View source for Desolation Row

{{short description|1965 song written and sung by Bob Dylan}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox song
|name=Desolation Row
|artist=[[Bob Dylan]]
|genre=[[Folk rock]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|title=Highway 61 Revisited review|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/highway-61-revisited-mw0000189730|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603022626/http://www.allmusic.com/album/highway-61-revisited-mw0000189730|url-status=live|archive-date=June 3, 2012|access-date=July 14, 2019|website=AllMusic}}</ref>
|writer=[[Bob Dylan]]
|album=[[Highway 61 Revisited]]
|released=August 30, 1965
|recorded=August 4, 1965
|studio=[[CBS 30th Street Studio|Columbia]], New York City
|length=11:21
|label=[[Columbia Records|Columbia]]
|producer=[[Bob Johnston]]
|misc=[[File:Desolation Row.ogg]]
}}
"'''Desolation Row'''" is a 1965 song by the American singer-songwriter [[Bob Dylan]]. It was recorded on August 4, 1965, and released as the closing track of Dylan's sixth studio album, ''[[Highway 61 Revisited]]''. The song has been noted for its length (11:21) and surreal lyrics in which Dylan weaves characters into a series of vignettes that suggest entropy and urban chaos.

== Recording ==
Although the album version of "Desolation Row" is acoustic, the song was initially recorded in an electric version. The first take was recorded during an evening session on July 29, 1965,<ref>{{harvnb|Heylin|2009|p=250}}</ref> with [[Harvey Brooks (bassist)|Harvey Brooks]] on electric bass and [[Al Kooper]] on electric guitar. This version was eventually released in 2005 on ''[[The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Gorodetsky|2005}}</ref>

On August 2, Dylan recorded five further takes of "Desolation Row".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bjorner, Olof |date=November 17, 2010 |title=Columbia Recording Studios, 2nd August, 1965 |url=http://www.bjorner.com/DSN00785%20(65).htm#DSN01090 |access-date=February 14, 2011 |publisher=Bjorner's still on the road |archive-date=November 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122082827/http://www.bjorner.com/DSN00785%20%2865%29.htm#DSN01090 |url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Highway 61 Revisited'' version was recorded at an overdub session on August 4, 1965, in [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]'s Studio A in [[New York City]]. [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]]-based guitarist [[Charlie McCoy]], who happened to be in New York, was invited by producer Bob Johnston to contribute an improvised [[acoustic guitar]] part and [[Russ Savakus]] played bass guitar.<ref name="Polizzotti141">{{harvnb|Polizzotti|2006|pp=141–142}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bjorner, Olof |date=November 17, 2010 |title=Columbia Recording Studios, 4th August, 1965 |url=http://www.bjorner.com/DSN00785%20(65).htm#DSN01100 |access-date=February 14, 2011 |publisher=Bjorner's still on the road |archive-date=November 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122082827/http://www.bjorner.com/DSN00785%20%2865%29.htm#DSN01100 |url-status=live}}</ref> Author Mark Polizzotti credits some of the success of the song to McCoy's contribution: "While Dylan's panoramic lyrics and hypnotic melody sketch out the vast canvas, it is McCoy's fills that give it their shading."<ref name = Polizzotti141 /> Outtakes from the August sessions were released on ''[[The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966]]'' in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bob Dylan – The Cutting Edge 1965–1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 |url=http://www.bobdylan.com/us/news/bob-dylan-cutting-edge-1965-1966-bootleg-series-vol-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207000434/http://www.bobdylan.com/us/news/bob-dylan-cutting-edge-1965-1966-bootleg-series-vol-12 |archive-date=February 7, 2016 |access-date=November 22, 2015}}</ref>

== Interpretation ==
When asked where "Desolation Row" was located, at a TV press conference in [[San Francisco]] on December 3, 1965, Dylan replied: "Oh, that's some place in Mexico, it's across the border. It's noted for its [[Coca-Cola|Coke]] factory."<ref>{{harvnb|Cott|2017|p=77}}</ref> Al Kooper, who played electric guitar on the first recordings of "Desolation Row", suggested that it was located on a stretch of [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenue, Manhattan]], "an area infested with [[brothel|whore houses]], sleazy bars and porno supermarkets totally beyond renovation or redemption".<ref name="Polizzotti133">{{harvnb|Polizzotti|2006|p=133}}</ref> Polizzotti suggests that both the inspiration and title of the song may have come from ''[[Desolation Angels (novel)|Desolation Angels]]'' by [[Jack Kerouac]] and ''[[Cannery Row (novel)|Cannery Row]]'' by [[John Steinbeck]].<ref name = Polizzotti133 />

