Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble, Ancient footprints are everywhere. You can almost think that you're seein' double On a cold dark night on the Spanish Stairs.
Got to hurry on back to my hotel room, Where I've got me a date with Botticelli's niece. She promised that she'd be right there with me When I paint my masterpiece.
Oh, the hours I've spent inside the Coliseum, Dodging lions and wastin' time. Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see 'em, Yes, it sure has been a long hard climb.
Train wheels runnin' thru the back of my memory, When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese. Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody, When I paint my masterpiece.
Sailin' 'round the world in a dirty gondola, Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!
I left Rome and landed in Brussels, On a plane ride so bumpy that I almost cried. Clergymen in uniform and young girls pullin' muscles, Everyone was there to greet me when I stepped inside.
Newspapermen eating candy Had to be held down by big police. Someday, everything is gonna be diff'rent When I paint my masterpiece.
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.
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 Better leave" and the only sound that's left After the ambulances go is Cinderella sweeping up On Desolation Row
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 Everybody is 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
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 spend 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 friend, a jealous monk He looked so immaculately frightful as he bummed a cigarette As he went off sniffing drainpipes and reciting the alphabet Now you would not 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 But all his sexless patients they're trying to blow it up Now 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 whistles you can hear then blow If you lean your head out far enough From Desolation Row
THERE MUST BE SOME KIND OF WAY OUT OF HERE SAID THE JOKER TO THE THIEF THERE'S TOO MUCH CONFUSION I CAN'T GET NO RELIEF BUSINESSMAN THEY DRINK MY WINE PLOW MEN DIG MY EARTH NONE WILL LEVEL ON THE LINE NOBODY OF IT IS WORTH HEY HEY
NO REASON TO GET EXCITED THE THIEF HE KINDLY SPOKE THERE ARE MANY HERE AMONG US WHO FEEL THAT LIFE IS BUT A JOKE BUT UH BUT YOU AND I WE'VE BEEN THROUGH THAT AND THIS IS NOT OUR FATE SO LET US NOT TALK FALSELY NOW THE HOUR'S GETTING LATE HEY
HEY
ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER PRINCES KEPT THE VIEW WHILE ALL THE WOMEN CAME AND WENT BARE-FOOT SERVANTS TO, BUT HUH OUTSIDE IN THE COLD DISTANCE A WILD CAT DID GROWL TWO RIDERS WERE APPROACHIN' AND THE WIND BEGAN TO HOWL HEY OH ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER HEAR YOU SING AROUND THE WATCH GOTTA BEWARE GOTTA BEWARE I WILL YEAH OOH BABY ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER