Lyrics

Marianne

This is the story of Jimmy Jr. Johnson, the man who knew only one word
And wouldn't you know, don't it always seem to go,
that the word's the name of a girl
She can't hear him now, he's locked away
But sometimes at night the curtains sway and seem to say.
Marianne

Jimmy Jr. Johnson- what you'd call a simple man, lived in the back of an old camper van that the state hadn't licensed him to drive so he'd ride at night with headlights low and find a new part of the city to take it slow.. and scrape by
But the day that Junior saw Marianne would be the last time he moved that old camper van, cause love has a knack for stopping you in your tracks.
Well he seen her walk by and she was sweeter than the stars in the sky on that very night they met
And though Junior couldn't talk he knew that if he let her walk by he would never forget a face like hers
So he summoned his courage and caught her in the lane, and used a handshake to convey what his tongue couldn't say
And this girl was sweet- she didn't miss a beat-
she smiled and told Junior her name.. Marianne

Well, weeks passed on and that van had been there so long
it was like part of the street
And Marianne'd walk by on weekday nights
and Junior'd gesture and she would speak to him for a quarter of an hour, just trying to be kind, but what she didn't know was that Junior was just about blind with love for her; The simple man's heart has the truest love you could hope to find

Well one night Marianne, she didn't come by
And the next night and the next and Junior didn't know why; but he was crying and weeping by the end of the week, until one night he went out to find her and he knew where she lived cause he'd followed behind her when she didn't know he was there. And he gets to the walk at the foot of her stairs.
He's screamin' and moanin' like a beast in a cage, and he flies off the handle and into a rage, breaking bottles and beer cans against her front door,
And the streetlight was shattered and you could hear Junior roaring
The sound of something around in his throat,
till the neighbours, they couldn't take it no more;
and in the flashing blue lights Junior found the word he was looking for.

Marianne



Well, Marianne's okay; she'd just took her vacation pay for a little getaway
and she can't believe what the neighbours say about Jimmy Jr.,
and what he did while she was away

And Junior sleeps in a room with a pillow and a bed
And a window that looks out on a willow tree where he spends
The long days with just his thoughts in his head.
And week after week he still doesn't speak
But at night when he sleeps he dreams and the walls hear him, so sweet,
They hear him whisper a word.
Marianne