[Verse 1] My mother taught it in the kitchen With the window latched and dark Take the salt that is not table Take the kind that leaves a mark Put it under, not upon Let it sit against the blood If October comes to taste you Let it find you tasting rough I was young. I did not ask her Why the tin was wrapped in cloth Why she never used it cooking Why she crossed herself for luck [Pre-Chorus] Keep it hidden Keep it dry Keep it farther than a kiss If you swallow what can guard you You don't give it up for this [Chorus] Black salt under my tongue That is how I stayed my own Black salt under my tongue So no sweet mouth took my home But you came in like a season And you asked me for a name I moved the grain I let you in And nothing in me was the same [Verse 2] You did not knock like a stranger You knocked like you had a key You said the road outside was waiting You said it had a use for me I should have kept the old instruction I should have kept the bitter hold Instead I rinsed my mouth with water And I kissed you in the cold The tin stayed shut inside the cupboard Like a saint I would not face And every word you put against me Found an unarmed place [Pre-Chorus] Keep it hidden Keep it dry That is what the living do If you want a night of hunger You will pay the morning too [Chorus] Black salt under my tongue That is how I stayed my own Black salt under my tongue So no sweet mouth took my home But you came in like a season And you asked me for a name I moved the grain I let you in And nothing in me was the same [Verse 3] By midnight I could taste the mile Dirt and iron, cloth and rain You said, walk it if you love me You said, love is just a chain I put my boots on in the kitchen I left the latch undone I felt the empty of my mouth Like a house without a sun The corpse road took us sideways Through the trees that knew the fee And I understood my mother When she would not look at me [Bridge] This was never about dinner This was never about luck This was a lock I carried daily So October could not suck The year out of a living body Through a kiss, through a dare, through a bed I spit the only thing that saved me For a mouth I should have fled [Breakdown] Under Under Not upon Under Under Then it's gone Once you trade it It won't come Black salt Black salt On my tongue [Verse 4] I went back before the morning I opened up the tin too late The grain was there. The charm was finished Like a door that lost its plate I put a pinch where it belonged And it burned me for the lie A guard that watches after failure Is just salt that learned to cry I still speak with that same mouth I still walk that same road But I do it now uncovered With the year sitting in my throat [Pre-Chorus] Keep it hidden If you can If you still have time to choose If a sweet mouth asks you kindly That is when you stand to lose [Chorus] Black salt under my tongue That is how I stayed my own Black salt under my tongue So no sweet mouth took my home But you came in like a season And you asked me for a name I moved the grain I let you in And nothing in me was the same [Final Chorus] Black salt under my tongue I can still recall the sting Black salt under my tongue Was the last honest thing If you find me on the dead road And my voice comes out too kind Know I spent my only armor On a night I should have left behind [Outro] Tin in the cupboard Latch on the wood Mouth still burning Good Good It should
