There was a scent beneath the city
a trembling hush of smoke and rain
the nights were cold, the walls were gritty
but something sweet slid through the veins

A trace of leather, dust and breathing
a whisper soaked in velvet grime
and those who knew the path beneath it
could taste the pulse before the time

Perfume of the underground
a secret on our skin
a language drifting through the dark
where the outsiders begin
Perfume of the underground
the fragrance of escape
the moment when the world above
forgot to lock its gate

It clung to hair and broken laces
to shattered dreams and burning eyes
to every hand that touched the basements
and learned the truth behind disguise

It lived in fog machines and hallways
in cracked concrete and stolen nights
and every breath became a doorway
into a realm without the lights

Perfume of the underground
a secret on our skin
a language drifting through the dark
where the outsiders begin
Perfume of the underground
the fragrance of escape
the moment when the world above
forgot to lock its gate

And once you breathe it in
you never breathe the same
your pulse becomes a whisper
your shadow gets a name

Perfume of the underground
it clings to those who roam
to every misfit searching for
a darker kind of home
Perfume of the underground
you feel it when you fade
the scent of all the nights we lived
before the dawn betrayed