My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist Lyrics

My mother was a Chinese trapeze artist
In pre-war Paris
Smuggling bombs for the underground
And she met my father
At a fête in Aix-en-Provence
He was disguised as a Russian cadet
In the employ of the Axis
And there in the half-light
Of the provincial midnight
To a lone concertina
They drank in cantinas
And toasted to Edith Piaf
And the fall of the Reich

My sister was born in a hovel in Burgundy
And left for the cattle
But later was found by a communist
Who had deserted his ranks
To follow his dream
To start up a punk rock band in South Carolina
I get letters sometimes
They bought a plantation
She weeds the tobacco
He offends the nation
And they write, "Don't be a stranger, y'hear?
Sincerely, your sister"

So my parents had me
To the disgust of the prostitutes
On a bed in a brothel
Surprisingly raised with tender care
Until the money got tight
And they bet me away
To a blind brigadier in a game
Of high stakes canasta
But he made me a sailor
On his brigadier ship fleet
I know every yardarm
From main mast to jib sheet
But sometimes I long to be landlocked
And to work in a bakery