Robyn Hitchcock Song Catalogue

Visions of Johanna        Lyrics |  Tab |  Gigs |  New Search

Author: Bob Dylan

Released on 3 records:

Robyn Sings, 2002  (CD)  Oak Tree MPEP001/2 (2 versions)
Robyn Sings, 2002  (CD)  Editions PAF! PAF 002 (2 versions)
Rob, Bob & Albert, 1996  (CD)  ZIM 30


Lyrics:

Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's really insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place

Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall
How can I explain?
Oh, it's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeeze
I can't find my knees"
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Sayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him"
But like Louise always says
"Ya can't look at much, can ya man?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain



Copyright © 1966; renewed 1994 Dwarf Music


No guitar tab entered.


Known to have been played live at 37 gigs:

Robyn Hitchcock:
WTJU (Charlottesville, Virginia US), 5/3/1992 (Radio)
Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians: Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, California US), 7/14/1992 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Ruvido Club (Bologna, Italy), 3/5/1994 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Jazz Cafe (Camden, England UK), 3/14/1994 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Ultrasound (Toronto, Canada), 5/10/1994 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Crocodile Cafe (Seattle, Washington US), 10/4/1994 with The Young Fresh Fellows (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Yarmouth Station (Isle of Wight, England UK), 8/26/1995 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: McCabe's (Santa Monica, California US), 9/23/1995 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, California US), 9/25/1995 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: 12 Bar Club (London, England UK), 1/12/1996 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Borderline (London, England UK), 5/25/1996 with Homer (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: 12 Bar Club (London, England UK), 9/10/1996 Homer (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: 1st Avenue (Minneapolis, Minnesota US), 11/1/1996 with Deni Bonet (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Maxwell's (Hoboken, New Jersey US), 12/6/1996 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Knitting Factory (New York, New York US), 3/15/1997 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Largo (West Hollywood, California US), 1/10/1998 with Deni Bonet (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Estragon (Bologna, Italy), 2/10/1999 (Concert) encore, acoustic
Robyn Hitchcock: Largo (West Hollywood, California US), 4/3/1999 , Jon Brion, Grant Lee Phillips, Neil Finn (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock's ROCK ARMADA: Iron Horse (Northampton, Massachusetts US), 10/31/1999 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Largo (West Hollywood, California US), 2/26/2000 with Jon Brion and Friends (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Smith's Olde Bar (Atlanta, Georgia US), 4/8/2002 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Bottom Line (New York, New York US), 4/12/2002 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Park West (Chicago, Illinois US), 4/16/2002 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Amoeba Records (Hollywood, California US), 4/27/2002 (In-Store)
Robyn Hitchcock: The Horseshoe Tavern (Toronto, Canada), 7/24/2002 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: 40 Watt Club (Athens, Georgia US), 10/9/2003 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Cactus Café (Austin, Texas US), 10/30/2004 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Schuba's (Chicago, Illinois US), 11/6/2004 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Southpaw (Brooklyn, New York US), 11/13/2004 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: World Café Live (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania US), 11/15/2004 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Mountain Stage (Charleston, West Virginia US), 11/17/2004 (Radio)
Robyn Hitchcock: Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, California US), 3/3/2005 (Concert) acoustic
Robyn Hitchcock: Largo (West Hollywood, California US), 3/10/2005 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Lions Lair (Denver, Colorado US), 4/5/2005 (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Barbican Theater (London, England UK), 9/26/2005 and John Paul Jones (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock with Minus 5: Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, Oregon US), 3/3/2006 Sean Nelson (Concert)
Robyn Hitchcock: Daikanyama: Bob Dylan Summit (Tokyo, Japan), 10/9/2006 & Scott McCaughey aka Red Locust Frenzy (Concert)

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