The Decemberists - My Mother Was A Chinese Trapese 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 fete 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'd 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 'Til 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