| Bob Dylan – Desolation Row Lyrics | 12 years ago |
|
I remain a firm believer that this this song is discussing, in no uncertain terms, the Holocaust. Now, whether Dylan is using the Holocaust as an alagory toward a greater meaning, or a greater warning, I do not know. The language shows clear indicators towards some key moments in the Holocaust. Verse One: 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 The maccabre facination with public violence, the crowds are gathering . . . the blind commissioner Hindenberg idly sits in the back doing nothing . . . the riot squad is restless . .. they need someplace to go . . . Something bad is brewing, something in the people, in the population. A storm is coming as he leans out the window, you can smell it, feel it . . . Verse two: 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 You're in the wrong plcae, friend. Listen and see what happens to Romeo -- the star crossed lover who dares cross the social fabric to love a hated rival. Romeo is in desolation row, the Jewish neighborhood, and is reminded, kindly (My friend) to leave, you're in the wrong place. The conflagration hinted at in verse one happens, in an instant, in between the lines of verse two. Abulances haul off the wounded and dead from a destructive rampage -- remember the riot squad is restless, they need a place to go, and they are getting ready for the hanging, the sailors are in town . . . and then its all gone. Windows broke, and Cinderella -- the poor orphaned step-sister is right back where she always is, in her neighboorhood, cleaning up after another anti-Jewish show of force and violence. Also consider Cinderella as a metaphor for the jews in Europe -- a member of the family, but not REALLY a member of the family. Third Verse: 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 Consider Cain and Abel, the first murderer and the first innocent victim. Consider the Hunchback, an inncocent victim who saw unjust things, and for years did nothing. Consider the Good Samaritan -- the non-Jew who helped the jewish man on the road after being robbed. Its dark, dead dark of night. The only people who dare hit the street are either those looking for trouble, the innocent soon-to-be-victim, or the few who stick their necks out to help. Verse Four: 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 Ah, this is the Christian community, generally, in the form of a nun or otherwise religiously active soul. She is young, impressionable. Ophelia was a fool who mooned for Hamlet. This verse makes tremendous sense in the context of the dicsussion with Hamlet in the Nunnery Scene. And her eyes are fixed on Noah's Great rainbow -- a symbol of the promise of God to mankind that he will never again allow the world to be destroyed -- although she keeps her hopes facing the rainbow, she looks into desolation row, peeking, watching the horror and chaos of the persecution. In Hamlet, she gives mutes and cryptic reference to what is happening to the characters. Same thing here. Verse Five: 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 The intelligencia and those who have the ability are getting out. Einstein left Germany in teh face of harsh rising anti-jewish attacks. You wouldn't know it, looking at him now as a famous man, but long ago he was a just a simple Jew who lived in Desolation row. Verse Six: 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 pennywhistles You can hear them blow If you lean your head out far enough From Desolation Row I have read a few other comments about this being Dr. Mengele. I don't think that is exactly correct. I think this is not likely far off. They all play on pennywhistles, you can hear them blow. The marching, rythmic music, all in unison. You can hear them, just out side, if you lean out far enough from desolation row. The music, the marching, the bad doctor and his helpless nurse -- they are not in desloation row. They may be coming. But they are far off, in another part of the city. If you listen, though, you can hear them . . . . Verse Seven: 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” I always felt that based on my understanding of the song, this was the most literal verse. Kristallnacht. Verse Eight: 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 The round-ups of the super human crew. taken to a factory and murdered. Insurance men -- men who ensure nobody leaves the factory death camp and returns to desolation row. Zyklon B gas, dropped into the shower heads in death centers, was marked as kerosene for shipment during the Holocaust. I don't know that I can say more than Dylan says. As the song moves on, his point gets mroe clear and more horrible. As the holocaust marches onward, Dylan's own song decides there is little need for symbolism. And who can blame him? Verse Nine: 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 Now Dylan takes a step back. And this, in my opinion, is as harsh an indictment as he can offer against the world which turned its back. Here we see TS Elliot and Ezra Pound, being feted as they sail away from exploding Europe. Nobody has to think too much about Desolation Row now -- not at sea, heading back to the US or England. Safe and sound. Praise be to Nero's Neptune, praise be the God of the Sea that will keep that madness and messiness far away from us! We can run away, we are free and safe and sound behind our ocean's walls. I love the line about the people shouting what side are you on -- on the Titanic. It doesn't matter what side you're on -- the ship is sinking. Morally, they are doomed for not doing anything. They argue about what side of the issue they are on -- but in the end they are all doomed. Verse Ten: Yes, I received your letter yesterday (About the time the doorknob 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 Our author is just about finished. Having stayed in Desolation Row as long as possible, they are coming for him. The door is kicked in. The bad guys are coming. And unless you are here, in Desolation Row -- or eventually cross back over the ocean to fight these people -- don't bother trying to contact me. I shall not hold out hope until you have reached desolation row. When you asked how I was doing -- is that a joke? A spiteful response, and angry person, who has just relayed all of the horrors of the Holocaust and the respondant askes how he's doing. He has been altering passports, trying to get people out. Changing faces, changing appearances. I have tried to take care of your people you ask about . . . but right now the Hun is at the door, and I am (likely) doomed. come soon -- or don't come at all. That is my opinion of the song. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.