"Desolation Row" Lyrics

They're selling postcards of the hanging
Well they're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Now here comes the blind commissioner
Well 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
"Well it takes one to know one" she smiles
And she puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And now in comes Romeo moaning
"You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says
"You're in the wrong place my friend, you better leave"
And the only sound that's left after the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row

Now midnight all the agents and superhuman crew
Go and round up everyone that knows more than they do
They gonna bring 'em to the factory where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders and then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles by insurance men who go
Check to see that no one is escaping
To Desolation Row

'Cuz right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no letters no
Not unless you gonna mail them
From Desolation Row