Intro (x3): E Esus4

Verse 1:
E        Esus4  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

Here comes the blind commissioner
       A                   E
They've got him in a trance
        B
One hand is tied to the tightrope 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
    A           E  Esus4 E Esus4
From Desolation Row

Verse 2:
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

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'd better leave"
        A
And the only sound that's left
E                    A
After the ambulances go
  E           B
Is Cinderella sweeping up
  A           E  Esus4 E Esus4
On Desolation Row

Verse 3:
E Esus4        E
       Now the moon is almost hidden
    A                      E
The stars are beginning to hide
    B
The fortunetelling lady
     A                          E
Has even taken all her things inside

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

  A           E  Esus4 E Esus4
On Desolation Row

Verse 4:
E Esus4 E
       Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
   A                E
For her I feel so afraid
      B
On her twentysecond birthday
      A                   E
She already is an old maid

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
     A          E  Esus4 E Esus4
Into Desolation Row

Verse 5:
E Esus4   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

Now 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
You would not think to look at him
          E             A
But he was famous long ago
    E                    B
For playing the electric violin
   A          E  Esus4 E Esus4
On Desolation Row

Verse 6:
E
 Doctor Filth, he keeps his world
  A
Inside of a leather cup
E    B
 But all his sexless patients
        A
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 the pennywhistle
   E                  A
You can hear them blow
       E                 B
If you lean your head out far enough
    A           E  Esus4 E Esus4
From Desolation Row

Verse 7:
E  Esus4    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
In a perfect image of a priest

They are spoon feeding Casanova
       A                  E
To get him to feel more assured
             B
Then they'll kill him with selfconfidence
      A
After poisoning him with words
E        A
 And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
     E                         A
"Get outta here if you don't know
    E                    B
Casanova is just being punished for going

  A           E   Esus4 E Esus4
To Desolation Row"

Verse 8:
E Esus4      E
       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

Then they bring them to the factory
          A
Where the heart attack machine
E   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
   A          E  Esus4
To Desolation Row

Verse 9:
E Esus4       E
       Praise be to Nero's Neptune
      A              E
The Titanic sails at dawn
B
Everybody's shouting
A                       E
"Which side are you on?"
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
     A           E  Esus4
About Desolation Row

Solo:
   E Esus4 E A E
   B A E A
   E B A E
   A E A E
   B A E Esus4

Verse 10:
E Esus4       E
       Yes, I received your letter yesterday
     A                           E
About the time the doorknob broke
         B
When you asked me how I was doing
A                   E
Was that some kinda joke?

All these people that you mention
       A                            E
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
        B
I had to rearrange their faces
             A
And give them all another name
E     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
       A        E  Esus4
From Desolation Row

Outro:
   E Esus4 E Esus4 A E
   B A E A
   E B A E
   A E A E
   B A E