Russian Ballerina

It takes ten years just to get

Your stinking leg up

Then five more to make it

Not look like shit

Soviet children form a crowd

Sized and tested

Who will be a star?

Hero of passion, of whom they'll say

She took her final breath in grand plié

Oh, my mother

Russian ballerina

You were a swan

But now you're swimming in the Caribbean

Oh, my mother

Russian ballerina

Nobody knows how you can live without the love of your life

Everybody's asking me

"Where is Mary?"

I don't see her at the theatre

Or the parties

That's right, because

She's carving bamboo

Far from the artistic milieu

Never thought she'd live without

Allegiance to a life of art

Oh, my mother

Russian ballerina

You were a swan

But now you're swimming in the Caribbean

Oh, my mother

Russian ballerina

Nobody knows how you can live without the love of your life

Life changes

One day its eggshells and bread

Married to an intellect

Then next you drive a Corvette

Things change

You live your life for the stage

Till your kidney floats away

Thrown in a car accident

A time for art

A time for living

Sometimes the two can be conflicting

And, mama, I'll meet you at Caribana

Together we're the highest form of art

Oh, my mother

Russian ballerina

You were a swan

But now you're swimming in the Caribbean

Oh, my mother

Russian ballerina

Nobody knows how you can live without the love of your life

Oh, my mother

Russian ballerina

Too bad your pirouettes now look almost as bad as mine

Oh, my mother

Russian ballerina

Who needs that bullshit? We can drink at the casino all night

Everybody now