When played with my recording of this song it needs to have a capo on the second fret. 



D 
They're selling postcards of the hanging. 
         G                     D 
They're painting the passports brown. 
    A7 
The beauty parlour's filled with sailors. 
G                  D 
The circus is in town. 
D 
Here comes the blind commissioner. 
        G            D 
They've got him in a trance. 
    A7 
One hand's tied to the tightrope walker. 
G                    D 
The other is in his pants. 
        G 
And the riot squad they're restless 
     D                   G 
They need some where to go. 
   D               A7 
As lady and I look out tonight 
G              D 
On Desolation Row. 

D 
Cinderella she seem so easy. 
         G                     D 
It takes on to know one she smiles. 
    A7 
Then puts her hand in her back pocket, 
G             D 
Betty Davis style. 
D 
Then in comes Romeo he's moaning. 
        G            D 
You Belong to me I believe. 
    A7 
And someone says your in the wrong place my friend 
G            D 
You better leave. 
        G 
And the only sound that's left 
     D                G 
After the ambulances go. 
   D               A7 
Is Cinderella sweeping up 
G           D 
On Desolation Row. 

D 
Now the moon is almost hidden 
         G                D 
The stars are beginning to hide 
    A7 
The fortune telling lady 
G                                  D 
Has already taken all her things inside. 
D 
All except for Cane and Able 
        G            D 
And the Hunch Back of Notre Dame 
    A7 
Everyone is making love 
G               D 
Or else expecting rain 
        G 
And the good Samaritan he's dressing 
     D                       G 
He's gettin ready for the show. 
   D               A7 
He's going to the carnival 
G              D 
Tonight on Desolation Row. 

D 
Now Ophelia she's 'neath the window. 
      G             D 
For her I feel so afraid. 
    A7 
On her twenty-second birthday 
G                     D 
She already is an old maid. 
D 
To her death is quite romantic. 
     G            D 
She wears an iron vest. 
    A7 
Her profession's her religion, 
G                    D 
Her sin is her lifelessness. 
        G 
And though her eyes are fixed upon 
     D            G 
Noah's great rainbow 
   D               A7 
She spends her time peeking 
G              D 
Into Desolation Row. 

D 
Einstein disguised as Robin Hood 
         G             D 
With his memories in a trunk 
    A7 
Passed this way an hour ago 
G                          D 
With his friend a jealous monk. 
D 
He looked so frightful 
        G            D 
As he bummed a cigarette 
    A7 
Then went off sniffing drain pipes 
G                    D 
And reciting the alphabet. 
        G 
No you would not think to look at him 
     D                    G 
That he was famous long ago 
   D               A7 
For playing electric violin 
G           D 
On Desolation Row. 

D 
Doctor filth he keeps his word 
     G         D 
Inside a leather cup 
    A7 
But all his sexless patients 
G                    D 
Are trying to blow it up. 
D 
Now his nurse a local looser 
        G                   D 
She's in charge of the cyanide hole 
    A7 
And she also keeps the cards that read 
G                D 
Have mercy on his soul. 
        G 
They all play on penny whistles 
     D               G 
You can hear them blow 
   D                      A7 
If you lean your head out far enough 
G            D 
From Desolation Row 

D 
Across the street they've nailed the curtains 
         G                  D 
They're gettin ready for the feast 
    A7 
The phantom of the opera 
G                      D 
A perfect image of a priest 
D 
They're spoon feedin Casanova 
        G                D 
To get him to feel more assured 
    A7 
Then they'll killed him with self confidence 
G                    D 
After poisoning him with words 
        G 
And the phantom shouting to skinning girls 
     D                    G 
Get outta her don't you know 
   D               A7 
Casanova is just being punished 
G              D 
For going to Desolation Row. 

D 
Now at midnight all the agents 
     G             D 
And the superhuman crews 
    A7 
Round up everyone 
G                         D 
That knows more than they do. 
D 
Then they bring them to the factory 
        G                 D 
Where the heart attack machines 
    A7 
Is strapped across their shoulders 
G               D 
And then the kerosene 
        G 
Is brought down from the castles 
     D                  G 
By insurance men that go 
   D               A7 
Check to see that nobody is escaping 
G            D 
To Desolation Row 

D 
Praise be to Nero's Neptune 
    G               D 
The Titanic sails at dawn 
    A7 
And everybody shouting 
G                  D 
Which side are you on 
D 
And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot 
        G            D 
Fighting in the captains tower 
    A7 
While calypso signers laugh at them 
G                    D 
And fishermen hold flowers 
        G 
Between the windows of the sea 
     D                  G 
Where lovely mermaids flow 
   D               A7 
And nobody has to think too much 
G              D 
About Desolation Row 

D 
Yes I received your letter yesterday 
         G                   D 
About the time the door knob broke. 
    A7 
When you asked me how I was 
G                  D 
Was that some kind of joke. 
D 
All those people that you mention 
        G            D 
Yes I know them they're quite lame. 
    A7 
I had to rearrange their faces 
G                    D 
And give them all another name. 
        G 
Right now I can't read too good 
     D                         G 
Don't send me no more letters no. 
   D               A7 
Not unless you mail them from 
G          D 
Desolation Row.