I feel you,
Johanna!
I feel you.
I was half-convinced I'd waken.
Satisfied enough to dream you,
happily I was mistaken,
Johanna.
I'll steal you,
Johanna,
I'll steal you.
Do they think that walls can hide you?
Even now I'm at your window...
I am in the dark beside you,
buried sweetly in your yellow hair!
I feel you,
Johanna!
And one day,
I'll steal you!
'Til I'm with you then,
I'm with you there...
sweetly buried in your yellow hair!
About This Song
"Johanna" is a haunting ballad of obsessive longing from Stephen Sondheim's musical *Sweeney Todd*, expressing the tormented sailor Anthony's desperate love for the barber's imprisoned daughter. The song captures themes of romantic obsession, captivity, and the blurred line between love and possession, as Anthony fantasizes about rescuing Johanna from her guardian's tower while revealing his own disturbing fixation. Sondheim's lyrical style combines tender romanticism with unsettling undertones, using repetitive phrases and intimate imagery that grows increasingly possessive. The melody is deceptively beautiful and yearning, contrasting with the darker psychological implications of the lyrics. This duality exemplifies Sondheim's genius for revealing complex human psychology through song, making "Johanna" both a gorgeous love song and a chilling portrait of unhealthy desire.
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