Where is Desolation Row?
Desolation Row is a counter-culture destination, though more a state of mind than an actual place. The name probably comes from combining the best of Desolation Angels (Kerouac) with Cannery Row (Steinbeck). Jack Kerouac spent the summer of 1956 as a fire lookout on Desolation Peak, and wrote The Dharma Bums and Desolation Angels from his life transforming experiences on the peak. It has also been suggested that TS Eliot’s poem The Wasteland was an influence on Desolation Row. Musician Al Kooper asserts Desolation Row is in Greenwich Village in New York City, based on personal contact with Dylan. We can make the case that Desolation Row represents a variety of counter-culture desinations; Skid Row, Cannery Row, Greenwich Village, Desolation Peak, TS Eliot’s The Wasteland and others, because each of them represents an essential truth, the same truth, differently told. Its all of them, and none of them in particular.
