Burning Decemberists-related questions

Things I’d like to ask Colin Meloy, but won’t, because although I’m a dork, I’m not that much of a dork:

• Is the “lazy lady” who “had a baby girl” Odalisque? Or was the baby girl Odalisque?


• What the hell is the timeline for “My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist?” Is it just fancifully out of whack? The character’s mother was a Chinese trapeze artist in pre-war Paris, so we’re in 1939 at the latest. So how did she have a daughter whose husband dreamed of starting up a punk rock band in South Carolina? (Also, did she just live amongst the cattle until her husband came along? Is he even her husband? Maybe he adopted her, making the timeline even weirder…)


• “I’ve not been swept since the day my husband died.” That disturbs me. The very day he died? Not impossible, but raises a few more questions.