Daniel Johnston

Daniel Johnston rules. I've always loved his music but in the last few months he has become my favorite songwriter, far and away, trumping even Dylan and Leonard Cohen. If you don't know about him, find out.

The documentary about him, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, opens in Houston today at the River Oaks Landmark. I'm going to the 4:30 matinee.

The Daniel Johnston rock opera, Speeding Motorcycle, opens May 25. Infernal Bridegroom Productions at the Axiom. I've been collaborating with Daniel on the writing and I'm directing it as well. Check it out.

 

No. I'd love it if he was able to, but he's not. He has been very involved with the development of the show for about the last two years though. And he just gave us a previously unrecorded song that he rightly thought would be perfect for it.

The film was great but very hard to watch. I highly recommend it and there are many happy things about it but over all it is very sad. I feel really blessed to be working on this project. It's definitely the most important thing I've done in my career and I hope some of you will get a chance to see it.

 

Oh, and as oomp said Daniel was very ill but he's doing a whole lot better.

 

Dylan isn't overrated. That's silly. You might not get him, a lot of people don't and that's fine. But he's not overrated. Same goes for Daniel.

The thing is, and the movie doesn't help with this, the story of his demons and his illness eclipse his music. So when most people turn on for the first time or even the fifth, that's what they hear. It happened to me the first several times I heard him, recorded or live. In the movie, Matt Groening explains being turned on to Daniel's stuff. He says a friend told him he had to know about Daniel's music and he asked which record (or tape, in Daniel's case) he should get and the friend told him he needed to just get everything. And that really is the way to "get" it. Once you've done that, virtually each of his many albums is indispensable. If you asked me which album was his best I couldn't tell you. Likewise with his songs.

When evaluating art it makes a lot more sense to think with your heart than your head. When you think the other way you wind up with a lot of folks talking about how Dylan's a "bad" singer. He isn't. He's an amazing singer. Or he was one. That's not something you can hear with your "head." It's the same with Daniel's music.

And, again, his illness obscures his talent. That's ironic since his illness certainly plays a large part in his talent but it's true. If one could erase his illness from the equation though -- or better, from the perception of his songs -- he would realize that he is one of the most gifted melody writers and lyricists of pop music ever. I was being hyperbolic when I placed him above Dylan or Cohen, but I believe he's exactly right up there with them. And with the Beatles, whom Daniel emulated more than anyone. Off the top of my head I would name The Sun Shines Down on Me, True Love Will Find You in the End, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances, Speeding Motorcycle, Living Life, Peek-a-boo, Funeral Girl, I Had Lost My Mind, Loner, Lullaby, Mind Contorted, Life in Vain, Grievances and easily twenty other songs as among the most important songs since modern pop music was imagined. It is incredible to me that this vast catalogue remains virtually unknown. Daniel Johnston is the best kept secret in contemporary music. And I'm not exaggerating about that at all.