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 Carribean
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 millieu
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 Carribean
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
La, la-la, la-la-la-la-la
La, la-la, la-la-la-la-la
La, la-la, la-la-la-la-la

Life change — 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
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!)

La, la-la, la-la-la-la-la
La, la-la, la-la-la-la-la
La, la-la, la-la-la-la-la
La, la-la, la-la-la-la-la
La, la-la, la-la-la-la-la
La, la-la