · middle

Fried Canary

VOLUME V — the CURES, crawling back to life. The idiom and the song's title hook: "Fried Canary". Its true history: Rome, 1st c. AD (Pliny the Elder) — behead, de-feather and fry a canary with salt as a remedy for overindulgence; ancient absurd. Render this beat of the night as the band's affectionate, funny, celebratory tribute — the idiom itself is the chorus hook.

Lyrics

[Intro]
Welcome to the morning. The very old morning.

[Verse 1]
Your little human skull is vibrating in the light,
Paying the toll for a very glorious night.
I’ve watched your fragile species from the dark,
Trying to reignite that tired heart.
When the vintage demands a payment for the feast,
You turn to the shadow of the ancient beast.

[Chorus]
Oh, you need the Fried Canary.
Just a little Pliny wisdom to make you steady.
Take the yellow feathers off, remove the tiny head,
Fry it with the sea salt so you can leave the bed.
The Fried Canary, a 1st century cure,
For the modern aching mammal on the floor.

[Verse 2]
Back in Rome, the elder Pliny wrote it out,
While the marble spun and tumbled all about.
In the year 77 AD, give or take a dawn,
He knew exactly how to pull you from the fog.
A heavy pinch of sodium, a sizzle in the pan,
To resurrect the spirit of a ruined man.

[Chorus]
Oh, you need the Fried Canary.
Just a little Pliny wisdom to make you steady.
Take the yellow feathers off, remove the tiny head,
Fry it with the sea salt so you can leave the bed.
The Fried Canary, a 1st century cure,
For the modern aching mammal on the floor.

[Bridge]
Such a strange, delightful ritual you keep,
Crawling from the wreckage of your sleep.
You offer up a songbird to the frying grease,
Just to buy your fragile temples some relief.

[Outro]
So chew the little bones.
Let the old world silence your groans.
I have seen a million mornings just like this,
And the salt is just another way of waking up.