Key: E major
Intro 1
F#
F#
F#
F#
Verse 1
F#
They're selling postcards of the hanging,
B
F#
they're painting the passports brown
C#
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors,
B
F#
the circus is in town
F#
Here comes the blind commissioner,
B
F#
they've got him in a trance
C#
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker,
B
F#
the other is in his pants
B
And the riot squad they're restless,
F#
B
they need somewhere to go
F#
C#
As Lady and I look out tonight, from
B
F#
Desolation Row
Verse 2
F#
Cinderella, she seems so easy,
B
F#
"It takes one to know one," she smiles
C#
And puts her hands in her back pockets
B
F#
Bette Davis style
F#
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning.
B
F#
"You belong to Me I believe"
C#
And someone says,
"You're in the wrong place, my friend,
B
F#
you'd better leave"
B
And the only sound that's left
F#
B
after the ambulances go
F#
C#
Is Cinderella sweeping up on
B
F#
Desolation Row
Verse 3
F#
Now the moon is almost hidden,
B
F#
the stars are beginning to hide
C#
The fortune telling lady
B
F#
has even taken all her things inside
F#
All ex cept for Cain and Abel
B
F#
and the hunchback of Notre Dame
C#
Everybody is making love
B
F#
or else expecting rain
B
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing,
F#
B
he's getting ready for the show
F#
C#
He's going to the car nival tonight on
B
F#
Desolation Row
Verse 4
F#
Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
B
F#
for her I feel so a fraid
C#
On her twenty-second birthday
B
F#
she already is an old maid
F#
To her, death is quite romantic
B
F#
she wears an iron vest
C#
Her profession's her religion,
B
F#
her sin is her lifelessness
B
And though her eyes are fixed
F#
B
upon Noah's great rainbow
F#
C#
She spends her time peeking into
B
F#
Desolation Row
Verse 5
F#
Ein stein, disguised as Robin Hood
B
F#
with his memories in a trunk
C#
Passed this way an hour ago
B
F#
with his friend, a jealous monk
F#
Now he looked so immaculately frightful
B
F#
as he bummed a cigarette
C#
And he went off sniffing drainpipes
B
F#
and reciting the alphabet
B
You would not think to look at him,
F#
B
but he was famous long ago
F#
C#
For playing the electric violin on
B
F#
Desolation Row
Verse 6
F#
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
B
F#
in side of a leather cup
C#
But all his sexless patients,
B
F#
they're trying to blow it up
F#
Now his nurse, some local loser,
B
F#
she's in charge of the cyanide hole
C#
And she also keeps the cards that read,
B
F#
"Have Mercy on His Soul"
B
They all play on the penny whistles,
F#
B
you can hear them blow
F#
C#
If you lean your head out far enough from
B
F#
Desolation Row
Verse 7
F#
Across the street they've nailed the curtains,
B
F#
they're getting ready for the feast
C#
The Phantom of the Opera
B
F#
in a perfect image of a priest
F#
They are spoon feeding Casanova
B
F#
to get him to feel more assured
C#
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
B
F#
after poisoning him with words
B
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls,
F#
B
"Get outta here if you don't know"
F#
C#
Casanova is just being punished for going to
B
F#
Desolation Row
Verse 8
F#
At midnight all the agents
B
F#
and the superhuman crew
C#
Come out and round up everyone
B
F#
that knows more than they do
F#
Then they bring them to the factory
B
F#
where the heart-attack machine
C#
Is strapped across their shoulders
B
F#
and then the kerosene
B
Is brought down from the castles
F#
B
by insurance men who go
F#
C#
Check to see that nobody is escaping to
B
F#
Desolation Row
Verse 9
F#
Praise be to Nero's Neptune,
B
F#
the Ti tanic sails at dawn
C#
Everybody's shouting,
B
F#
"Which side are you on?!"
F#
And Ez ra Pound and T.S. Eliot
B
F#
fighting in the captain's tow er
C#
While calypso singers laugh at them
B
F#
and fishermen hold flowers
B
Be tween the windows of the sea
F#
B
where lovely mermaids flow
F#
C#
And nobody has to think too much about
B
F#
Desolation Row
Solo 1
F#
F#
B
F#
C#
C#
B
F#
F#
F#
B
F#
C#
C#
B
F#
B
B
F#
B
F#
C#
B
F#
F#
Verse 10
F#
Yes, I received your letter yesterday,
B
F#
about the time the doorknob broke
C#
When you asked me how I was doing,
B
F#
was that some kind of joke
F#
All these people that you mention,
B
F#
yes, I know them, they're quite lame
C#
I had to rearrange their faces
B
F#
and give them all another name
B
Right now, I can't read too good,
F#
B
don't send me no more letters no
F#
C#
Not unless you mail them from
B
F#
Desolation Row
Solo 2
F#
F#
B
F#
C#
C#
B
F#
F#
F#
B
F#
C#
C#
B
F#
B
B
F#
B
F#
C#
B
F#
How did you like the song?
4.9 (9)
TunerE A D G B E
ChordsF# B C#
More songs by Bob Dylan
Discover chords for more songs to play
4.8
Popular chords globally
Most played chords & tabs across all users