Desolation Row Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Intro 1]
[D][D][D][D]

[Verse 1]
They're [D]selling postcards of the hanging,
[G]they're painting the passports [D]brown
The [A]beauty parlor is filled with sailors,
[G]the circus is in tow[D]n
[D]Here comes the blind commissioner,
[G]they've got him in a [D]trance
One [A]hand is tied to the tight-rope walker,
[G]the other is in his pan[D]ts
And the [G]riot squad they're restless,
[D]they need somewhere to [G]go
[D]As Lady and I look [A]out tonight, from
[G]Desolation Row[D]

[Verse 2]
Cinde[D]rella, she seems so easy,
[G]"It takes one to know one," she [D]smiles
And [A]puts her hands in her back pockets
[G]Bette Davis sty[D]le
And [D]in comes Romeo, he's moaning.
"You be[G]long to Me I be[D]lieve"
And [A]someone says,
"You're in the wrong place, my friend,
[G]you'd better lea[D]ve"
And the [G]only sound that's left
[D]after the ambulances [G]go
[D]Is Cinderella [A]sweeping up on
[G]Desolation Row[D]

[Verse 3]
Now the [D]moon is almost hidden,
[G]the stars are beginning to [D]hide
The [A]fortune telling lady
has e[G]ven taken all her things in[D]side
All [D]ex 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 getting [D]ready for the [G]show
He's [D]going to the [A]carnival tonight on
[G]Desolation Row[D]

[Verse 4]
O[D]phelia, she's 'neath the window
[G]for her I feel so [D]a fraid
On [A]her 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 pro[A]fession'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
[D]She spends her time [A]peeking into
[G]Desolation [D]Row

[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
Now he [D]looked so immaculately frightful
as [G]he bummed a ciga[D]rette
And he [A]went off sniffing drainpipes
and re[G]citing the alpha[D]bet
You [G]would not think to look at him,
but he [D]was famous long a[G]go
For [D]playing the electric [A]violin on
[G]Desolation [D]Row

[Verse 6]
Dr. [D]Filth, he keeps his world
[G]in side of a leather [D]cup
But [A]all his sexless patients,
they're [G]trying to blow it [D]up
Now [D]his nurse, some local loser,
she's [G]in 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 whistles,
[D]you can hear them [G]blow
If you [D]lean your head [A]out far enough from
[G]Desolation Row[D]

[Verse 7]
Across [D]the street they've nailed the curtains,
they're get[G]ting ready for the [D]feast
The [A]Phantom of the Opera
in a per[G]fect image of a [D]priest
They [D]are spoon feeding Casanova
to [G]get him to feel more as[D]sured
Then [A]they'll kill him with self-confidence
after [G]poisoning him with [D]words
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 pun[A]ished for going to
[G]Desolation Row[D]

[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
Then [D]they bring them to the factory
where the [G]heart-attack ma[D]chine
Is [A]strapped across their shoulders
and then [G]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 [A]escaping to
[G]Desolation [D]Row

[Verse 9]
[D]Praise be to Nero's Neptune,
the [G]Ti tanic sails at [D]dawn
[A]Everybody's shouting,
[G]"Which side are you [D]on?!"
And [D]Ez ra Pound and T.S. Eliot
[G]fighting in the captain's [D]tower
[A]While calypso singers laugh at them
[G]and fishermen hold [D]flowers
[G]Be tween the windows of the sea
where [D]lovely mermaids [G]flow
And [D]nobody has to [A]think too much about
[G]Desolation Row[D]

[Solo 1]
[D][D][G][D]
[A][A][G][D]
[D][D][G][D]
[A][A][G][D]
[G][G][D][G]
[D][A][G][D][D]

[Verse 10]
Yes, I [D]received your letter yesterday,
about [G]the time the doorknob [D]broke
When you [A]asked me how I was doing,
[G]was that some kind of [D]joke
All [D]these people that you mention,
yes, I [G]know them, they're quite [D]lame
I had [A]to rearrange their faces
and give [G]them all another [D]name
[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 [D]Row

[Solo 2]
[D][D][G][D]
[A][A][G][D]
[D][D][G][D]
[A][A][G][D]
[G][G][D][G]
[D][A][G][D]