[ti:Desolation Row] [ar:Bob Dylan] [al:Highway 61 Revisited] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]Desolation Row - Bob Dylan [00:11.08]They're selling postcards of the hanging [00:14.83]They're painting the passports brown [00:17.02]The beauty parlor is filled with sailors [00:24.46]The circus is in town [00:28.71]Here comes the blind commissioner [00:32.96]They've got him in a trance [00:37.15]One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker [00:42.46]The other is in his pants [00:46.21]And the riot squad they're restless [00:50.90]They need somewhere to go [00:55.45]As Lady and I look out tonight [00:59.59]From Desolation Row [01:08.65]Cinderella she seems so easy [01:13.46]"It takes one to know one " she smiles [01:18.02]And puts her hands in her back pockets [01:23.27]Bette Davis style [01:26.95]And in comes Romeo he's moaning [01:31.14]"You Belong to Me I Believe" [01:35.65]And someone says " You're in the wrong place my friend [01:41.21]You better leave" [01:44.58]And the only sound that's left [01:49.58]After the ambulances go [01:53.83]Is Cinderella sweeping up [01:58.08]On Desolation Row [02:07.15]Now the moon is almost hidden [02:11.83]The stars are beginning to hide [02:16.08]The fortunetelling lady [02:20.32]Has even taken all her things inside [02:24.83]All except for Cain and Abel [02:29.08]And the hunchback of Notre Dame [02:35.08]Everybody is making love [02:37.39]Or else expecting rain [02:40.58]And the Good Samaritan he's dressing [02:41.21]He's getting ready for the show [02:41.46]He's going to the carnival tonight [02:41.64]On Desolation Row [02:41.76]Now Ophelia she's 'neath the window [02:41.95]For her I feel so afraid [02:42.14]On her twenty-second birthday [02:42.27]She already is an old maid [02:42.45]To her death is quite romantic [02:42.63]She wears an iron vest [02:42.83]Her profession's her religion [02:42.96]Her sin is her lifelessness [02:43.14]And though her eyes are fixed upon [02:43.33]Noah's great rainbow [02:43.46]She spends her time peeking [02:43.64]Into Desolation Row [02:43.70]Einstein disguised as Robin Hood [02:43.89]With his memories in a trunk [02:44.08]Passed this way an hour ago [02:44.27]With his friend a jealous monk [02:44.46]He looked so immaculately frightful [02:44.64]As he bummed a cigarette [02:44.83]Then he went off sniffing drainpipes [02:45.02]And reciting the alphabet [02:45.14]Now you would not think to look at him [02:45.45]But he was famous long ago [02:45.64]For playing the electric violin [02:45.83]On Desolation Row [02:45.89]Dr Filth he keeps his world [02:46.14]Inside of a leather cup [02:46.27]But all his sexless patients [02:46.46]They're trying to blow it up [02:46.64]Now his nurse some local loser [02:46.83]She's in charge of the cyanide hose [02:47.08]And she also keeps the cards that read [02:47.33]"Have Mercy on His Soul" [02:47.52]They all play on penny whistles [02:47.70]You can hear them blow [02:47.89]If you lean your head out far enough [02:48.14]From Desolation Row [02:48.27]Across the street they've nailed the curtains [02:48.46]They're getting ready for the feast [02:48.64]The Phantom of the Opera [02:48.83]A perfect image of a priest [02:49.02]They're spoonfeeding Casanova [02:49.14]To get him to feel more assured [02:49.39]Then they'll kill him with self-confidence [02:49.58]After poisoning him with words [02:49.70]And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls [02:49.96]"Get Outa Here If You Don't Know [02:50.21]Casanova is just being punished for going [02:50.45]To Desolation Row" [02:50.51]Now at midnight all the agents [02:50.70]And the superhuman crew [02:50.89]Come out and round up everyone [02:51.08]That knows more than they do [02:51.26]Then they bring them to the factory [02:51.52]Where the heart-attack machine [02:51.64]Is strapped across their shoulders [02:51.82]And then the kerosene [02:51.96]Is brought down from the castles [02:52.14]By insurance men who go [02:52.26]Check to see that nobody is escaping [02:52.52]To Desolation Row [02:52.64]Praise be to Nero's Neptune [02:52.77]The Titanic sails at dawn [02:52.96]And everybody's shouting [02:53.08]"Which Side Are You On " [02:53.21]And Ezra Pound and T S Eliot [02:53.46]Fighting in the captain's tower [02:53.64]While calypso singers laugh at them [02:53.83]And fishermen hold flowers [02:53.96]Between the windows of the sea [02:54.14]Where lovely mermaids flow [02:54.27]And nobody has to think too much [02:54.52]About Desolation Row [02:54.64]Yes I received your letter yesterday [02:54.83](About the time the door knob broke) [02:55.02]When you asked how I was doing [02:55.27]Was that some kind of joke [02:55.46]All these people that you mention [02:55.71]Yes I know them they're quite lame [02:55.89]I had to rearrange their faces [02:56.14]And give them all another name [02:56.33]Right now I can't read too good [02:56.52]Don't send me no more letters no [02:56.77]Not unless you mail them [02:56.96]From Desolation Row