06_hwy61/desolation_row.htm

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   7 <title>Desolation Row</title>
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  12
  13 <h1 class="songtitle">Desolation Row</h1>
  14
  15
  16 <p>Words and music Bob Dylan<br />
  17 Released on <a href="index.htm" class="recordlink">Highway 61 Revisited</a>, in another studio verision on <a href="../44_bs7_ndh/index.htm" class="recordlink">No direction home</a> (2005), and in live versions on
  18 <a class="recordlink" href="../39_rah/index.htm">Live 1966</a> and <em><a class="recordlink" href="../37_unplugged/index.htm">Unplugged</a></em> (1995)<br />
  19 Tabbed by Eyolf &Oslash;strem</p>
  20
  21 <hr />
  22
  23 <h2 class="songversion">Album version</h2>
  24
  25 <p>Dropped C tuning (C-A-d-g-b-e')<br />
  26 Capo 4th fret (sounding key E major)</p>
  27
  28 <p>I think I've had more requests for the solo part of this song than for all other songs taken together. <a class="url" href="desolation_row_solo.htm">Here it is</a>.</p>
  29
  30 <p>Chords:</p>
  31 <pre class="chords">
  32 C     032010
  33 Csus4 033010
  34 F     003211 or 033211
  35 G     220001 or 220003
  36 </pre>
  37
  38 <p>Intro:</p>
  39 <pre class="chords">
  40     C           Csus4   C
  41     :   .   .   .        :
  42 ||--0---0-0-0---0000--||-0------
  43 ||*-1---1-1-1---1111-*||-1------
  44 ||--0---0-0-0---0000--||-0------
  45 ||--2---2-2-2---3333--||-2--etc
  46 ||*-3---3-3-3---3333-*||-3------
  47 ||--0---0-0-0---0000--||-0------
  48 </pre>
  49
  50 <pre class="verse">
  51                 C         F      C
  52 They're selling postcards of the hanging
  53         F                      C
  54 They're painting the passports brown
  55     G
  56 The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
  57 F                C
  58 The circus is in town
  59 C
  60 Here comes the blind commissioner
  61         F            C
  62 They've got him in a trance
  63             G
  64 One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
  65     F               C
  66 The other is in his pants
  67         F
  68 And the riot squad they're restless
  69      C                 F
  70 They need somewhere to go
  71    C               G
  72 As Lady and I look out tonight
  73      F          C
  74 From Desolation Row
  75
  76 Cinderella, she seems so easy
  77 &quot;It takes one to know one,&quot; she smiles
  78 And puts her hands in her back pockets
  79 Bette Davis style
  80 And in comes Romeo, he's moaning
  81 &quot;You Belong to Me I Believe&quot;
  82 And someone says,&quot; You're in the wrong place, my friend
  83 You better leave&quot;
  84 And the only sound that's left
  85 After the ambulances go
  86 Is Cinderella sweeping up
  87 On Desolation Row
  88
  89 Now the moon is almost hidden
  90 The stars are beginning to hide
  91 The fortunetelling lady
  92 Has even taken all her things inside
  93 All except for Cain and Abel
  94 And the hunchback of Notre Dame
  95 Everybody is making love
  96 Or else expecting rain
  97 And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing
  98 He's getting ready for the show
  99 He's going to the carnival tonight
 100 On Desolation Row
 101
 102 Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
 103 For her I feel so afraid
 104 On her twenty-second birthday
 105 She already is an old maid
 106 To her, death is quite romantic
 107 She wears an iron vest
 108 Her profession's her religion
 109 Her sin is her lifelessness
 110 And though her eyes are fixed upon
 111 Noah's great rainbow
 112 She spends her time peeking
 113 Into Desolation Row
 114
 115 Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
 116 With his memories in a trunk
 117 Passed this way an hour ago
 118 With his friend, a jealous monk
 119 He looked so immaculately frightful
 120 As he bummed a cigarette
 121 Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
 122 And reciting the alphabet
 123 Now you would not think to look at him
 124 But he was famous long ago
 125 For playing the electric violin
 126 On Desolation Row
 127
 128 Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
 129 Inside of a leather cup
 130 But all his sexless patients
 131 They're trying to blow it up
 132 Now his nurse, some local loser
 133 She's in charge of the cyanide hole
 134 And she also keeps the cards that read
 135 &quot;Have Mercy on His Soul&quot;
 136 They all play on penny whistles
 137 You can hear them blow
 138 If you lean your head out far enough
 139 From Desolation Row
 140
 141 Across the street they've nailed the curtains
 142 They're getting ready for the feast
 143 The Phantom of the Opera
 144 A perfect image of a priest
 145 They're spoonfeeding Casanova
 146 To get him to feel more assured
 147 Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
 148 After poisoning him with words
 149 And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
 150 &quot;Get Outa Here If You Don't Know
 151 Casanova is just being punished for going
 152 To Desolation Row&quot;
 153
 154 Now at midnight all the agents
 155 And the superhuman crew
 156 Come out and round up everyone
 157 That knows more than they do
 158 Then they bring them to the factory
 159 Where the heart-attack machine
 160 Is strapped across their shoulders
 161 And then the kerosene
 162 Is brought down from the castles
 163 By insurance men who go
 164 Check to see that nobody is escaping
 165 To Desolation Row
 166
 167 Praise be to Nero's Neptune
 168 The Titanic sails at dawn
 169 And everybody's shouting
 170 &quot;Which Side Are You On?&quot;
 171 And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
 172 Fighting in the captain's tower
 173 While calypso singers laugh at them
 174 And fishermen hold flowers
 175 Between the windows of the sea
 176 Where lovely mermaids flow
 177 And nobody has to think too much
 178 About Desolation Row
 179
 180 Yes, I received your letter yesterday
 181 (About the time the door knob broke)
