E Esus4 4x
E
They’re selling postcards of the hanging
A E
They’re painting the passports brown
B
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
A E
The circus is in town
E
Here comes the blind commissioner
A E
They’ve got him in a trance
B
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
A E
The other is in his pants
A
And the riot squad they’re restless
E A
They need somewhere to go
E B
As Lady and I look out tonight from
A E
Desolation Row
E Esus4 2x
E
Cinderella, she seems so easy
A E
“It takes one to know one,” she smiles
B
And puts her hands in her back pockets
A E
Bette Davis style
E
And in comes Romeo, he’s moaning
A E
“You Belong to Me I Believe”
B
And someone says, “You’re in the wrong place my friend
A E
You better leave”
A
And the only sound that’s left
E A
After the ambulances go
E B
Is Cinderella sweeping up on
A E
Desolation Row
E Esus4 2x
E
Now the moon is almost hidden
A E
The stars are beginning to hide
B
The fortune-telling lady
A E
Has even taken all her things inside
E
All except for Cain and Abel
A E
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
B
Everybody is making love
A E
Or else expecting rain
A
And the Good Samaritan, he’s dressing
E A
He’s getting ready for the show
E B
He’s going to the carnival tonight on
A E
Desolation Row
E Esus4 2x
E
Now Ophelia, she’s ’neath the window
A E
For her I feel so afraid
B
On her twenty-second birthday
A E
She already is an old maid
E
To her, death is quite romantic
A E
She wears an iron vest
B
Her profession’s her religion
A E
Her sin is her lifelessness
A
And though her eyes are fixed upon
E A
Noah’s great rainbow
E B
She spends her time peeking into
A E
Desolation Row
E Esus4 2x
E
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
A E
With his memories in a trunk
B
Passed this way an hour ago
A E
With his friend, a jealous monk
E
He looked so immaculately frightful
A E
As he bummed a cigarette
B
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
A E
And reciting the alphabet
A
Now you would not think to look at him
E A
But he was famous long ago
E B
For playing the electric violin on
A E
Desolation Row
E Esus4 2x
E
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
A E
Inside of a leather cup
B
But all his sexless patients
A E
They’re trying to blow it up
E
Now his nurse, some local loser
A E
She’s in charge of the cyanide hole
B
And she also keeps the cards that read
A E
“Have Mercy on His Soul”
A
They all play on pennywhistles
E A
You can hear them blow
E B
If you lean your head out far enough from
A E
Desolation Row
E Esus4 2x
E
Across the street they’ve nailed the curtains
A E
They’re getting ready for the feast
B
The Phantom of the Opera
A E
A perfect image of a priest
E
They’re spoon feeding Casanova
A E
To get him to feel more assured
B
Then they’ll kill him with self-confidence
A E
After poisoning him with words
A
And the Phantom’s shouting to skinny girls
E A
“Get Outa Here If You Don’t Know
E B
Casanova is just being punished for going to
A E
Desolation Row”
E Esus4 2x
E
Now at midnight all the agents
A E
And the superhuman crew
B
Come out and round up everyone
A E
That knows more than they do
E
Then they bring them to the factory
A E
Where the heart-attack machine
B
Is strapped across their shoulders
A E
And then the kerosene
A
Is brought down from the castles
E A
By insurance men who go
E B
Check to see that nobody is escaping to
A E
Desolation Row
E Esus4
E
Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
A E
The Titanic sails at dawn
B
And everybody’s shouting
A E
“Which Side Are You On?”
E
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
A E
Fighting in the captain’s tower
B
While calypso singers laugh at them
A E
And fishermen hold flowers
A
Between the windows of the sea
E A
Where lovely mermaids flow
E B
And nobody has to think too much about
A E
Desolation Row
E Esus4
E E A E B B A E
E E A E B B A E
A A E A E B A E
E
Yes, I received your letter yesterday
A E
(About the time the doorknob broke)
B
When you asked how I was doing
A E
Was that some kind of joke?
E
All these people that you mention
A E
Yes, I know them, they’re quite lame
B
I had to rearrange their faces
A E
And give them all another name
A
Right now I can’t read too good
E A
Don’t send me no more letters, no
E B
Not unless you mail them from
A E
Desolation Row
E Esus4
E E A E B B A E
E E A E B B A E
A A E A E B A E