Desolation Row Bob Dylan
CAPO: II
[Intro]
[D] [D] [D] [D]
[Verse 1]
[D]They're selling postcards of the hanging
They're [G]painting the passports [D]brown
The [A]beauty parlour is filled with sailors
[G] The circus is in [D]town
[D]Here comes the blind commissioner
[G]They've got him in a [D]trance
One [A]hand is tied to the tightrope walker
[G] The other is in his [D]pants
And the [G]riot squad, they're restless
They [D]need somewhere to [G]go
As [D]lady and I look [A]out tonight from
[G] Desolation [D]Row
[Verse 2]
[D]Cinderella, she seems so easy
It [G]takes one to know one she [D]smiles
And [A]puts her hands in her back pocket
[G] Bette Davis style[D]
Then [D]in comes Romeo, he's moaning
You [G]belong to me I be[D]lieve
And [A]someone says you're in the wrong place my friend
[G] You'd better le[D]ave
And the [G]only sound that's left
[D]After the ambulances [G]go
Is [D]Cinderella [A]sweeping up on
[G] Desolation [D]Row
[Verse 3]
Now the [D]moon is almost hidden
The [G]stars are beginning to [D]hide
The [A]fortune telling lady
Has [G]even taken all her things in[D]side
All ex[D]cept for Cain and Abel
And the [G]Hunchback of Notre-[D]Dame
[A]Everybody is making love
Or [G]else expecting [D]rain
And the [G]Good Samaritan, he's dressing
He's gettin' [D]ready for the [G]show
He's [D]going to the [A]carnival tonight on
[G] Desolation [D]Row
[Verse 4]
O[D]phelia, she's 'neath the window
For [G]her I feel so a[D]fraid
On her[A] twenty-second birthday
She al[G]ready is an old [D]maid
To [D]her, death is quite romantic
She [G]wears an iron [D]vest
Her [A]profession's her religion
Her [G]sin is her lifeless[D]ness
And [G]though her eyes are fixed upon
[D]Noah's great rain[G]bow
She [D]spends her time [A]peeking into
[G]Desolation R[D]ow
[Verse 5]
[D]Einstein disguised as Robin Hood
With his [G]memories in a [D]trunk
[A]Passed this way an hour ago
With his [G]friend a jealous [D]monk
Ah he [D]looked so immaculately frightful
As he [G]bummed a cigar[D]ette
Then [A]went off sniffing drain pipes
And re[G]citing the alpha[D]bet
You [G]would not think to look at him
But he was [D]famous long a[G]go
For [D]playing the electric [A]violin on
[G]Desolation R[D]ow
[Verse 6]
Doctor [D]Filth, he keeps his world
I[G]nside of a leather [D]cup
But [A]all his sexless patients
They are [G]trying to blow it up[D]
Now his[D] nurse, some local loser
She's in [G]charge of the cyanide [D]hole
And she [A]also keeps the cards that read
Have [G]mercy on his [D]soul
[G]They all play on the penny whistle
[D]You can hear them [G]blow
If you [D]lean your head o[A]ut far enough from
[G] Desolation [D]Row
[Verse 7]
Across the[D] street they've nailed the curtains
They're gettin' [G]ready for the [D]feast
The [A]Phantom of the Opera
In a [G]perfect image of a [D]priest
They are [D]spoon feeding Casanova
To [G]get him to feel more as[D]sured
Then they'll [A]kill him with self-confidence
After p[G]oisoning him with word[D]s
And the [G]Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
Get [D]outta here if you don't [G]know
Casa[D]nova is just being [A]punished for going
[G]To Desolation [D]Row
[Verse 8]
At mid[D]night all the agents
And the [G]superhuman [D]crew
Come [A]out and round up everyone
That [G]knows more than they [D]do
[D]Then they bring them to the factory
Where the [G]heart attack ma[D]chine
Is [A]strapped across their shoulders
And [G]then the kero[D]sene
Is [G]brought down from the castles
By in[D]surance men who [G]go
Check to [D]see that nobody is es[A]caping to
[G]Desolation R[D]ow
[Verse 9]
Praise [D]be to Nero's Neptune
The Ti[G]tanic sails at [D]dawn
[A]Everybody is shouting
[G]Which side are you [D]on
And E[D]zra Pound and T.S. Eliot
[G]Fighting in the captain's[D] tower
While [A]calypso singers laugh at them
And [G]fishermen hold [D]flowers
Be[G]tween the windows of the sea
Where [D]lovely mermaids [G]flow
And [D]nobody has to [A]think too much about
[G] Desolation [D]Row
[Bridge]
[D](*n[G]o [D]lyr[A]ics[G] -[D] ha[D]rmo[G]ni[D]ca [A]sol[G]o [D]- o[G]pti[D]on[G]al*[D])[A] [G] [D]
[Verse 10]
Yes I [D]received your letter yesterday
About [G]the time the door knob [D]broke
When you [A]asked me how I was doing
Was [G]that some kind of [D]joke
All these [D]people that you mention
Yes I [G]know them, they're quite [D]lame
I had to [A]rearrange their faces
And give them [G]all another na[D]me
[G]Right now I can't read too good
Don't [D]send me no more letters, [G]no
[D]Not unless you [A]mail them from
[G]Desolation R[D]ow
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