Desolation Row

They're selling postcards of the hanging Well, they're painting the passports brown Yeah, the beauty parlor's filled with sailors The circus is in town Oh no, but here comes the blind commissioner Well, they've got him in a trance One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker The other's 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 Oh, 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 Now, but here comes Romeo, moaning You belong to me, I believe And someone says You're in the wrong place, my friend You better leave And then the only sound that's left After the ambulances go Is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row Yeah, at midnight all the agents And superhuman crew Go out and round up everyone That knows more than they do They're gonna 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 no one is escaping to Desolation Row 'Cause right now I can't read too good Don't send me no letters, no Not unless you gotta mail them from Desolation Row