Bob Dylan – Desolation Row (Ukulele)

        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

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

        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

     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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.