When [[Jann Wenner]] asked Dylan in 1969 whether [[Allen Ginsberg]] had influenced his songs, Dylan replied: "I think he did at a certain period. That period of... 'Desolation Row,' that kind of New York type period, when all the songs were just city songs. His poetry is city poetry. Sounds like the city."<ref>{{harvnb|Wenner|2017|p=158}}</ref>

The [[Southwestern United States|southwestern]] flavored acoustic guitar backing and eclecticism of the imagery led Polizzotti to describe "Desolation Row" as the "ultimate cowboy song, the 'Home On The Range' of the frightening territory that was mid-sixties America".<ref name="Polizzotti139">{{harvnb|Polizzotti|2006|pp=139–141}}</ref> In the penultimate verse the passengers on the [[RMS Titanic|''Titanic'']] are "shouting '[[Which Side Are You On?]]'", a slogan of [[left-wing politics]], so, for Robert Shelton, one of the targets of this song is "simpleminded political commitment. What difference which side you're on if you're sailing on the ''Titanic''?"<ref>{{harvnb|Shelton|1986|p=283}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[USA Today]]'' on September 10, 2001, the day before the release of his album ''[["Love and Theft"|Love and Theft]]'', Dylan claimed that the song is "a [[Minstrel show|minstrel]] song through and through. I saw some ragtag minstrel show in [[blackface]] at the carnivals when I was growing up, and it had an effect on me, just as much as seeing the lady with four legs."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gunderson |first=Edna |date=October 9, 2001 |title=Dylan is positively on top of his game |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2001-09-10-bob-dylan.htm#more |access-date=March 2, 2011 |website=USA Today |archive-date=April 4, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404091821/http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/2001-09-10-bob-dylan.htm#more |url-status=live}}</ref>

The song opens with a report that "they're selling postcards of the hanging", and notes "the circus is in town". Polizzotti, and other critics, have connected this song with the [[1920 Duluth lynchings|lynching of three black men in Duluth]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pisarro |first=Marcelo |date=June 19, 2020 |title=Bob Dylan y el rescate de una vieja historia de racismo |language=es |work=La Nación |url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/opinion/dylan-y-el-rescate-de-una-vieja-historia-de-racismoel-pasado-en-una-cancion-nid2381897 |access-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-date=November 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122084622/https://www.lanacion.com.ar/opinion/dylan-y-el-rescate-de-una-vieja-historia-de-racismoel-pasado-en-una-cancion-nid2381897 |url-status=live}}</ref> The men were employed by a traveling circus and had been accused of raping a white woman. On the night of June 15, 1920, they were removed from custody and hanged on the corner of First Street and Second Avenue East. Photo postcards of the lynchings were sold.<ref>{{harvnb|Polizzotti|2006|pp=134–135}}</ref> [[Duluth, Minnesota|Duluth]] was Bob Dylan's birthplace. Dylan's father, Abram Zimmerman, was eight years old at the time of the lynchings, and lived two blocks from the scene. Abram Zimmerman passed the story on to his son.<ref>Hoekstra, Dave, "Dylan's Duluth Faces Up to Its Past," ''Chicago Sun-Times'', July 1, 2001. "The family lived a couple of blocks away from the lynching site at what is now a parking lot at 221 Lake Ave. North." The connection is also made by Andrew Buncombe in a June 17, 2001, article in ''The Independent'' (London): "'They're Selling Postcards of the Hanging...': Duluth's Day of Desolation Remembered."</ref><ref group="a">In ''The Bootleg Series Volume 7'' recording, Dylan changes the lyric "On her 22nd birthday she already is an old maid" to "On her twentieth birthday she was already an old maid." Irene Tusken, the supposed victim of the alleged rape that was the catalyst for the Duluth Lynchings was 19 years old at the time. (Fedo, Michael (2000). The Lynchings in Duluth. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press)</ref>

== Reception and legacy ==
"Desolation Row" has been described as Dylan's most ambitious work up to that date.<ref name="Heylin, p. 219">Heylin, ''Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited'', p. 219.</ref> In the ''[[The Oxford Companion to Music#The New Oxford Companion to Music|New Oxford Companion to Music]]'', Gammond described "Desolation Row" as an example of Dylan's work that achieved a "high level of poetical lyricism." [[Clinton Heylin]] notes that Dylan is writing a song as long as traditional folk ballads, such as "[[Tam Lin]]" and "[[Matty Groves]]", and in that classic ballad metre, but without any linear narrative thread.<ref>{{harvnb|Heylin|2009|p=248}}</ref>

