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Rating: A story.
A decade of impulses, pressures, alterations, creations; miseries, prayers, mcdonalds, acids, coca cola, ended loves.
Daniel Johnston was-is the most compulsive American writer of the last ten years. Without any fear of contradictory rankings, with a trembling hand, we leave these lines like this; because his rise to myth, his elevation to the songwriter's Olympus is nothing but the commodification of an endless pain, too great for dollars and fame to make him worthy of being anything else.
When his heart left his chest and there were no more reasons, then Daniel, the shy boy, transformed into something else, different. The collections of comics on the dusty piece of furniture and the electric organ are relics of a past that becomes embers, consumed by the urgency of life.
Our words, anyone's words, only soften that mental process of an infinite man, tied to himself with a double thread: reason and sentiment.
Hi how are you?
Simple as drinking a glass of water, unreasonable as 30 acids dissolved on the tongue, the sound of this collection of poems frames a story that too often, always, was not fully understood.
Beyond psycho-sociological investigations, what remains to our ears is embarrassingly true: because the real feat of this white boy, son of a Catholic family, who found his demons more than the right saints in religion, was to lay himself bare before everything and everyone. And so, so much, it was not possible for anyone, ever.
We think of "Casper", the story of the gentle ghost who smiles through his personal hell, as a summary of the entire saga. We think of the friendships in our lives, the potential fragility, the looming collapse, the powerful-weakness of everything that surrounds us.
The superstructure is everything; the rest, what little remains has a mixed taste: hamburger, joy, sadness.
Without words.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Funeral Home (00:54)
Funeral home, funeral home
Going to the funeral home
Got me a coffin shiny and black
I’m goin’ to the funeral and I’m never coming back
Funeral home, funeral home
Going to the funeral home
Got me a coffin shiny and black
I’m goin’ to the funeral and I’m never coming back
Funeral home
Funeral home
15 Poor You (02:05)
Every morning he got up dreading each moment he had to be awake
He’d look at the floor and scribble on gum wrappers
He never found a better way to joke around
The clock would tick, time was slow
There wasn’t anywhere that he wouldn’t go to avoid
Having to see anyone
He’d sit in a chair and lean against the wall
He just didn’t seem to matter much at all
But late at night, he had a savior
In his sleep, in his dreams
She came to him and she said
Poor you, poor you
No one understands you
Poor you, poor you
And every word that everyone would say
Got mumbled up in his head
Like mumblejumble and everywhere he went
It seemed everyone was saying to him
Blah Blah Blah
But late at night, he had a mistress
In his dreams, in his sleep,
And she would say
Poor you, poor you
No one understands you
Poor you, poor you
This story, though not well told, is not that old
It’s not that funny, it’s not that great
But I know it to be true
Because late at night, I have an angel
In my dreams, in my sleep
And as she runs her fingers through my hair
As I lay on her lap and she says
Poor you, poor you
No one understands you
Poor you, poor you
16 Big Business Monkey (02:04)
Big business monkey
Nothing’s funny
Big business monkey
Everything’s money
You sold cheeseburgers with that cashier’s smile
He runs his house like a burger king manager
And the only jokes he knows
Are the ones that’ll put you down
Big business monkey
You’ll take over the world
And you can have it now
But you can’t take it with you
Everything you cling to will rot
And everything you do will be forgot
By everyone you ever tried to impress
17 Walking the Cow (03:36)
Trying to remember,
But my feelings can’t know for sure.
Try to reach out
But it’s gone...
Lucky stars in your eyes...
I’m walking the cow...
I really don’t know how I came here...
I really don’t know why I’m stayin’ here...
Oh, Oh, Oh. I’m walking the cow...
Tried to point my finger,
But the wind keeps blowin’ me around
In circles...circles...
Lucky stars in your eyes...
I’m walking the cow...
I really don’t know what I have to fear...
I really don’t know why I have to care...
Oh, Oh, Oh. I’m walkin’ the cow...
Lucky stars in your eyes...
19 Despair Came Knocking (02:46)
Despair came knocking at my door
And I let her in for a while
She sat on the couch and began smoking
She said nothing
Suddenly I felt tired
I began to feel tired
And all of the sudden
The room seemed dingy and dirty
Despair came knocking
And I let her in for awhile
20 I Am a Baby (In My Universe) (01:39)
I am a baby in my universe
I'll live forever
I am a baby in my universe
I'll live forever
I'm only twenty-two; I'll live forever
I'm only twenty-two; I'll live forever
Forever
I am a baby in my universe
I am a baby in my universe
I'll live forever
I'm only twenty-two; I'll live forever
I'm only twenty-two; I'll live forever
22 I'll Never Marry (00:22)
I’ll never marry; I’ll never wed
Nobody wants to kiss you
When you’re dead
Nobody wants to lie in bed with you
When your flesh is rotting
28 Keep Punching Joe (03:13)
(introduction)
Ladies and gentlemen. He headed out West looking for the best.
And he's here tonight because he's got a lot to get off his chest.
Here he is, ladies and gentlemen. None other than Daniel D Johnston
Thank you. Thank you very much for that lovely introduction. Thank you very much.
a one, a two, a one, a two
Listen, folks, I gotta tell you now
I've been singing the blues and walking the cow
I tell you my soul's like running water
Hot or cold now one or the other
I guess I lean toward the excessive
But that's just the way it is
When you're a manic depressive
An angel appeared to me and told me
If you want love you gotta give
Let me tell you now it's been a long hard summer
And I feel every bit, every bit more dumber
Don't know where it is I'm gonna go
Heard somebody say 'keep punching, Joe'
Keep punching, Joe
Keep punching, Joe
Keep punching
Dial 'P' for pest control
Ah. Now let me tell you about my family
You know they've been right there beside me
Through all this time that I've been low
They've been punching Joe
Keep Punching Joe
Kick him right in the face!
Keep Punching Joe
Kick him. when he's down
Keep Punching Joe
Kick him. Kick him when he's low.
I've got something to get off my chest
I've got something to get off my chest
Yes, I've got something to get off my chest
How am I supposed to give love
If I never got love
And what the heck am I punching for
And how am I to look God in the face
When I feel so much disgrace?
Now, that's better off my chest
Than out of my mind.
Keep punching, Joe! Woo!
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