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Desolation Row by Bob Dylan - Guitar Chords

Version 1 Version 2 Version 3 Version 4 Version 6 Version 7 Version 8
            Chords by: Sliver24

"Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan

CAPO: II

[Intro]
D D D D


[Verse 1]
D
They're selling postcards of the hanging
        G                      D
They're painting the passports brown
    A
The beauty parlour is 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
    A
One hand is 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 somewhere to go
   D               A
As lady and I look out tonight from
G           D
 Desolation Row


[Verse 2]
D
Cinderella, she seems so easy
   G                         D
It takes one to know one she smiles
    A
And puts her hands in her back pocket
G                 D
 Bette Davis style
     D
Then in comes Romeo, he's moaning
    G                D
You belong to me I believe
    A
And someone says you're in the wrong place my friend
G               D
 You'd better leave
        G
And the only sound that's left
D                    G
After the ambulances go
   D          A
Is Cinderella sweeping up on
G           D
 Desolation Row


[Verse 3]
        D
Now the moon is almost hidden
    G                      D
The stars are beginning to hide
    A
The fortune telling lady
    G                           D
Has even taken all her things inside
      D
All except for Cain and Abel
        G                  D
And the Hunchback of Notre-Dame
A
Everybody 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            A
He's going to the carnival tonight on 
G           D
 Desolation Row


[Verse 4]
 D
Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
    G              D 
For her I feel so afraid
      A
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
    A
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               A
She spends her time peeking into
G           D
Desolation Row


[Verse 5]
D
Einstein disguised as Robin Hood
         G             D
With his memories in a trunk
A
Passed this way an hour ago
         G                D
With his friend a jealous monk
      D
Ah he looked so immaculately frightful
      G             D
As he bummed a cigarette
     A
Then went off sniffing drain pipes
      G               D
And reciting the alphabet
    G
You would not think to look at him
           D            G
But he was famous long ago
    D                    A
For playing the electric violin on
G           D
Desolation Row


[Verse 6]
       D
Doctor Filth, he keeps his world
 G                  D
Inside of a leather cup
    A
But all his sexless patients
         G                    D
They are trying to blow it up
       D
Now his nurse, some local loser
         G                     D
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
        A
And she also keeps the cards that read
     G            D
Have mercy on his soul
G
They all play on the penny whistle
D                 G
You can hear them blow
       D               A
If you lean your head out far enough from
G           D
 Desolation Row


[Verse 7]
          D
Across the street they've nailed the curtains
                G             D
They're gettin' ready for the feast
    A
The Phantom of the Opera
     G                  D
In a perfect image of a priest
         D
They are spoon feeding Casanova
   G                      D
To get him to feel more assured
             A
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
       G                     D
After poisoning him with words
        G
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
    D                       G
Get outta here if you don't know
    D                  A
Casanova is just being punished for going 
G             D
To Desolation Row


[Verse 8]
      D
At midnight all the agents
        G          D
And the superhuman crew
     A
Come out and 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 machine
   A
Is strapped across their shoulders
    G            D
And then the kerosene
   G
Is brought down from the castles
     D               G
By insurance men who go
         D                    A
Check to see that nobody is escaping to
G           D
Desolation Row


[Verse 9]
       D
Praise be to Nero's Neptune
      G              D
The Titanic sails at dawn
A
Everybody is shouting
G                  D
Which side are you on
     D
And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot
G                        D
Fighting in the captain's tower
      A
While calypso singers laugh at them
    G              D
And fishermen hold flowers
  G
Between the windows of the sea
      D               G
Where lovely mermaids flow
    D             A
And nobody has to think too much about
G           D
 Desolation Row

[Bridge]
D  G D  A  G D  D  G D  A  G D  G  D G  D A  G D
(*no lyrics - harmonica solo - optional*)

[Verse 10]
      D
Yes I received your letter yesterday
      G                      D
About the time the door knob broke
         A
When you asked me how I was doing
    G                 D
Was that some kind of joke
          D
All these people that you mention
      G                        D
Yes I know them, they're quite lame
         A
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              A
Not unless you mail them from
G           D
Desolation Row

/Sliver24
We also have 173 songs by Bob Dylan

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