The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005)

The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005)

Directed by Jeff Feuerzeig

I first encountered the music of Daniel Johnston last fall.  A cover of his song “Devil Town” was featured in the pilot for the television version of Friday Night Lights.  It was the single most moving moment I have ever seen in a television show.  Not only that, but it was one of the most beautiful song I had ever heard.  I soon became obsessed.  As it turns out, in 2004 a record was released called The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered.  This album featured 18 of Johnston’s original songs covered by several comtemporary indie bands like TV on the Radio, Death Cab for Cutie, Beck, and Bright Eyes (doing a version of “Devil Town”).  I also found this impressive documentary.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston covers the entire life of American singer/songwriter/artist/performer Daniel Johnston.  For those that don’t know, Daniel Johnston is came to fame in the late 80’s/early 90’s because of his sheer insistance on being known.  He created music in his brother’s Austin, TX garage, recording straight onto cassette tapes.  He would then go to shows and simply hand out copies of his tapes to strangers, complete with hand-drawn album covers and track listings.  He soon began doing live performances, which were highly regarded.  In the late 80’s, he moved to New York City in order to pursue his music career.  He gained even more fame when Kurt Cobain wore a t-shirt with the cover drawing from his album Hi, How Are You during an MTV performance and several photo shoots.  The primary thing that defines Johnston and his music is the fact that he has been diagnosed with Manic Depressive Disorder.  He has had this since he was a teenager.

Johnston was born in 1961 in Southern California.  He moved around a lot as a boy and the family soon settled in West Virginia.  Daniel lived a quiet, “normal” life until he was about 17 or 18.  At this point he began working in a McDonald’s.  There was a girl that he fell in love with and he soon became obsessed with her.  Needless to say, she broke his heart (as all girls are wont to do).  This is when the Manic Depressive Disorder began to rear its head.  Daniel becamed deeply, deeply depressed.  As a boy, Daniel would record everything.  He had tapes of arguments with his parents.  He had tapes of conversations with friends.  He had home movies, he had songs recorded, he had everything taped.  Out of this depression came his first album (or cassette, as the case may be), entitled Songs of Pain, released in 1980.  All songs featured Daniel on piano or organ and he also did vocals.  He taught himself how to play the piano.  He generally released a tape a year for the next few years, including Yip/Jump Music (which included the song “Worried Shoes” which was covered by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s for the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack) and More Songs of Pain.  In 1983, he released Hi, How Are You, during which he claims he almost had a nervous breakdown at his brother’s Austin home.  At this point, Daniel moved back home and was placed in a mental institution.  After a few months, he left for New York.  His album 1990 was soon recorded.  The album was originally supposed to be entirely recorded in a formal studio, but Daniel’s mental illness prevented that.  He was soon arrested for drawing hundreds of fish in the stairwell inside of the Statue of Liberty.  He was then returned to a mental institution near his parents.  It was during this time that Daniel was gianing recognition for his musical prowess and a bidding war soon began for his next album, while he was in the institution.  For the next several years Daniel would leave the institution and go back in.  To this day, he continues to tour the world, surrounded with friends and family to help him.  Apparently a movie deal has been made for a biopic, tentatively to be released in 2011.  He released an album on October 6, 2009 on his own label.

As the movie shows, the greatest thing about Daniel Johnston’s music is his ability to immerse himself in it.  He doesn’t have the greatest voice.  Hell, he doesn’t even have a good voice.  He abilities with guitar and piano are limited at best.  But that doesn’t matter.  His lyrics are brilliant and his delivery is God-like.  The difference between Daniel Johnston and 98% of every other recording artist out there is that Daniel means it, and Daniel means it every single time.  He hardly ever performs a song live more than once because he can’t remember his old songs.  This man makes songs up as he goes.  HE MAKES SONGS UP.  And you know what?  They’re fucking beautiful!  Yea, some of them are crap, but for every crappy song, he has 8 brilliant ones.

I know I kind of rambled on there for a bit, giving you a history of this guy you’ve never heard of.  For that I’m sorry.  But this documentary was amazing.  I really got to know this man and I fell in love with him.  His case is a sad one, but more than that, it’s uplifting.  Please watch this movie.  You owe it to yourself.  It’s a happy, strange, sad, bizarre, inspirational story.