Chris Smither

There is a way that subtle changes to stay
Barely noticed, hardly known
One day you´ll say my situation´s locked away
But by tomorrow you´re all alone
It seems so sudden, but it´s not, it´s only grown
From a scene that long ago was left
Forgotten in the snow
And has a way with slow surprises all its own

It´s hard to show, but like a boulder rollin´ slow
Or a rumble, deep in the ground
Things whisper low, and by the time I really know
What´s been movin´, they´ve settled down
Too late to see the way they´re shiftin´ round
Too late to say there´s bound to be another way
It´s all been said and done without a sound

This comes to me, and now that I begin to see
It´s not dramatic, it´s nothing grand
I used to be half of thje whole of you and me
Now I´m the limit of all I am

It seems so simple, nothin´ much to understand
You walked out and closed the door
Said I don´t live here anymore
And now nothin´s hangin´ heavy in my hands
Now nothin´s hangin´ heavy in my hands

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 fortunetelling 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 spends 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
Then 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 penny whistles
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From 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 Outa 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
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them 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 nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row

Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody's shouting
"Which Side Are You On?"
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
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 nobody 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

Let it fly and lonely cry, everybody's free

I will decide how I'll be tied, but freedom, be there for me

We'll build walls around our brain

Leave these prisons in our chains

And hold on

And I thought I had control, I tried

But now I would be satisfied

To hold on.

Tell me what to do, and I'll tell you what I'll say

My freedom will be measured by the length to which I'll disobey

Tell me where to go

And I'll freely tell you no

And I will hold on

But leave me on my own

And I'll lock these shackles to my bones

And I'll hold on.

Freedom for the soul is what we want, but when it fades

We'll treat it like a burden, till the devil feels he's underpaid

We'll drag that spirit door to door

Till finally it can't move no more

It just holds on

Now the only thing that's truly free

Is this little voice that's telling me

To hold on.

Oh, leaves were falling

They're just like embers

In colors red and gold they set us on fire

Burning just like moonbeams in our eyes

Someone said they saw me

They said I was swinging the world by the tail

Bouncing over the white clouds

That I was killing the blues

Just killing the blues

Well, I am guilty of something

That I hope you never do

'Cause nothing is sadder

Than losing yourself in love

Someone said they saw me

They said I was swinging the world by the tail

Bouncing over the white clouds

Just killing the blues

Just killing the blues

Oh, when you asked me

Just to leave you

And set out on my own to find what I needed

You asked me to find what I already had

Someone said they saw me

They said I was swinging the world by the tail

Bouncing over the white clouds

I was killing the blues

Just killing the blues

Someone said they saw me

They said I swinging the world by the tail

Bouncing over the white clouds

I was killing the blues

Been killing the blues

Just killing the blues