 182 When you asked how I was doing
 183 Was that some kind of joke?
 184 All these people that you mention
 185 Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
 186 I had to rearrange their faces
 187 And give them all another name
 188 Right now I can't read too good
 189 Don't send me no more letters no
 190 Not unless you mail them
 191 From Desolation Row
 192 </pre>
 193
 194 <hr />
 195
 196 <h2 class="songversion"><em>No Direction Home</em> version </h2>
 197 <p>Basically the same as the Live 1966 version below, with some lyric changes &ndash; most notably in the Casanova verse, where the Phantom of the Opera is spoonfeeding him "the boiled guts of birds / then he'll torture him with self confidence / and poison him with words" &ndash; and with the distinctive descent d-c-b in the electric guitar (written here as if played by the acoustic guitar):</p>
 198 <pre class="tab">
 199   :   .   .   .
 200 |-2---2-2---------|
 201 |-3---3-3---------|
 202 |-2---2-2---------|  followed by D or A
 203 |-0---0-0---------|
 204 |-0---0-0-3---2---|
 205 |-0---0-0---------|</pre>
 206 <p>Strumming patterns:</p>
 207
 208 <pre class="tab">
 209   Intro:               Song:               Between verses:     or:
 210   :   .   .   .        :   .   .   .       :   .   .   .       :   .   .   .
 211 |-----2---2---0000-||--2---2-2-2---2-2-||--2---2-2-33-32---||--2---2-2-3--0---||
 212 |---x-3---3---3333-||--3---3-3-3---3-3-||--3---3-3-33-33---||--3---3-3-3--3---||
 213 |---x-h2--h2--0000-||--2---2-2-2---2-2-||--2---2-2-22-22---||--2---2-2-2--2---||
 214 |---x---------0000-||--0---0-0-0---0-0-||--0---0-0-0-------||--0---0-0-0--0---||
 215 |-------------3333-||--0---0-0-0---0-0-||--0---0-0-0-------||--0---0-0-0--0---||
 216 |-0----------------||--0---0-0-0---0-0-||--0---0-0-0-------||--0---0-0-0--0---||</pre>
 217 <hr />
 218 <h2 class="songversion">Live 1966 version</h2>
 219
 220 <p>Dropped D tuning (D-A-d-g-b-e')</p>
 221
 222 <p>Chords:</p>
 223 <pre class="chords">
 224 D    000232
 225 G    020033
 226 A    202220
 227 </pre>
 228 <pre class="tab">
 229   D           G     D
 230   :   .   .   .     :   .   .   .
 231 |-2---2---2--23-3-|-2-----
 232 |-3---3---3--33-3-|-3-----
 233 |-2---2---2--20-0-|-2--etc
 234 |-0---0---0--00-<span class="red">0</span>-|-0-----
 235 |-0---0---0--0<span class="red">2</span>-2-|-0-----
 236 |-0---0---0--00-0-|-0-----
 237 </pre>
 238 <pre class="verse">
 239                 D         G      D
 240 They're selling postcards of the hanging
 241         G                      D
 242 They're painting the passports brown
 243     A
 244 The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
 245 G                D
 246 The circus is in town
 247 D
 248 Here comes the blind commissioner
 249         G            D
 250 They've got him in a trance
 251             A
 252 One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
 253     G               D
 254 The other is in his pants
 255         G
 256 And the riot squad they're restless
 257      D                 G
 258 They need somewhere to go
 259    D               A
 260 As Lady and I look out tonight
 261      G          D
 262 From Desolation Row
 263 </pre>
 264
 265 <hr />
 266
 267 <h2 class="songversion"><a class="recordlink" href="../37_unplugged/index.htm">Unplugged</a> version</h2>
 268
 269 <p>The special thing about this version is the rhythm, with a 3-3-2
 270 division of the bar.</p>
 271 <pre class="verse">
 272                 D
 273 They're selling postcards of the hanging
 274         G                      D
 275 They're painting the passports brown
 276     A
 277 The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
 278 G                D
 279 The circus is in town
 280 D
 281 Here comes the blind commissioner
 282         G            D
 283 They've got him in a trance
 284             A
 285 One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
 286     G               D
 287 The other is in his pants
 288         G
 289 And the riot squad they're restless
 290      D                 G
 291 They need somewhere to go
 292    D               A
 293 As Lady and I look out tonight
 294      G          D
 295 From Desolation Row
 296 </pre>
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