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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
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
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"
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
Song Info
Submitted by
sendthestars On Apr 19, 2004
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this is one obscure family...and pretty awesome.
i feel so bad for him!! everybody gets to do what they want except him! his sister gets to weed the tobacco, her husband presumably, gets to be in punk rock band and offend the nation and he has to be a sailor. and all he wants to do is work in a bakery! poor guy...
He wrote it at a time when Tarkio was still around, and recorded it with them and probably performed it solo, but he's made it a Decemberists song since.
By the way, the interview mentioned above (in like the second post) is a fantastic one. Sean Nelson, who's the lead singer of Harvey Danger and frequently contributes guest vocals on Death Cab records interviewed him and the article is great, especially the entire transcript.
this is just a perfect picture.. so much imagery and character and story. i love it.
This song was mentioned in a recent article on the band in Seattle\'s The Stranger (web: http://www.thestranger.com/2005-03-17/feature.html). Apparently it\'s Colin\'s fantastic retelling of his family history and probably the first Decemberists song of them all.
I love the accordian.
I think this one is absolutely brilliant.
Reminds me of my family...
I don't understand how there's talk of the Axis and the Reich, and then there's a punk-rock band? Is this multiple generations?
I don't think the song is anything serious or especially meaningful. I just think it's a great story :) . He did take a creative writing course in college, so you can see where a lot of the Decemberists' lyrics come from.
I don't think the song is anything serious or especially meaningful. I just think it's a great story :) . He did take a creative writing course in college, so you can see where a lot of the Decemberists' lyrics come from.
@makeshift yugoslavian punk rock---communist yugoslavia actually had the punk rock subgenre in the fifties.
@makeshift yugoslavian punk rock---communist yugoslavia actually had the punk rock subgenre in the fifties.
yeah thats what I was wondering. Because you know, World War II, and then rock and roll... Don't make sense.
@jxnarcoticz actually, it does make sense. it's just very bizarre, but how fun because how interesting, you know? anyhow, at the time communist yugoslavia actually had a growing rock scene---punk rock, metal, you name it were all subgenres during the fifties. if his parents met in pre-war paris (1938-1939?) then his sister could have been born in 1940. "later found by a communist" is pretty vague, but by the fifties, she'd be into her teens and by the sixties, she'd be into her twenties. it does work.
@jxnarcoticz actually, it does make sense. it's just very bizarre, but how fun because how interesting, you know? anyhow, at the time communist yugoslavia actually had a growing rock scene---punk rock, metal, you name it were all subgenres during the fifties. if his parents met in pre-war paris (1938-1939?) then his sister could have been born in 1940. "later found by a communist" is pretty vague, but by the fifties, she'd be into her teens and by the sixties, she'd be into her twenties. it does work.
it's possible meloy was referencing that. he likes to be historical, so...
it's possible meloy was referencing that. he likes to be historical, so i really woundn't put that past him.
history's fun.
Surprised that nobody mentioned this yet, but this isn't a Decemberists song. It's a Tarkio song, Colin Meloy's pre-Decemberist band.
Uh. Whether it's a Tariko song or not, which I wouldn't know, it's on The Decemberists' 5 Songs EP.