When he reviewed the ''Highway 61 Revisited'' album for ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' in 1965, the English poet [[Philip Larkin]] described the song as a "marathon", with an "enchanting tune and mysterious, possibly half-baked words".<ref>{{harvnb|Larkin|1985|p=151}}</ref> For Andy Gill the song is "an 11-minute epic of entropy, which takes the form of a [[Federico Fellini|Felliniesque]] parade of grotesques and oddities featuring a huge cast of iconic characters, some historical ([[Albert Einstein]], [[Nero]]), some biblical ([[Noah]], [[Cain and Abel]]), some fictional ([[Ophelia]], [[Romeo]], [[Cinderella]]), some literary ([[T. S. Eliot]] and [[Ezra Pound]]), and some who fit into none of the above categories, notably Dr. Filth and his dubious nurse."<ref>{{harvnb|Gill|1999|p=89}}</ref>

According to the music historian [[Nicholas Schaffner]], "Desolation Row" was the longest popular music track, until [[the Rolling Stones]] released "[[Goin' Home (Rolling Stones song)|Goin' Home]]" (11:35) in 1966.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schaffner |first=Nicholas |title=The British Invasion: From the First Wave to the New Wave |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]] |year=1982 |isbn=0-07-055089-1 |page=69 |author-link=Nicholas Schaffner}}</ref>

In 2010, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked "Desolation Row" at number 187 on their "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|500 Greatest Songs of All Time]]" list;<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Bob Dylan, "Desolation Row" |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-151127/bob-dylan-desolation-row-59656/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121211110958/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/bob-dylan-desolation-row-20110526 |archive-date=December 11, 2012 |access-date=September 25, 2023 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]}}</ref> the song was re-ranked at number 83 in the 2021 revision of the list.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=September 15, 2021 |title=Desolation Row #83 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/bob-dylan-desolation-row-2-1225255/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=September 18, 2021}}</ref> In 2020, ''[[The Guardian]]'' and ''[[GQ]]'' ranked the song number five and number three, respectively, on their lists of the 50 greatest Bob Dylan songs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petridis |first=Alexis |date=April 9, 2020 |title=Bob Dylan's 50 greatest songs – ranked! |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/09/bob-dylans-50-greatest-songs-ranked |access-date=April 17, 2022 |website=[[The Guardian]] |archive-date=April 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200409235447/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/09/bob-dylans-50-greatest-songs-ranked |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Burton |first1=Charlie |last2=Prince |first2=Bill |date=June 15, 2020 |title=The 50 best Bob Dylan songs of all time |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/bob-dylan-songs |access-date=April 17, 2022 |website=[[GQ]] |archive-date=April 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412100112/https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/bob-dylan-songs |url-status=live}}</ref>

Dylan played the [[Isle of Wight Festival 1969]], and "Desolation Row" was the name given to the hillside area used by the 600,000 ticketless fans at [[Isle of Wight Festival 1970|the 1970 event]], before the fence was torn down.<ref>[[Message to Love]] documentary, 1995, DVD</ref>

== Live performance ==
Dylan debuted "Desolation Row" at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in [[Queens, New York]], on August 28, 1965, after he "[[Electric Dylan controversy|controversially went electric]]" at the 1965 [[Newport Folk Festival]]. It was part of the acoustic set Dylan played before bringing on his electric band. Of the performance, music critic Robert Shelton described it as "A major new work ... filled with the incongruities of black humor and macabre imagery... another of Mr. Dylan's musical Rorschachs capable of widely varied interpretation ... It can best be characterized as a 'folk song of the absurd.'"<ref>Shelton, Robert (August 39, 1965) [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/04/reviews/dylan-unruly.html Folk Singer Offers Works in 'New Mood' at Forest Hills"] ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved July 21, 2018.</ref> The displaced images and [[Kafkaesque]] cavalcade of historical characters were at first greeted with laughter.<ref>Heylin, ''Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited'', pp. 219-226.</ref>

