diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 72dd1bd8..fd17855b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* When Subversion#query_revision fails, give a more sane error [Jamis Buck]
+
 * Don't run the upgrade:revisions task on non-release servers [Jamis Buck]
 
 * Fix cap shell to properly recognize sudo prompt [Mark Imbriaco, barnaby, Jamis Buck]
diff --git a/lib/capistrano/recipes/deploy/scm/subversion.rb b/lib/capistrano/recipes/deploy/scm/subversion.rb
index 8b1d69db..4de260ff 100644
--- a/lib/capistrano/recipes/deploy/scm/subversion.rb
+++ b/lib/capistrano/recipes/deploy/scm/subversion.rb
@@ -52,8 +52,11 @@ module Capistrano
         # executed (svn info), and will extract the revision from the response.
         def query_revision(revision)
           return revision if revision =~ /^\d+$/
-          result = yield(scm(:info, repository, authentication, "-r#{revision}"))
-          YAML.load(result)['Revision']
+          command = scm(:info, repository, authentication, "-r#{revision}")
+          result = yield(command)
+          yaml = YAML.load(result)
+          raise "tried to run `#{command}' and got unexpected result #{result.inspect}" unless Hash === yaml
+          yaml['Revision']
         end
 
         # Determines what the response should be for a particular bit of text