(no subject)
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 tightrope 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
Oh, 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's 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 22nd 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 front, a jealous monk
He looks so immaculately frightful as he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes and reciting the alphabet
You would not think to look at him, but he was famous long ago
Oh, playing the electric violin on Desolation Row
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world inside of a leather cup
While all his sexless patients, they are trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser, she's in charge of the cyanide hold
And she also keeps the cards that read "have mercy on his soul"
They all play on the penny whistle, you can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough from Desolation Row
Across the street they nailed the curtains
They're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom Of The Opera, in the perfect image of our priest
They are spoonfeeding Casanova, to get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence after poisoning him with words
And the Phantom, shoving two skinny girls out of 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
And they bring them to the factory
Where the heart attack machine is strapped across their shoulders
And then then 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 ts eliot, fighting in the captains 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
Yes, I recieved your letter yesterday,
About the time the doorknob broke
When you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mentioned, yes I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces and give them all another name
Right now, I can't read too good, don't send me no more letters, no.
Not unless you mail them from Desolation Row
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 tightrope 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
Oh, 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's 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 22nd 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 front, a jealous monk
He looks so immaculately frightful as he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes and reciting the alphabet
You would not think to look at him, but he was famous long ago
Oh, playing the electric violin on Desolation Row
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world inside of a leather cup
While all his sexless patients, they are trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser, she's in charge of the cyanide hold
And she also keeps the cards that read "have mercy on his soul"
They all play on the penny whistle, you can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough from Desolation Row
Across the street they nailed the curtains
They're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom Of The Opera, in the perfect image of our priest
They are spoonfeeding Casanova, to get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence after poisoning him with words
And the Phantom, shoving two skinny girls out of 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
And they bring them to the factory
Where the heart attack machine is strapped across their shoulders
And then then 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 ts eliot, fighting in the captains 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
Yes, I recieved your letter yesterday,
About the time the doorknob broke
When you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mentioned, yes I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces and give them all another name
Right now, I can't read too good, don't send me no more letters, no.
Not unless you mail them from Desolation Row