End

[Verse 1] 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 [Verse 2] Cinderella, she seems so easy “It takes one to know one,” she smiles Puts her hands in her back pockets Bette Davis style In comes Romeo, he’s moaning “You Belong to Me I Believe” Someone turns and says, “You’re in the wrong room, my friend You better leave” And the only sound that’s left After the ambulances go Is Cinderella sweeping up On Desolation Row [Verse 3] 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 Everyone is either 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 [Verse 4] Now 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