Live versions are included on Dylan's albums ''[[MTV Unplugged (Bob Dylan album)|MTV Unplugged]]'' (1995; recorded November 1994), ''[[The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert]]'' (1998; recorded May 1966), ''[[The 1966 Live Recordings]]'' (2016 boxed set; multiple recording dates, with one concert released separately on the album ''The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert''), and ''Live 1962–1966: Rare Performances From The Copyright Collections'' (2018; recorded April 1966). The song has been featured in live performances as recently as November 19, 2012<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 19, 2012 |title=Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center |website=The Official Bob Dylan Site |url=http://www.bobdylan.com/us/tour/2012-11-19-wells-fargo-center |access-date=July 25, 2013 |archive-date=August 4, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130804162654/http://www.bobdylan.com/us/tour/2012-11-19-wells-fargo-center |url-status=live}}</ref> and was played in Bournemouth on May 4, 2017. Dylan once again performed the song at the Outlaw Music Festival Tour in 2024, a performance that gained media notice for his use of a small [[wrench]], which he rhythmically tapped on the side of his microphone.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Greene |first1=Andy |title=Watch Bob Dylan Resurrect 'Desolation Row' While Clanking a Tiny Wrench |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bob-dylan-desolation-row-tiny-wrench-1235105396/ |access-date=5 March 2025 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=18 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217171606/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/bob-dylan-desolation-row-tiny-wrench-1235105396/ |archive-date=17 February 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Other renditions ==
=== My Chemical Romance ===
{{Infobox song
| name       = Desolation Row
| cover      =
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[My Chemical Romance]]
| album      = [[Watchmen: Music from the Motion Picture]]
| released   = {{Start date|2009|01|26}}
| recorded   = 2008
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Punk rock]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=My Chemical Romance "Desolation Row" |url=http://www.mtvu.com/music/music-blog/my-chemical-romance-one-of-the-best-punk-bands-in-the-business/publisher=MTVU |website=MTVU |access-date=January 18, 2017 |archive-date=July 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230717212939/https://www.mtv.com/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
| length     = 3:01
| label      = [[Reprise Records|Reprise]], [[Warner Sunset Records|Warne Sunset]]
| writer     = [[Bob Dylan]]
| producer   = My Chemical Romance
| prev_title = [[Teenagers (song)|Teenagers]]
| prev_year  = 2007
| next_title = [[Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)]]
| next_year  = 2010
}}

[[My Chemical Romance]] recorded a cover of "Desolation Row"<ref>{{Cite web |title=My Chemical Romance video for Desolation Row |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9VaVukLtfg |access-date=June 28, 2009 |publisher=Youtube |archive-date=June 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140626074029/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9VaVukLtfg |url-status=live}}</ref> for the 2009 soundtrack of the film ''[[Watchmen (2009 film)|Watchmen]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=My Chemical Romance Release Bob Dylan Cover Next Month |url=http://www2.kerrang.com/2009/01/my_chemical_romance_release_bo.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821035020/http://www2.kerrang.com/2009/01/my_chemical_romance_release_bo.html |archive-date=August 21, 2009 |access-date=June 16, 2009 |publisher=Kerrang}}</ref> The song peaked at number 20 on the [[Billboard (magazine)|''Billboard'']] [[Alternative Songs|Modern Rock Tracks]] in March 2009.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Artist Chart History – My Chemical Romance |url={{BillboardURLbyName |artist=my chemical romance |chart=all}} |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=June 16, 2009}}</ref> The first chapter of [[Watchmen|the comic on which the film is based]] ("At Midnight All the Agents") takes its name from a line in the song. This line is also quoted at the end of the chapter.

The music video for My Chemical Romance's version was directed by [[Zack Snyder]], who also directed the ''Watchmen'' film and, as a result, features similar effects to that of the film, though no actual footage of the film appears. It features the band playing in an old-school punk arena, with visual similarities to the "Pale Horse" concert referenced in the graphic novel. The show is sold out yet more fans want in. A riot ensues as the band plays. The police arrive but are powerless to control the crowd in the venue and outside. A SWAT team arrives, arrests the band, and disperses the rioters.

Throughout the video, multiple elements of ''Watchmen'' imagery are seen, such as [[Rorschach (character)|Rorschach]]'s mask and [[Comedian (character)|The Comedian]]'s smiley face button. The pink elephant balloon from both the comic and the film is also seen at the beginning of the video.

The band also are shown playing punk-esque instruments such as a [[Fender Stratocaster]], [[Epiphone Les Paul]], and [[Fender Precision Bass]], all finished in black and covered in spray paint, warnings, etc.

The song marks the last music video appearance of [[Bob Bryar]] before his departure from the band in 2010, although he would be featured again in the songs of the ''[[Conventional Weapons]]'' compilation album.

