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 plie

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

La la la, la la la la la (x4)

Life changes
One day its eggshells and bread
Married to an intellect
The next you drive a corvette.

Things change
You live your life for the stage
‘Til your kidney floats away
Throw 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