Desolation Row (Bob Dylan)

Every Time Played

Date	Location	Set	Before	After	Gap
5/1/1995	Mill Valley, CA (Sweetwater Saloon)	SI	Maggie's Farm	The Winners	3
8/18/1995	Richmond, VA (Classic Amphitheatre)	*	Looks Like Rain	Good Morning Little Schoolgirl	6
10/13/1996	Sunrise, FL (Sunrise Musical Theater)	*	Blackbird	Tanqueray	58
11/9/1996	Eureka, CA (Municipal Auditorium)	*	Blackbird	I Know You Rider	6
12/6/1996	Bellingham, WA (Mt. Baker Theatre)	*	Blackbird	Juke	2
3/29/1997	Tempe, AZ (Hayden Square Amphitheatre)	*	K.C. Moan	Big Boss Man	12
10/22/1997	New Haven, CT (Palace Theatre)	*	Good Morning Little Schoolgirl	Victim or the Crime	47
10/31/1998	Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)	*	Friend of the Devil	Little Red Rooster	51
11/9/1998	Indianapolis, IN (Murat Centre Egyptian Room)	*	El Paso	West L.A. Fadeaway	6
11/14/1999	New Haven, CT (Palace Theatre)	*	K.C. Moan	Welcome to the World	37
5/5/2000	Atlanta, GA (Music Midtown)	*	Bass	Fever	19
5/30/2000	Orlando, FL (House of Blues)	*	Twilight Time	Bury Me Standing	6
6/20/2000	Dewey Beach, DE (Bottle and Cork)	*	Blackbird	Good Morning Little Schoolgirl	8
7/21/2000	Fort Collins, CO (Aggie Theatre)	*	Eternity	Lucky Enough	4
11/7/2000	Indianapolis, IN (Old National Centre)	*	Deep Elem Blues	Easy to Slip	15
4/3/2001	Tampa, FL (Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center)	SI	It's All Over Now	Black-Throated Wind	22
4/12/2001	Louisville, KY (Louisville Palace Theater)	SI	Little Red Rooster	Lucky Enough	6
4/21/2001	Boise, ID (Knitting Factory)	SI	Odessa	Minglewood Blues	6
10/2/2001	Providence, RI (Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel)	SI	Loose Lucy	Mission in the Rain	41
2/27/2002	Columbus, OH (LC Pavilion)	SI	Odessa	Josephine	16
3/12/2002	Winston-Salem, NC (Ziggy's)	SII	Fever	Weather Report Suite Prelude/P	10
3/24/2002	Omaha, NE (Ranch Bowl)	*	Eyes Jam	Matilda Mother	9
7/2/2002	Bilston, England (The Robin 2)	SII	The Winners	This Time Forever	28
9/16/2002	Bellvue, CO (Mishawaka Amphitheatre)	SII	Blackbird	This Time Forever	24
10/4/2002	Hartford, CT (Webster Theatre)	SII	—	I Need a Miracle	13
4/21/2003	Richmond, VA (Carpenter Center)	SII	K.C. Moan	Truckin	20
5/12/2003	Albuquerque, NM (Sunshine Theater)	SII	Bombs Away	Sitting in Limbo	15
10/12/2003	Atlanta, GA (Variety Playhouse)	SII	Blackbird	Lazy Lightning	13
10/22/2003	Hartford, CT (Webster Theatre)	SII	—	Artificial Flowers	7
11/17/2003	Columbia, MO (Blue Note)	SII	—	Bury Me Standing	18
3/16/2004	Boulder, CO (Boulder Theater)	SII	—	Even So	20
4/11/2005	Frederick, MD (Weinberg Center for the Arts)	SII	—	Corrina	32
4/27/2005	Washington, DC (9:30 Club)	SII	—	Mexicali Blues	12
11/1/2005	Cleveland, OH (House of Blues)	SII	—	Deep Elem Blues	30
11/10/2005	Jim Thorpe, PA (Penn's Peak)	SII	—	Looks Like Rain	6
12/4/2005	Phoenix, AZ (Celebrity Theatre)	SII	Peggy-O	Wrong Way Feelin'	11
3/28/2006	Poughkeepsie, NY (Mid-Hudson Civic Center)	SII	Twilight Time	Playin in the Band	22
6/30/2006	Magna, UT (The Great Salt Air)	*	Mission in the Rain	When I Paint My Masterpiece	14
7/11/2006	Philadelphia, PA (Electric Factory)	*	Jack-A-Roe	Good Morning Little Schoolgirl	8
8/21/2006	Ridgefield, CT (Ridgefield Playhouse)	SII	Blackbird	Bury Me Standing	6
10/26/2006	Columbus, OH (LC Pavilion)	SII	Me and My Uncle	Wrong Way Feelin'	9
2/13/2007	Anaheim, CA (The Grove of Anaheim)	SII	Mexicali Blues	Salt Lake City	21
3/4/2007	Greensburg, PA (Palace Theatre)	SII	Me and My Uncle	Silvio	7
3/15/2007	Springfield, MA (Hippodrome)	SII	Peggy-O	Cold Rain and Snow	7
6/14/2007	* New York, NY (Canal Room) *	*	Me and My Uncle	West L.A. Fadeaway	-
11/7/2007	Norfolk, VA (The NorVa)	SII	You Win Again	Bury Me Standing	45
3/25/2008	Covington, KY (Madison Theater)	SII	K.C. Moan	Mexicali Blues	12
4/9/2008	Baltimore, MD (Rams Head Live)	SII	City Girls	Shade of Grey	10
11/11/2008	Wilkes-Barre, PA (FM Kirby Center)	SII	Stealin	Wrong Way Feelin'	40
7/24/2009	Hampton Beach, NH (Casino Ballroom)	SII	Me and My Uncle	Estimated Prophet	25
10/19/2009	New York, NY (Grand Ballroom)	SII	Stealin	The Weight	17
1/23/2010	* Negril, Jamaica (Grand Lido Negril Resort & Spa) *	*	Sugaree	For What It's Worth	-
3/4/2014	Buffalo, NY (Shea's Buffalo Theater)	SII	—	On the Road Again	27

