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 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 Right now I can't read too good Don't send me no more letters no Not unless you mail them From desolation row