Bob Dylan - Desolation Row (Official Audio)
7,369,165
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 108 and still sing this at the care home
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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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I absolutely love this song. I think it's in my top two hundred Dylan songs.
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This is my favourite Dylan song apart from 95 others
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This song alone deserved the Nobel Prize.
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one of the greatest songs ever written. If you were wondering why he deserved the Noble prize, listen to this ballad.
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Bob is way past a musical genius he totally deserved the noble prize
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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 don't care what anyone says, Bob's voice is perfect.
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At this moment in time, Bob Dylan had the perfect voice for the songs he wrote. I wouldn’t want anyone else singing them
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Listening all day to playlist from YouTube and it could not be better while I wrap gifts and make candy. The saddest is that my husband died 8 years ago after 51 years of christmas together. Our Anniversary is Dec. 24, 1996 and we saw Bob Dylan in the summer of 1995 in Knoxville. He loved music and Bob Dylan is an important part of our celebrations. I miss my husband but I love having his music to keep me company. I am 79 so not too long and I can be with him again. Love you John.🙏❤️🎄
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I was a speech and drama teacher for years. My senior students, studying to become teachers in their own right, had to deliver 3 monologues from plays in their oral exams as well as 3 poems and sight reading from a novel. One time I took a chance with a brilliant student and gave her this song to recite (technically called 'speaking') as one of her poems. I was stretching the rules but to me, this represented such an incredible piece of poetic literature it was worth it. It wasn't easy as so much of the meaning is connected to the nuances of the music, the singing. She ended up with the highest marks of any student I ever coached and when I spoke to the examiner later she told me that the student's spoken rendition of Desolation Row was the most outstanding 'poetry' she had ever heard in many years as an examiner. As an examiner myself, I really wasn't surprised, but I was delighted and that girl went on to great things indeed. I love to think that Bob played a part in that, particularly because of this song which is a masterpiece of music and literature and I absolutely love it and could listen to it over and over and each time hear something new. Dylan is truly deserving of all the accolades, awards and admiration that he gets. We are so lucky to have him in our lives.
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You could get a Nobel Prize for Literature just for performing this piece alone.
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I'm 68 years old, this was the background music of my youth...the world seemed so much brighter then.
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The best song ever written with the best voice for it. The master himself.
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DYLAN POET, PROPHET, GENIUS, MASTERMIND......
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I'm 76 and I sing this to myself driving down the highway when my wife falls asleep and I'm alone. Love you Bob.
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No one else on the planet has ever written a song like this. He takes us all the way to the abyss and yet at the end you feel uplifted. Unbelievable!
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Bob Dylan is the best....
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My favorite Dylan song. Everything is perfect: oblique but intriguing lyrics; Bob's vocal delivery; the guitar of Charlie McCoy; the rhythm; the format of traditional story folk songs. It's a masterpiece.
