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.
When I asked how you earned your living
I can still hear what you said to me:
You had some kind of job with the railway,
and had nothing to do with the sea.
You said a lot, Johnny,
all one big lie
You sure had me fooled, from the minute we met.
I hate you, Johnny
You laugh at me like that.
Now, you take that pipe out of your mouth, Johnny.
Surabaya Johnny,
and I do love you so!
Surabaya Johnny,
Why'm I feeling so blue?
You have no heart, Johnny,
and I do love you so!
At the start ev'ryday was Sunday,
'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
there's an old woman looks back at me.
You didn't want love, Johnny
you wanted cash, Johnny
but I saw your lips, Johnny
and that was that.
You wanted it all, Johnny
I gave you more
Take that damn pipe out of your mouth, you rat!
Surabaya Johnny,
and I do love you so!
Surabaya Johnny,
Why'm I feeling so blue?
You have no heart, Johnny,
and I do love you so!
I would never have thought of asking
where you got that peculiar name,
but in every hotel on the seacoast
I found out, but I loved you all the same.
And one day in a two-bit flop house
I'll wake up to the roar of the sea,
and you'll leave without one word of warning
on the ship waiting down at the quay.
You have no heart, Johnny
you're just no good, Johnny.
How can you go, Johnny,
and leave me flat?
You're still my love,
like the day we met,
Take that damn pipe out of your mouth, you rat!
Surabaya Johnny,
and I do love you so!
Surabaya Johnny,
Why'm I feeling so blue?
You have no heart, Johnny,
and I do love you so!