Lyrics

They're selling postcards of the hanging,
Painting the passports brown,
Beauty parlor is filled with sailors,
The circus is in town.
In walks 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.

Cinderella, she seems so easy,
"Takes one to know one," she smiles,
Puts her hands in her back pockets,
Bette Davis style.
And in walks Romeo, he's moaning,
"You belong to me I believe,"
And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend,
You better leave."
The only sound that you can hear,
After the ambulances go,
Is Cinderella sweeping up on,
Desolation Row.

Now the moon is almost hidden,
Stars are beginning to hide,
The fortune-telling lady,
Already taken all her things inside.
All except for Cain and Abel,
The hunchback of Notre Dame,
Everybody is making love,
Or else expecting rain.
The Good Samaritan, he's dressing,
He's getting ready for the show,
He's going down to the carnival tonight on,
Desolation Row.

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.
Though her gaze is fixed upon,
Noah's great rainbow,
She spends her time peeking into,
Desolation Row.

Now Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood,
With his memories in a trunk,
Passed this way an hour ago,
With his friend, a jealous monk.
Oh he looked so immaculately frightful,
As he bummed a cigarette,
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes,
And reciting the alphabet.
Now you wouldn't think to look at him,
But he was famous long ago,
For playing the electric violin on,
Desolation Row.

Dr. Filth, he keeps his world,
Inside of a leather cup,
All his sexless patients,
They're all trying to blow it up.
And his nurse, some local loser,
She's in charge of the cyanide hole,
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 on,
Desolation Row.

Across the street they've nailed the curtains,
They're getting ready for the feast,
The Phantom of the Opera,
A perfect image of a priest.
They're 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's shouting to skinny girls
"Get outta here if you don't know
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row"

Now at midnight all the agents,
And the superhuman crew,
Go and round up everyone,
That knows more than they do.
Take them to the factory,
Where the heart attack machine,
Is strapped across their shoulders,
And then the kerosene.
Brought down from the castles,
By insurance men who go,
Make sure nobody's escaping to,
Desolation Row.

Ah praise be to Nero's Neptune,
The Titanic sails at dawn,
And everybody's shouting,
"Which side are you on?"
Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot,
They're fighting in the captain's tower,
While calypso singers laugh at them,
And fishermen hold flowers.
Between the windows of the sea,
Where lovely mermaids flow,
And noone has to think too much about,
Desolation Row.

Yes, I received your letter yesterday,
About the time the door knob broke,
When you asked how I was doing,
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention,
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.

Guitar Tablature