Bob Dylan - Desolation Row guitar tab

Desolation Row

Bob Dylan

From "Highway 61 Revisited"

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Capo 4th Fret

Intro:

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They're selling[C] postcards[F] of the[C] hanging

They're[F] painting the passports[C] brown

The [G]beauty parlor is filled with sailors

[F]The circus is in[C] town

[C]Here comes the blind commissioner

They've[F] got him in a[C] trance

One[G] hand is tied to the tight-rope walker

[F]The other is in his[C] pants

And the[F] riot squad they're restless

They[C] need somewhere to[F] go

As[C] Lady and I look[G] out tonight

From[F] Desolation[C] Row

Cinde[C]rella,[F] she seems so[C] easy

"It[F] takes one to know one," she[C] smiles

And[G] puts her hands in her back pockets

[F]Bette Davis style[C]

And[C] in comes Romeo, he's moaning

"You Be[F]long to Me I Be[C]lieve"

And [G]someone says," You're in the wrong place, my friend

[F]You better[C] leave"

And the[F] only sound that's left

[C]After the ambulances[F] go

Is [C]Cinderella[G] sweeping up

On[F] Desolation[C] Row

Now the[C] moon is[F] almost[C] hidden

The[F] stars are beginning to[C] hide

The[G] fortunetelling lady

Has even[F] taken all her things in[C]side

All ex[C]cept for Cain and Abel

And the[F] hunchback of Notre[C] Dame

[G]Everybody is making love

Or[F] else expecting[C]rain

And the[F] Good Samaritan, he's dressing

He's getting[C] ready for the [F]show

He's[C] going to the[G] carnival tonight

On[F] Desolation[C] Row

Now O[C]phelia,[F] she's 'neath the[C] window

For[F]her I feel so af[C]raid

On her[G] twenty-second birthday

She al[C]ready is an old[F]maid

To[C] her, death is quite romantic

She[F] wears an iron[C] vest

Her pro[G]fession's her religion

Her[F] sin is her lifeless[C]ness

And [F]though her eyes are fixed upon

[C]Noah's great rain[F]bow

She[C] spends her time[G] peeking

Into[F] Desolation[C] Row

[C]Einstein,[F] disguised as[C] Robin Hood

With his[F] memories in a[C] trunk

[G]Passed this way an hour ago

With his[F] friend, a jealous[C] monk

He[C] looked so immaculately frightful

As he[F] bummed a cigar[C]ette

Then he[G] went off sniffing drainpipes

And re[F]citing the alpha[C]bet

Now[F] you would not think to look at him

But he was[C] famous long a[F]go

For[C] playing the electric[G] violin

On[F] Desolation[C] Row

Dr.[C] Filth,[F] he keeps his[C] world

In[F]side of a leather[C] cup

But[G] all his sexless patients

They're[F] trying to blow it[C] up

Now his[C] nurse, some local loser

She's in[F] charge of the cyanide[C] hole

And sh[G] also keeps the cards that read

"Have[F] Mercy on His[C] Soul"

[F]They all play on penny whistles

[C]You can hear them[F] blow

If you[C] lean your head out[G] far enough

From[F] Desolation[C] Row

Across the[C] street they've[F] nailed the[C] curtains

They're getting[F] ready for the[C] feast

The [G]Phantom of the Opera

A [F]perfect image of a[C]priest

They're[C] spoonfeeding Casanova

To[F] get him to feel more as[C]sured

Then they'll[G] kill him with self-confidence

After [F]poisoning him with[C] words

And the[F] Phantom's shouting to skinny girls

"Get[C] Outa Here If You Don't[F] Know

Casa[C]nova is just being[G] punished for going

To[F] Desolation[C] Row"

Now at[C] midnight[F] all the[C] agents

And the [F]superhuman[C] crew

Come[G] out and round up everyone

That[F] knows more than they[F] do

Then they[C] bring them to the factory

Where the[F] heart-attack mac[C]hine

Is[G] strapped across their shoulders

And[F] then the kero[C]sene

Is[F] brought down from the castles

By in[C]surance men who[F] go

Check to[C] see that nobody is es[G]caping

To[F] Desolation[C] Row

[C]Praise be to[F] Nero's[C] Neptune

The Ti[F]tanic sails at[C] dawn

And[G] everybody's shouting out

"[F]Which Side Are You[C] On?"

And[C] Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot

[F]Fighting in the captain'[C] tower

While cal[G]ypso singers laugh at them

And[F]fishermen hold[C] flowers

Be[F]tween the windows of the sea

Where[C] lovely mermaids[F] flow

And[C] nobody has to[G] think too much

About [F]Desolation[C] Row

Yes, I re[C]ceived your[F] letter [C]yesterday

About the[F] time the door knob[C] broke

When you[G] asked how I was doing

Was [F]that some kind of[C]joke?

All these[C] people that you mention

Yes, I[F] know them, they're quite[C] lame

I had to[G] rearrange their faces

And give them[F] all another[C]name

[F]Right now I can't read too good

Don't[C] send me no more letters[F] no

[C]Not unless you[G] mail them

From [F]Desolation[C]Row