==== Charts ====
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Chart performance for "Desolation Row"
! scope="col"| Chart (2009)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| Canada [[Canadian Digital Song Sales|Digital Song Sales]] (''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'')<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=My Chemical Romance Chart History (Canadian Digital Song Sales) |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/my-chemical-romance/chart-history/cns/ |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=April 20, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528012327/https://www.billboard.com/artist/my-chemical-romance/chart-history/cns/ |archive-date=May 28, 2022}}</ref>
| 69
|-
! scope="row"| Canada [[Canada Rock|Rock]] (''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'')<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=My Chemical Romance Chart History (Canada Rock) |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/My-Chemical-Romance/chart-history/CAR |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127221948/https://www.billboard.com/artist/my-chemical-romance/chart-history/car/ |archive-date=January 27, 2022 |access-date=August 10, 2025 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]}}</ref>
| 47
|-
! scope="row"| Japan ([[Billboard Japan Hot 100|Japan Hot 100]]) (''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'')<ref>{{Cite web |title=Billboard Japan Hot 100 – Week of March 18, 2009 |url=https://www.billboard-japan.com/charts/detail?a=hot100&year=2009&month=03&day=23 |website=[[Billboard Japan]] |language=ja |access-date=May 10, 2025}}</ref>
| 52
|-
! scope="row"| [[Mexico Ingles Airplay]] (''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'')<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=My Chemical Romance Chart History (Mexico Ingles Airplay) |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/my-chemical-romance/chart-history/min/ |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=April 20, 2021}}</ref>
| 22
|-
{{single chart|Scotland|18|date=20090215|rowheader=true|access-date=May 10, 2025}}
|-
{{single chart|UK|52|date=20090215|rowheader=true|access-date=May 10, 2025}}
|-
{{single chart|UKrock|1|date=20090215|rowheader=true|access-date=April 20, 2021}}
|-
{{single chart|Billboardalternativesongs|20|artist=My Chemical Romance|rowheader=true|access-date=April 20, 2021}}
|-
{{single chart|Billboardbubbling100|7|artist=My Chemical Romance|rowheader=true|accessdate=April 20, 2021}}
|}

=== Other cover versions ===
The [[Grateful Dead]] performed a version of "Desolation Row" from the mid-1980s onwards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grateful Dead Desolation Row |url=https://www.dead.net/song/desolation-row |website=Grateful Dead |date=March 21, 2007 |access-date=November 20, 2019 |archive-date=June 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602190421/https://www.dead.net/song/desolation-row |url-status=live}}</ref> The song is included on their 2002 release ''[[Postcards of the Hanging]]'', the album name alluding to the lyrics of "Desolation Row". The album features a recording from March 24, 1990, at the Knickerbocker Arena in [[Albany, New York]]. The song was frequently abbreviated in Dead set lists to "D-Row."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grateful Dead Greatest Stories Ever Told – "Desolation Row" |url=https://www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-desolation-row |access-date=January 5, 2021 |website=Grateful Dead |date=October 23, 2014 |language=en |archive-date=January 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117061022/https://www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-desolation-row |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Chris Smither]] recorded the song on his 2003 album ''[[Train Home (Chris Smither album)|Train Home]]'' with [[Bonnie Raitt]] providing backup on vocals and slide guitar.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Choates |first=Rick |year=2003 |title=Chris Smither's Long Train Home |url=http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/music.asp?id=174 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217113701/http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/music.asp?id=174 |archive-date=February 17, 2007 |access-date=January 1, 2009 |publisher=Northern Express}}</ref> It has also been recorded by [[Robyn Hitchcock]] on the album ''[[Robyn Sings]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Downing |first=Brian |title=Robin Sings: Review |url=http://allmusic.com/album/robyn-sings-r614586 |access-date=March 2, 2011 |website=Allmusic |archive-date=January 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129031304/http://www.allmusic.com/album/robyn-sings-r614586 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Old 97's]] singer [[Rhett Miller]] borrowed "Desolation Row"'s melody for a new song, "Champaign, Illinois". It was recorded with Dylan's blessing and appears on Old 97's 2010 album ''[[The Grande Theatre, Volume One]]'', with Dylan and Miller sharing writing credit.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ferguson |first=Jon |date=September 9, 2010 |title=Old 97s' Rhett Miller found unexpected inspiration in 'Desolation Row' |url=http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/287485 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105235208/http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/287485 |archive-date=November 5, 2010 |access-date=September 18, 2010 |website=Lancasteronline.com}}</ref>

Italian singer-songwriters [[Fabrizio de André]] and [[Francesco De Gregori]] wrote "Via della Povertà", an Italian translation of "Desolation Row", and included it on 1974 album ''[[Canzoni (Fabrizio De André album)|Canzoni]]''.

