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