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Desolation Row chords *
Bob Dylan
Verse 1
They're
selling postcards of the hanging,
they're
painting the passports
brown;
the
beauty parlor is filled with sailors,
the
circus is in
town
Here comes the blind commissioner,
they've
got him in a
trance;
one hand is tied to the tight-rope walker,
the
other is in his
pants
And the
riot squad they're restless,
they
need somewhere to
go;
as
lady and I look
out tonight,
from
Desolation
Row
Verse 2
Cinderella, she seems so easy,
"it
takes one to know one," she
smiles;
and
puts her hands in her back pockets,
Bette Davis
style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning,
"you be
long to me I be
lieve";
and
someone says," you're in the wrong place, my friend,
you better
leave"
And the
only sound that's left,
after the ambulances
go;
is
Cinderella
sweeping up,
on
Desolation
Row
Verse 3
Now the
moon is almost hidden,
the
stars are beginning to
hide;
the
fortunetelling lady,
has
even taken all her things in
side
All except for Cain and Abel,
and the
hunchback of Notre
Dame;
everybody is making love,
or
else expecting
rain
And the
Good Samaritan, he's dressing,
he's getting
ready for the
show;
he's
going to the
carnival tonight,
on
Desolation
Row
Verse 4
Now O
phelia, she's 'neath the window,
for
her I feel so a
fraid;
on her
twenty-second birthday,
she al
ready is an old
maid
To her, death is quite romantic,
she
wears an iron
vest;
her pro
fession's her religion,
her
sin is her lifeless
ness
And
though her eyes are fixed upon,
Noah's great rain
bow;
she
spends her time
peeking,
into
Desolation
Row
Verse 5
Einst
ein, disguised as Robin Hood
Wi
th his memories i
n a trunk
Pass
ed this way an hour ago
With
his friend, a
jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As h
e bummed a ciga
rette
Then
he went off sniffing drainpipes
And
reciting the al
phabet
Now yo
u would not think to look at him
But h
e was famous
long ago
For
playing the e
lectric violin
On Desolation R
ow
Verse 6
Dr.
Filth, he keeps his world
I
nside of a leat
her cup
But
all his sexless patients
They
're trying to b
low it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
Sh
e's in charge of
the cyanide hole
And s
he also keeps the cards that read
"Have
Mercy on H
is Soul"
They a
ll play on penny whistles
You c
an hear the
m blow
If you
lean your
head out far enough
From Desolati
on
Row
Verse 7
Across
the street they've nailed the curtains
Th
ey're getting ready for
the feast
The
Phantom of the Opera
A
perfect image of a prie
st
They're spoon feeding Casanova
To ge
t him to feel more
assured
Then
they'll kill him with self-confidence
After
poisoning him with
words
And t
he Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
"Get
Outa Here If You Don
't Know
Casa
nova is just being pu
nished for going
To Desolation
R
ow"
Verse 8
Now a
t midnight all the agents
And
the superhuman
crew
Come
out and round up everyone
That
knows more than t
hey do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where
the heart-attack
machine
Is st
rapped across their shoulders
And
then the keros
ene
Is b
rought down from the castles
By i
nsurance men wh
o go
Check
to see that nobody
is escaping
To Desolation
R
ow
Verse 9
Praise
be to Nero's Neptune
The
Titanic sails a
t dawn
And ev
erybody's shouting
"Whi
ch Side Are You
On?"
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Figh
ting in the captain'
s tower
While
calypso singers laugh at them
And f
ishermen hold flo
wers
Bet
ween the windows of the sea
Wher
e lovely mermaids
flow
And
nobody has to think
too much
About
Desolation
Row
Verse 10
Yes, I
received your letter yesterday
(Abo
ut the time the door
knob broke)
When you
asked how I was doing
Was
that some kind of jo
ke?
All these people that you mention
Yes,
I know them, they're qu
ite lame
I had
to rearrange their faces
And
give them all another
name
Rig
ht now I can't read too good
Don'
t send me no more lette
rs no
Not
unless you mail
them
From
Desolation
Row
* Alternate:
Capo II
Set8
1x