Surabaya Johnny

(album: 20th Century Blues - 1997)

I had just turned sixteen that season
When you came up from Burma to stay
And you told me I ought to travel with you
You were sure it would be OK
When I asked how you earned your living
I can still hear what you said to me
You had some kind of job on the railway
And had nothing to do with the sea

You said a lot, Johnny
All one big lie, Johnny
You cheated me blind, Johnny
From the minute we met
I hate you so, Johnny
When you stand there grinning, Johnny
Take that damn pipe out of your mouth, you rat

Surabaya Johnny
No one's meaner than you
Surabaya Johnny
My God and I still love you so
Surabaya Johnny
Why am I feeling so blue?
You have no heart, Johnny
And I still love you so

At the start, every day was Sunday
Till we went on our way one fine night
And before two more weeks were over
You thought nothing I did was right
So we trekked up and down through the Punjab
From the source of the river to the sea
When I look at my face in the mirror
There's an old woman staring back at me

You didn't want love, Johnny
You wanted cash, Johnny
But I sewed your lips, Johnny
And that was that
You wanted it all, Johnny
I gave you more, Johnny
Take that damn pipe out of your mouth, you rat

Surabaya Johnny
No one's meaner than you
Surabaya Johnny
My God and I still love you so
Surabaya Johnny
Why am I feeling so blue?
You have no heart, Johnny
And I still love you so

I would never have thought of asking
How you'd got that peculiar name
But from one end of the coast to the other
You were known everywhere we came
And one day in a two-bit flophouse
I'll wake up to the roar of the sea
And you'll leave without one word of warning
On a ship waiting down at the quay

You have no heart, Johnny
You're just a louse, Johnny
How could you go, Johnny
And leave me flat?
You're still my love, Johnny
Like the day we met, Johnny
Take that damn pipe out of your mouth, you rat

Surabaya Johnny
No one's meaner than you
Surabaya Johnny
My God and I still love you so
Surabaya Johnny
Why am I feeling so blue?
You have no heart, Johnny
And I still love you so

Thank you! Thank you very much!