Daniel Johnston has died

[chveik]

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

fucking hell. feeling a bit tearful over here too.

[McFlymo]

I heard a couple of his songs today. I hadn't realised he had died and had only vaguely heard of him before.

One of the songs had some lyrics along the lines of "I have to have hope, but it's hard and I'm on this path that is wearing me out" or something like that. I was listening thinking, "Fuck! That is so heavy, but so simple and beautiful!" It was genuinely quite moving. And another one was a love song, but also quite direct and open in a way I found totally captivating.

[SteveDave]

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

Same here. Their Radio 1 show was the first place I heard the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and King Missile too.

My current favourite DJ lyric is "I'm walking down that empty road, but it ain't empty now, because I'm on it"

[Twed]

Same here. Their Radio 1 show was the first place I heard the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and King Missile too.

Jesus was way cool.

[jobotic]

I remembered Monkey In A Zoo this morning. Bloody hell. That must have been hard to watch live.

The tune and his piano playing in it is glorious, not some shambolic amateurish thing. Reminds me of the equally glorious Orphan's Lament by Robbie Basho.

[SteveDave]

Jesus was way cool.

And Detachable Penis!

[Twed]

I had that one queued up right after!

I discovered a lot of good music from those Radio 1 shows (downloading them in the early 2000s rather than listening live)

[SteveDave]

I had that one queued up right after!

I discovered a lot of good music from those Radio 1 shows (downloading them in the early 2000s rather than listening live)

Listen out for calls from Simon from Cardiff to hear the teenage me (I played "Everyone's Gone To The Moon" by Jonathan King down the phone and did an impression of Peter amongst other things) and from a certain PaulTMA.

[Twed]

Hah, I actually knew of the PaulTMA one somehow. And somebody else from n3ta (maybe that was Paul or you)

[Twed]

https://twitter.com/StrongBadActual/status/1172338603772375040

Really touching tribute from the Homestar Runner guys.

I didn't realise how much Strong Sad sounded like Daniel before.

[holyzombiejesus]

Jeffrey Lewis seems like such a nice guy. he wrote this:

In 1995 Jack and I discovered an album called "Fun" by a guy named Daniel Johnston. Within a couple years we had gotten our hands on any album or tape of his that we could find and we too had now become songwriters, making bedroom tapes of our own songs. Seeking to find and create that deep powerful connection, the art of heart that Daniel had invented, as far as we knew. No band name, no image, no style, no budget, just looking to your heart, finding a power in your own loneliness and your own creativity that was not only equal to any great rock band or writer of all time, it actually made mincemeat of them all. The Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, they simply could not compete against one poor loser in a bedroom with a tape recorder, with the power to level cities to dust with a wave of his hand, with his honesty. So we made our tapes, we took our "technical failings" as a badge of pride to shove in people's faces, and in 2000 I got on a bus w a guitar and moved to Austin TX, where I knew nobody, only the legend of Daniel. If he walked these streets, crying because because being lonely hurts so much, then it was okay for me to do that too. In Austin I found more and more Daniel tapes that I'd never known existed - the best ones, actually.

I first played a gig w Daniel in 1999 at Sidewalk, and a number of other gigs and encounters over the years, but you know how he was, normal friendship or conversation was essentially impossible. Well, for some ludicrous reason, here I am 20 years later, still making songs, recordings, gigs, mistakes and victories. There's no question that my life from age 19 till 43 has been in large part the product of the explosive inspiration of one lonely man, with one of the strangest/mightiest artistic hearts and voices of the 20th century. I join countless fans around the world in thanking you, Daniel Johnston. And thank you to all the people who helped spread his flame (Jeff T and Jeff F high amongst them)! Life and art before discovering Daniel Johnston; life and art after discovering Daniel Johnston: two completely distinct eras.

[Crabwalk]

That is absolutely brilliant.