The Life and Times of the Creatively Stunted

We enter the last week of march with the music of one of my favorite songwriters of all time, Daniel Johnston.

When I first heard Daniel Johnston’s music, I don’t think I was ready for it. I kind of wrote it off as lo-fi strangeness, and while I didn’t think it was bad, I wasn’t particularly interested in exploring it any further. Cut to a year and a half later. I read a few little blurbs Tom Waits and Death Cab for Cute had written about their covers for the Late Great Daniel Johnston tribute album, and decided to give his music another listen. In all honesty, I didn’t even realize it was the same artist who I had previously written off until I really started listening.

I was absolutely amazed by what I heard this second time around. Sure, the music is about as roughly recorded as you can possibly get, but there was an honesty and purity to it that I had never really experienced in popular music. It felt as if the trials and heartbreak of a grown man were being expressed with the carefree thought of a child. At the time I didn’t realize how accurate that thought was.

I feel like “Grievances” (from 1980’s Songs Of Pain album) is a great Daniel Johnston primer. The lyrics are simple and poetic, but clearly convey the sense of loneliness Daniel often seems to embody. In the background of all of that, however, is the little beam of hope that frequently goes hand in hand with his darker themes. All set to a terrifically catchy and upbeat piano track. Even in it’s more somber middle section, it’s infectious.

21. Daniel Johnston - Grievances