==In popular culture ==
[[Laura Branigan]]'s 1985 single "[[Spanish Eddie]]" mentions the song in its chorus, "''The night Spanish Eddie cashed it in / they were playin' "Desolation Row" on the radio''" <ref>{{Cite web |title=Laura Branigan – Spanish Eddie |url=https://genius.com/Laura-branigan-spanish-eddie-lyrics |access-date=January 23, 2022 |archive-date=January 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123221823/https://genius.com/Laura-branigan-spanish-eddie-lyrics |url-status=live}}</ref>

A line from the song "''At midnight, all the agents and the superhuman crew, go out and round up everyone that knows more than they do.''" is the closing quotation in chapter 1 of "[[Watchmen]]" by [[Alan Moore]] and [[Dave Gibbons]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bob Dylan comic book references |date=May 24, 2022 |url=https://www.cbr.com/bob-dylan-comic-book-references-81/ |access-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011175920/https://www.cbr.com/bob-dylan-comic-book-references-81/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In a foreword for the collected editions of the series, Dave Gibbons claims "it began with Bob Dylan", that the lyrics reproduced for chapter 1 were the "spark that would one day ignite WATCHMEN."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=Alan |title=Watchmen |date=2005 |others=Dave Gibbons, John Higgins |isbn=978-0-930289-23-2 |location=New York |oclc=73994755}}</ref>

The same line is evoked in Bruce Springsteen's  [[4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)|4th of July, Asbury Park]] as follows: "''Did you hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie, for telling fortunes better than they do''".

The title track of [[The War on Drugs (band)|The War on Drugs]]' fifth album ''[[I Don't Live Here Anymore]]'' contains the lyrics, "''Like when we went to see Bob Dylan/ We danced to "Desolation Row""''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://genius.com/The-war-on-drugs-i-dont-live-here-anymore-lyrics |title=The War on Drugs (Ft. Lucius) – I Don't Live Here Anymore | access-date=November 29, 2022 | archive-date=November 29, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129130008/https://genius.com/The-war-on-drugs-i-dont-live-here-anymore-lyrics | url-status=live}}</ref>

In the sixth part of ''[[Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', "Desolation Road" is one of the 14 phrases that are uttered by antagonist Enrico Pucci in order to activate the Green Baby and acquire the Stand C-Moon.<ref>{{Cite web |title=DIO's Notebook |url=https://jojowiki.com/DIO's_Notebook |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=JoJo's Bizarre Encyclopedia - JoJo Wiki |language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
;Explanatory notes
{{Reflist|group=a}}

;Citations
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Cott |editor-first=Jonathan |editor-link=Jonathan Cott |title=Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews |last= |first= |chapter=Television Press Conference, KQED, San Francisco, December 3, 1965 |pages=65–86 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-5011-7319-6}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gill |first=Andy |title=Classic Bob Dylan: My Back Pages |publisher=Carlton |year=1999 |isbn=1-85868-599-0}}
* {{Cite AV media notes |first=Eddie |last=Gorodetsky |year=2005 |publisher=Columbia Records |location=New York |title=No Direction Home: The Soundtrack—The Bootleg Series Volume 7 |others=Bob Dylan |type=booklet}}
* {{Citation |last=Heylin |first=Clinton |title=Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited |year=2000 |publisher=Perennial Currents |isbn=0-06-052569-X}}
* {{Citation |last=Heylin |first=Clinton |title=Revolution In The Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, Volume One: 1957–73 |year=2009 |publisher=Constable |isbn=978-1-55652-843-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Larkin |first=Philip |title=All What Jazz |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=1985 |isbn=0-571-13476-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Polizzotti |first=Mark |title=Highway 61 Revisited |publisher=Continuum |year=2006 |isbn=0-8264-1775-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Shelton |first=Robert |title=No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan |publisher=Ballantine |year=1986 |isbn=0-345-34721-8}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Cott |editor-first=Jonathan |editor-link=Jonathan Cott |title=Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews |last=Wenner |first=Jann |chapter=Interview with Jann S. Wenner, Rolling Stone, November 29, 1969 |pages=148–171 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-5011-7319-6}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/desolation-row "Desolation Row", complete song lyrics]

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