Lyrics to
Surabaya Johnny

This version of Surabaya Johnny was released by Bette Midler in 1973.

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I was young, I was just sixteen then,
when you came up from Burma one day.
And you told me to pack up my suitcase,
and I did, and you took me away.
I said, “Do you work nice and steady,
or do you go sailing and roving out to sea?”
And you said, “I have a job on the railroad,
and baby, how swell it’s all gonna be.”
You said a lot, Johnny. It was all lies.
You sure had me fooled, right from the start.
I hate you when you laugh at me like that.
Take that pipe out of your mouth, Johnny.

Surabaya Johnny. Is it really the end?
Surabaya Johnny. Will the hurt ever mend?
Surabaya Johnny. Ooh, I burn at your touch.
You got no heart, Johnny, but oh, I love you so much.

Oh, at first you were kind and gentle,
’til I packed up and went off with you.
And it lasted two weeks until one day
you laughed at me and hit me too.
You dragged me all over the city,
up the river and down to the sea.
Now I look at myself in the mirror
and some old woman looks back at me.
You didn’t want love, Johnny, you wanted money.
I gave you all I had. You wanted more.
Oh, don’t look at me that way.
I’m only trying to talk to you.
Wipe that grin off your face, Johnny.

Surabaya Johnny. Is it really the end?
Surabaya Johnny. Will the pain never mend?
Surabaya Johnny. How I burn at your touch.
You got no heart, Johnny, but oh, I love you so much.

When we met I forgot to ask you
why they called you that funny name,
but in every hotel on the seacoast
I found out, and I loved you all the same.
I’m tired. I’m worn out.
The sea’s pounding in my ears.
And I reach out my arms to hold you.
You’re not here and who even cares?
You got no heart, Johnny. You’re just no good.
You going now? Oh, tell me why.
I love you after all, Johnny, like that very first day.
Don’t laugh at me no more, Johnny.

Surabaya Johnny. Is it really the end?
Surabaya Johnny. Will the hurt ever mend?
Surabaya Johnny. Oh, I burn at your touch.
You got no heart, Johnny, but oh, I love you,
I love you, I love you so much.

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Want more lyrics and songs by Bette Midler?

Bette Midler has released many songs over the years besides Surabaya Johnny. Bette Midler released songs from 1972 to 2006 spanning across albums like The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler, Songs For The New Depression, Broken Blossom, Live At Last, Thighs And Whispers, The Rose, Divine Madness, No Frills, Mud Will Be Flung Tonight!, Beaches, Some People's Lives, For The Boys, Gypsy, Bette Of Roses, Bathhouse Betty, Bette, Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook, Bette Midler Sings The Peggy Lee Songbook, and Cool Yule. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bette Midler.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Surabaya Johnny by Bette Midler

When you decide to study the lyrics to Surabaya Johnny, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1973 song by Bette Midler. Some of the lyrics to Surabaya Johnny have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Bette Midler and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Surabaya Johnny if you take apart the structure of the words. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Surabaya Johnny" means the words set to the music of Surabaya Johnny, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bette Midler. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Surabaya Johnny and the lyrics to Surabaya Johnny are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bette Midler who came here looking just for the lyrics to Surabaya Johnny, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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