Desolation Row

[hichamochka]

Hello guys!

I am very glad to introduce you a song (or should I say a poem) which has so many literary allusions. The song's name is Desolation Row and the singer is the phenomenal Bob Dylan. You guys have a task to do! Try to decipher what Bob is talking about in the song. I am attaching the lyrics and the song with the hope that it will please you all!

Download the song from here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/22483195/9d7e17e9/185_-_Bob_Dylan_-_Desolation_Row.html


Desolation Row

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

[hearty00]

i am downloading it rightnow i will listen and tell you my view on it inshallah .

[hichamochka]

Thanks hearty00 for your interest. I appreciate it much! I hope the toughness of the poem won't let you give up and lose interest. I think it's important to have a notion about the literary allusions, which are made use of, in order to grasp the thing Dylan wants to convey. Up till now I haven't constructed a clear-cut image of it. I bet this will take some time, but anyway let's see what you've got to say.
Cheers!

[hichamochka]

Hi I found this on the web and thought I'd share it with you. I think it's a good and comprehensive essay


it should be obvious to people that "Desolation Row" is clearly a good place to be, and, my own personal opinion is that it is a metaphorical refuge for people, who for whatever reason disagree with the social norm, and wish to escape from this life.

Dylan sets the scene beautifully by negatively describing what he can see, from the chaos, to the corruption and the general feeling of emptiness. Then, revels that he is peacefully witnessing all of this destruction in comfort from Desolation Row.

The next two verses describe the lifes of those lviing on Desolation Row, from Cinderella who is now as glamorous as a film star, to the Good Samaritan who is neither "making love or else expecting rain" but instead getting right to go out and have fun.

The next verses, however, returns to a tone of negativity, as Dylan describes Ophelia's feeling of self pity and boredom. Ophelia is of course from Hamlet, in which she commits suicide, and Dylan is showing how the mundaness of her life in the real world is what drove her to this. Once again though Dylan revelas that this negative character is not in Desolation Row, but, instead spends her time wishing she was.

"Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood," is an amazing metaphor, as, this character is clearly their to represent Dylan himself, in that it could either be the idea of him being a intellectual disguised as a political dreamer and/or the fact that Dylan, like Einsteain was a famous Jewish person who was not always taken seriously by society despite their obvious intelligence.

"Now you would not think to look at him But he was famous long ago For playing the electric violin On Desolation Row," conjures up images of Dylan going electric for the first time at the Newport festival, where he was greeted with boos and jeers by his own fans. In this song, Einstein is only passing through Desolation Row, a place he once called home, which is Dylan showing that he no longer feels he is able to live in this sheltered place, a reference perhaps to the feelings of animosity towards him from his own fans at the time. Or just a general sense of loss at the lack of understanding most critics and fans had of him at that time.

Another negative character, living outwish Desolation Row is introduced in the next verse. "Dr Filth" to me is most likely to be some kind of American psychiatrist specialising in forms of mind control, in an attempt to keep the masses of the population down and keep them under order. His "patients" are now aware of what is happeing to them, however, and those on Desolation Row can hear them attempt to put an end to this.

The next two verses, are for me, Dylan at his very best: i.e his wittiest, most bitter and twisted and very accurate writtings on society. Casanova, is of course a name now used to describe people seen as being handsome and strong lovers who are popular within mainstream society, When Casanova tried to go to Desolation Row though after his career has been ruined once the press decided he was yesterday's news when they "poisoned him with words" he is now trying to escape from this torment by going to Desolation Row. The people living there howveer know he is just vain and a tool of the media therefore he is not allowed in. In the next verse Dylan, gives the most direct clue, as to what the song is about, with the "super human crews" and "insurance men" from the "castles" their to represent orginisations such as the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. who held files on people deemed too be to influential with the masses.

In the final verse, after the long break Dylan reveals what we already knew, that this song isn't about Cinderella, or Einsteain, or Robin Hood or the Hunchback of Notre Dame or any of the other people mentioned by name in the song. It's about the people they represent witin society: Those who hate their jobs, those who have their political and other ideas laughed at because they are deemed to wild, those who are discriminated against because of their appearance .. etc.

[hearty00]

Thanks hearty00 for your interest. I appreciate it much! I hope the toughness of the poem won't let you give up and lose interest. I think it's important to have a notion about the literary allusions, which are made use of, in order to grasp the thing Dylan wants to convey. Up till now I haven't constructed a clear-cut image of it. I bet this will take some time, but anyway let's see what you've got to say.
Cheers!

actually, i downloaded the song as i told u last time and i though i won't need the lyrics to pursue a analytical critic as we had followed with other songs.
i admit this song is pretty tough to criticize and would need a special focus , i promise you find the proper time for this poem( it deserves to be called so) . here we go let me just read the analysis you enclosed with this poem and will be happy to share my views with yours . take care.

NB: we are discussing another song in another thread will be glad to hear what you have got to say about them click here (http://www.bramjnet.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=222509&page=17), wasalam