Vera Johnson

Vera Johnson (June 13, 1920 – November 9, 2007) was a Vancouver folk singer-songwriter and author. She was known for creating original songs on a variety of topics, some of them controversial, including religion, sex, divorce, censorship, liberation, politics, and family.

In an autobiographical essay, Johnson recounts how she learned to sing and play music in 1949, and how she viewed her writing, whether through music, short stories, or plays, as a means for political change. Her song "The Fountain" described the "hippie protests" of 1968 Vancouver.

Discography

Live Albums

• Bald Eagle (1974)
  1. The Bald Eagle
  2. Homer Johnson
  3. Oh Canada
  4. You Can't Let Your Hair Hang Down
  5. A Song for Michael
  6. The Do-It-Yourself Divorce
  7. Pierre Trudeau
  8. The Word
  9. Jesus Was a Preacher
  10. Layabouts
  11. The Gentle Rain of England
  12. That Minx from Pinsk

• That's What I Believe (1978)
  1. The Oldest Swinger in Town
  2. The Fountain
  3. The Indian
  4. The Queerest Critter
  5. Coming Home
  6. The Sweetheart of Sordido V
  7. Women's Liberation Blues
  8. God's not Dead
  9. Thomas Arkinstall
  10. Mrs. Ballantyne
  11. Nagamma
  12. That's What I Believe

Written works

Short Stories

Title	Date	First published in	Notes
"Black Six on Red Seven"	January 15, 1951	MacLean's	Honourable Mention, story contest
"The Huckelmeyer Story"	February 1, 1953	MacLean's	Originally published as "A Man's Gotta Lie Once in a While" / Third prize, story contest
"The Long Night"	April 15, 1953	MacLean's
"The Way is Hard and Weary"	April 1953	Canadian Forum
"The Beat of Moth-Wings"	August 15, 1953	MacLean's	Originally published as "The Silent Star of Stratford"
"Death in the Toy Parade"	December 1953	MacLean's
"Vigil on the Rock"	December 10, 1955	MacLean's	Originally published as "He Married for Murder"
"The Legacy"	December 1958	Toronto Star
"The Pilgrimage"	February 1959	Canadian Forum
"Death Comes to the Fiesta"	July 1960	Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
"The Day They Cut Off the Power"	1975	New Writings in SF, #27	Science Fiction
"The Throwback"	1988	Fictons, #1	Science Fiction
"The Flower Words of Xochiquetzal"	1990	Fictons, #3	Science Fiction
"The Case of the Raptrans Mole"	1993	Fictons, #5	Science Fiction
"A Surfeit of Suspects"	1994	Fictons, #6	Science Fiction

Essays

Title	Date	First published in	Notes
"Wanderlust"	July 1934	Nature Magazine

External links

• Vera Johnson biography