Laurie Anderson - False Documents lyrics

I went to a palm reader and the odd thing
About the reading was that
Everything she told me was totally wrong she
Said I loved airplanes
That I had been born in Seattle
That my mother's name was
Hilary but she seemed
So sure of the information that I began
To feel like I'd been
Walking around with these
False documents permanently tattooed
To my hands

It was very noisy in the parlor
And members of her family
Kept running in and out they
Were speaking a high
Clicking kind of language that sounded a lot
Like Arabic books and magazines in
Arabic were strewn all over the floor
It suddenly occurred to me
That maybe there was a translation problem
– that maybe she was reading
My hand from right to left
Instead of left to right

Thinking of mirrors
I gave her my other hand then
She put her other hand
Out and we sat there for
Several minutes in what I
Assumed was some kind of participatory
Ritual finally I realized that
Her hand was out because she
Was waiting for money