Bob Dylan - Desolation Row Ukulele

[Intro]

C C C Csus4 C 2x

[Verse]

        C
They're selling postcards of the hanging,
        F                      C
they're painting the passports brown;
    G7
the beauty parlour is filled with sailors,
    F            C
the circus is in town
C     
Here comes the blind commissioner,
        F            C
they've got him in a trance;
G7
one hand is tied to the tight-rope walker,
    F               C
the other is in his pants
        F
And the riot squad they're restless,
     C                 F
they need somewhere to go;
   C               G7
as lady and I look out tonight,
     F          C   C Csus4 C 3x
from Desolation Row


[Verse 2]
C
Cinderella, she seems so easy,
    F                           C
"it takes one to know one," she smiles;
    G7
and puts her hands in her back pockets,
F           C
Bette Davis style
C    
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning,
       F              C
"you belong to me I believe";
    G7
and someone says," you're in the wrong place, my friend,
F          C
you better leave"
        F
And the only sound that's left,
C                    F
after the ambulances go;
   C          G7
is Cinderella sweeping up,
   F          C   C Csus4 C 3x
on Desolation Row


[Verse 3]
        C
Now the moon is almost hidden,
    F                      C
the stars are beginning to hide;
    G7
the fortune telling lady,
    F                           C
has even taken all her things inside
C      
All except for Cain and Abel,
        F                  C
and the hunchback of Notre Dame;
G7
everybody is making love,
   F              C
or else expecting rain
        F
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing,
             C             F
he's getting ready for the show;
     C            G7
he's going to the carnival tonight,
   F          C  C Csus4 C 3x
on Desolation Row


[Verse 4]
     C
Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window,
    F              C
for her I feel so afraid;
       G7
on her twenty-second birthday,
      F               C
she already is an old maid
C
To her, death is quite romantic,
    F             C
she wears an iron vest;
       G7
her profession's her religion,
    F                  C
her sin is her lifelessness
    F                   
And though her eyes are fixed upon,
C                F
Noah's great rainbow;
    C               G7
she spends her time peeking,
     F          C   C Csus4 C 3x
into Desolation Row


[Verse 5]
C
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
         F             C
With his memories in a trunk
G7
Passed this way an hour ago
         F                 C
With his friend, a jealous monk
C
He looked so immaculately frightful
      F        C
As he bummed a cigarette
        G7
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
    F                 C
And reciting the alphabet
    F
You would not think to look at him
           C           F
But he was famous long ago
    C                    G7
For playing the electric violin
     F          C   C Csus4 C 3x
On Desolation Row.


[Verse 6]
C
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
F                   C
Inside of a leather cup
G7
But all his sexless patients
F                         C
They're trying to blow it up
C
Now his nurse, some local loser
         F                     C
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
    G7
And she also keeps the cards that read
F                  C
"Have Mercy on His Soul"
F
They all play on penny whistles
C                 F
You can hear them blow
C                         G7
If you lean your head out far enough
     F          C   C Csus4 C 3x
From Desolation Row.


[Verse 7]
C
Across the street they've nailed the curtains
F                             C 
They're getting ready for the feast
G7
The Phantom of the Opera
             F          C
In a perfect image of a priest
C
They're spoonfeeding Casanova
F                       C
To get him to feel more assured
             G7
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
F                        C
After poisoning him with words
F
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
C                           F
"Get outa here if you don't know"
C                      G7
Casanova is just being punished for going
     F          C   C Csus4 C 3x
To Desolation Row.


[Verse 8]
C
At midnight all the agents
F                  C
And the superhuman crew
G7
Come out and round up everyone
F                         C
That knows more than they do
C
Then they bring them to the factory
          F            C
Where the heart-attack machine
   G7
Is strapped across their shoulders
F                C
And then the kerosene
F
Is brought down from the castles
   C                 F
By insurance men who go
C                           G7
Check to see that nobody is escaping
     F          C   C Csus4 C 3x
To Desolation Row.


[Verse 9]
C
They be to Nero's Neptune
F                    C
The Titanic sails at dawn
G7
Everybody's shouting
F                   C
"Which side are you on?"
C
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
F                         C
Fighting in the captain's tower
      G7
While calypso singers laugh at them
    F              C
And fishermen hold flowers
F
Between the windows of the sea
      C               F
Where lovely mermaids flow
    C             G7
And nobody has to think too much
     F          C   C Csus4 C 3x
About Desolation Row.


[Verse 10]
C
Yes, I received your letter yesterday
          F                  C
About the time the door knob broke
         G7
When you asked me how I was doing
    F                 C
Was that some kind of joke?
C
All these people that you mention
F                               C
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
         G7
I had to rearrange their faces
    F                     C
And give them all another name
F
Right now I can't read too good
      C                       F
Don't send me no more letters no
C              G7
Not unless you mail them
     F          C   C Csus4 C 3x
From Desolation Row.