Bob Dylan - Desolation Row (Official Audio)
7,501,475
Published 2019-03-11
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Lyrics:
They're selling postcards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors, the circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner, they've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker, the other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless, they need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight, from Desolation Row
Cinderella, she seems so easy, "It takes one to know one, " she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning. "You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend, you'd better leave"
And the only sound that's left after the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row
Now the moon is almost hidden, the stars are beginning to hide
The fortune telling lady has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel and the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing, he's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight on Desolation Row
Ophelia, she's 'neath the window for her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday she already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic she wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion, her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking into Desolation Row
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood with his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago with his friend, a jealous monk
Now he looked so immaculately frightful as he bummed a cigarette
And he when off sniffing drainpipes and reciting the alphabet
You would not think to look at him, but he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin on Desolation Row
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients, they're trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser, she's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read, "Have Mercy on His Soul"
They all play on the penny whistles, you can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough from Desolation Row
Across the street they've nailed the curtains, they're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera in a perfect image of a priest
They are spoon feeding Casanova to get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence after poisoning him with words
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls, "Get outta here if you don't know"
Casanova is just being punished for going to Desolation Row"
At midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone that knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders and then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles by insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping to Desolation Row
Praise be to Nero's Neptune, the Titanic sails at dawn
Everybody's shouting, "Which side are you on?!"
And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them and fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much about Desolation Row
...
#BobDylan #Folk #SingerSongwriter
All Comments (21)
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I’m 17 and this has to be one of the most profound works of art I have experienced in my few short years of living
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I’m 108 and still sing this at the care home
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I'm 70 and vouldn't agree more. Love Dylan👌👌
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I nominate Bob Dylan for best songwriter of the 20th century .
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Worthy of the Nobel prize.
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"Highway 61 Revisited" is really the best album of all time !
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What a song my friends
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How in the world can one man continually write such music? It's as though someone in the heavens is helping him. Shere brilliance.
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This is just one of many reasons why Bob Dylan is the voice of a generation.
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I wasn't born until 1981, but Dylan is the king!Blessed to have seen him in concert, but wish I couldve seen him in his younger days.
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This is one of his best. One of many great “songs”. So much more than a song.❤
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A timeless masterpiece, Bob is a lyrical genius.
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The best song ever written with the best voice for it. The master himself.
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This is my favourite Dylan song apart from 95 others
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The greatest people-watching song in history.
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lOve ya Dad music is another language and it s spoke to me my whole life xx Desalatin row.. Still listening to Bob ..
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Anyone who says Bob Dylan can't sing? Just listen to the way he pronounces every word in this song! To me it's the crisp way he attacks each word and nails it almost every time - that to me is singing on an other level! That's Dylan! Understanding the weight of a word in a line and making it the be all and end all! That commitment to a word/sound! That's real genius...
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I remember listening to this album over and over and over in my bedroom in 1966 when I 17 years old. I'm 70 now and I'm still listen ing. Thanks Bob. Richard in Dallas.
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Bob Dylan's brain is just wired up differently from the rest of us. I could not dream up these lyrics in a million years. Such a great song.
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I listened to this in 1966 when I was 16 i am now 72 and still listening brilliant
