Daniel Johnston has died

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

According to Duglas T. Stewart on Twitter, Daniel Johnston passed away late last night. He was 58. It's just so terribly sad.

There's been no official confirmation yet, but Stewart was presumably given permission to make the announcement. Fuck.

[SteveDave]

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2019-09-11/austin-songwriting-genius-daniel-johnston-dead-at-58/

[holyzombiejesus]

Oh, that's sad. I felt a bit uneasy with what sometimes felt a bit like gawping at a very ill man but he wrote some utterly beautiful songs and his performance at ATP was one of my favourite things I ever saw at their festivals.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2019-09-11/austin-songwriting-genius-daniel-johnston-dead-at-58/

And there we have it.

Oh, that's sad. I felt a bit uneasy with what sometimes felt a bit like gawping at a very ill man but he wrote some utterly beautiful songs

I felt the same way, but I think the beauty of his songs, his conspicuous talent, negated that unease somewhat. People really connected with his music.

[Gregory Torso]

This is shaping up to be the shittest year on record.

[jobotic]

Yeah that is really sad.

Going to play my favourite, Museum of Love. RIP

[Bobby Treetops]

Fuck sake.

[Dannyhood91]

True Love Will Find You In The End is a beautiful song.

[marquis_de_sad]

True Love Will Find You In The End is a beautiful song.

It is.

[Big Mclargehuge]

I had the absolute Privilege of seeing Daniel Johnston live in manchester a few years ago. he didnt look well then. His music was eccentric, unique, gorgeous and got me through a lot of dark times in my mid to late teens. if you havent seen it "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" it's arguably the best Documentary about mental health and flawed genius that i've ever seen. 58's no age at all... shit...

[McChesney Duntz]

I got to see Daniel as well, some fifteen years ago, in a tiny club outside Boston (Mass.) Eugene Mirman was there too - not to perform; just as a fellow fan. The performance itself was awkward but totally endearing, and I got to hang around and chat with him afterwards, and he was delightfully and disarmingly hilarious in conversation. (Daniel hugged a female fan and held on for a very, very long time, and after she walked happily away, turned to me and said, "God, I thought she'd never leave.") A true and utter one-off. Damn, damn, damn.

[grassbath]

This is very sad. I hid inside those pure, flawed, sad, funny early tape recordings when I was a teen. They will always be a reminder that you don't need great (or even good) equipment necessarily. A beautiful song will carry.

Hey Joe - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUFd3WMXUt8

My Yoke is Heavy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjCbhDvS4g8

[H-O-W-L]

Such a shame.

[Twed]

He was an absolutely brilliant song writer. I don't feel like I was gawping at a sick man, because there was no element of fascination about that, just his brilliant songs.

Very few people can write something so lacking in self-consciousness that it ends up being this simple and good: Worried Shoes

[Cuellar]

Aw man

[Famous Mortimer]

What a fucker.

[chveik]

This is shaping up to be the shittest year on record.

yep. terrible news

[Sin Agog]

People openly shedding joyful tears, blowing kisses and wafting affirmative vibes his way when I saw him a few years ago.

Hi, How Are You
Not So Great Anymore

[VelourSpirit]

I don't know why I'm crying so much. I didn't even know him. He's always had that effect though. He didn't outlive his parents by that long.

[Crabwalk]

^ I think if you listen a lot to anyone's music that is as sincere and unfiltered as Daniel's, it's going to feel a lot more personal to you when they die. What a songwriter he was. RIP.

[SteveDave]

I played bass in a band (me, Sweet Baboo, Tom from Los Campesinos, Rhodri Viney from Left Hand/Right Hand and Spencer Segelov) with him in Cardiff in 2007 and it was at once amazing and terrifying.

We were given a list of songs and told to pick 7 to do with him. We ran through them all at soundcheck and he seemed really happy with how we were doing. We hadn't rehearsed "Rock And Roll/EGA" as the others in the group thought it was too raucous (or something) but when we'd run through all the songs (missing out "Funeral Home" as he didn't like doing that song) he said "Let's do "Rock And Roll"...you all know that right?" I did because my band had covered it on our first LP so we rehearsed it for the first time with Daniel grinning all the way through.

At show time we all trooped onstage after he'd done a few solo songs and Daniel called out whatever the second song was and we all played it. Then his brother/manger Dick Johnston (don't) came on and ordered him offstage. We all froze and then followed them both. Dick was berating Daniel for skipping songs "I just wanna cigarette!" "After!" Back on and we did the first song "My Life Is Starting Over Again" (I think? I used to have the setlist framed but I left it in an ex-girlfriends house and forget to ask for it back) and all was rosy.

The rest of the set breezed by and we were all stunned but grinning backstage as you can see in this photo:

https://twitter.com/simonloverules/status/1171881602831568896

Liz the promoter filmed the whole thing from the side of the stage but doesn't know where the tape is but there are 40 second long videos from that night where I'm so fucking thin. The past.

[Bobby Treetops]

Currently listening to this and feeling a bit tearful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV6LPx1ezYs

[Bobby Treetops]

Oh, that's sad. I felt a bit uneasy with what sometimes felt a bit like gawping at a very ill man but he wrote some utterly beautiful songs and his performance at ATP was one of my favourite things I ever saw at their festivals.

Was this the Matt Groening ATP? It was devastating and at times uncomfortable performance but one I was privilege to have witnessed.

[holyzombiejesus]

No, it was one of the 'vs the fans' ones. Think he joined Yo La Tengo for Speeding Motorcycle.


As an aside, for all the chaos and unpaid bills, ATP was fucking incredible. Look at this line up.

https://www.atpfestival.com/events/fansfestival07/lineup

[Petey Pate]

Was this the Matt Groening ATP?

Tenuous connection, but my friend owns this t-shirt.



RIP Daniel.

[Mantle Retractor]

Devastating news.

Been a fan since a friend at work introduced me to him via the Discovered Covered compilation in 2004.

True Love Will Find You In The End was the first dance at my wedding.

Beautiful, brilliant songwriter.

[holyzombiejesus]

True Love Will Find You In The End was the first dance at my wedding.

That's such a lovely choice.

[Mantle Retractor]

That's such a lovely choice.

Thank you, quite a few nonplussed people looking on as it played. Families, eh? How dare my wife and I choose a song that they've never heard before.

I think "Living Life" might be my favourite song of his. I find it joyously optimistic and melodic and it makes me smile every single time I hear it. I don't know if it makes me an insensitive valve linking it on the day we've learned of his death, but so be it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBNz3mL9-Kg&list=RDKBNz3mL9-Kg&start_radio=1

[grassbath]

Currently listening to this and feeling a bit tearful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV6LPx1ezYs

God, this song. It's like a ghost passing through you. Looking at a memory through a crystal glass. The sped up tape voices are a stroke of genius.

From that album, I always feel a bit choked at 'Held the Hand': 'I was on MTV, everybody was lookin' at me.'

[Twed]

The first Johnston song I heard was "Summertime" (with Jad Fair). Thanks to Stewart Lee, actually.

Instantly hooked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqOi32Z71h8