Chords for Chris Smither - Visions of Johanna

_ _ _ Here's a song by Bob Dylan [A] for you.
_ [E] _ _ _ [A#] I can remember when this song came out.
It was about 1967, 66, [E] 67.
And I was running around Cambridge and Boston and down to the village in New York
trying to write songs _ and [D] do what I'm still doing.
_ [E] I'm 145 years old. _ _
But this song came out, and all my friends of course were doing the same thing.
And this record came out, and we all sat and listened to this song over and over.
And we all went, oh [A] no. _ _
[E] Now where do we get it?
[A] _ _ _ [E] It _ [D#m] just seems so impossibly good.
[G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [B] _ [E] So [A] this is _ _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ [A] _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ called [E] Visions of Johanna.
_ [F#] _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Ain't it [A] just like the night to [D] play tricks when [E] you're trying to be quiet?
[A] _ _ _ _ Well we all sit here stranded, [D] all doing [E] our best to [A] deny it.
_ _ _ _ _ [E] Louise holds a handful of rain, tempting you to [A] defy it.
_ _ _ _ Lights [D] flicker from the opposite [A] loft.
_ [D] In this room, the heat pipes just [A] cough.
_ [D] And the country station plays [A] soft, but there's [E] nothing, really nothing to turn off.
_ _ [A] _ _ Just Louise, our [D] lover, [E] so [A] entwined. _ _
_ _ _ [D] And these visions _
[F#m] _ _ _ _ [E] now conquer my [A] mind. _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
In the [A] empty lot where the ladies play, [D] blind [E] man's bluff [A] with the key chain.
_ _ _ [E]
And [A] the all-night girl's whisper [D] of [E] escapades out on [A] the D train. _ _ _ _
[E] And the night watchman flakes his flashlight, and he wonders just [A] who is insane. _ _ _ _
Well, [D] Louise, she's all right, she's [A] just near. _ _
[D] She's delicate, and it seems like [A] veneer.
But [D] she makes it concise and [A] too clear, _ [E] Johanna's not here.
[F#] _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _
Oh, the ghost of electricity [D] _ [E] howls in the bones [A] of her face. _ _ _ _ _
[D] Well, these visions, _ [F#m] Johanna, _
_ [E] now take my [A] place.
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[F#] _ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ Yeah, little boy lost, [D] he takes himself [E] [A] seriously. _ _
_ _ _ _ Oh, he [E] brags of his misery, [D] and he likes [E] to live [A] dangerously. _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] And in bringing her name up, he speaks of a farewell [A] kiss to me. _
_ _ _ _ [D] Oh, God, he sure got a [A] lot of gall _ [D] to be so useless [A] and all.
_ _ [D] Muttering small talk at the [A] wall while I'm in the [E] hall.
_ [F#] _
_ [E] _ _ [A] Oh, how can I explain?
[D] It's [E] so hard [A] to get on. _
_ _ _ And [D] these visions, _
[F#m] _ Johanna, [E] keep me up past the [A] dawn. _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
Oh, jewels and [D] binoculars hang [E] from the head of [A] a mule. _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] And these visions [F#m] of Johanna _ [E] make it all seem so [A] cruel. _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
[F#] _ _ [E] _ _ [A] _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [A] The peddler now speaks [D] to the countess who [E] is pretending to care for him.
[A] _ _ _ _ He says, name me someone [D] not a parasite, then [E] I'll go out and pray for him.
[A] _ _ _ _ [E] But like Louise always says, you can't look at [A] much, can you?
As she herself prepares for him.
_ _ Oh, but [D] my Madonna, she still [A] has not shown.
_ _ [D] This empty cage [A] now corrodes.
[D] Where her cape of the stage [A] wants it from?
_ [D] The fiddler now steps to the [A] road.
_ He [D] writes, all's been repaid, it was [F#m] all.
_ [A] On [D] the back of a fish truck [A] that loads as my [E] conscience explodes.
[F#] _
_ [E] _ _ [A] _ The harmonicas play, [D] the skeleton [E] _ keys in the rain.
[A] _ _ _ _ [D] And these visions of [F#m] Johanna _ [E] are now _ all.
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _
Yes, [D] these visions of [F#m] Johanna _ [E] are now _ all. _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _