I'm giving it up so plain, I'm living my life in vain
March 30, 2014 5:45 PM   Subscribe

Daniel Johnston and The Swell Season (Glen Hansard) on Austin City Limits.
posted by Slarty Bartfast (21 comments total) 17 users marked this as a favorite
 
That was lovely. Thanks for posting.
posted by cairnoflore at 6:11 PM on March 30, 2014


I concur -- wonderful arrangement. Thank you very much for sharing this!
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 6:20 PM on March 30, 2014


This is a very nice song, but can someone unpack who Daniel Johnston is and why this is special for those of us unfamiliar with him? His wikipedia page gives me many facts, but I still feel I'm missing a little bit of context here.
posted by jferg at 6:36 PM on March 30, 2014 [2 favorites]


Nice.

My favorite Johnston track.
posted by dobbs at 6:44 PM on March 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


I guess if I'd have read item's link, I might not have been wanting as much explanation. *sigh*
posted by jferg at 6:45 PM on March 30, 2014


Item, did you play on the original recording of this track?
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:46 PM on March 30, 2014


Settin me up nicely for the week, thanks!
posted by mannequito at 6:48 PM on March 30, 2014


jferg, a lot of musicians we admire were inspired by him.
posted by any major dude at 6:56 PM on March 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


Also, he is a musician we admire.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:57 PM on March 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


Gorgeous, lovely, thank you.
posted by Divine_Wino at 6:59 PM on March 30, 2014


Very nice. My first introduction to Daniel Johnston's music was fIREHOSE's cover of Walking The Cow came out when I was in college, which led me to seek out his stuff. I've been a fan ever since.

The Devil & Daniel Johnston is streaming for free over on Crackle if anyone hasn't seen it yet.
posted by KingEdRa at 7:01 PM on March 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


any major dude and Sys Rq: Got that much, thanks. ;-> He's just managed to escape my consciousness until now, and the lack of framing of the post led me to believe that this was apparently a major gap in my musical/cultural knowledge. item's "previously" references are helping me to fill in that gap. My apologies for posting before following links.
posted by jferg at 7:04 PM on March 30, 2014


In my head Daniel Johnston is much better known than Glen Hansard. But I guess I still think of Hansard as the guy from the Frames, not the guy from the hit film (and Broadway show!?!). This was great.
posted by Drab_Parts at 7:33 PM on March 30, 2014


Hansard and Marketa Irglova, in my mind, are responsible for the two most inspirational speeches in Oscar history.
posted by any major dude at 8:11 PM on March 30, 2014 [1 favorite]


I loved it and it made my evening. Thank you for posting.
posted by arcticseal at 8:22 PM on March 30, 2014


If you want a quickie introduction to Daniel's music via covers (often the most palatable way to approach his works as his voice and instrumentation can be a bit of an acquired taste) Radio Free Gunslinger has a most excellent compilation.

I do love Mr. Johnson. If he didn't exist, I feel the world would be much the poorer as he is as close as we may come to the having the apocryphal "Golden Legend" books of the bible come to life. I also love and collect folk, visionary, and outsider art and make it a point to meet the creators thereof so my tastes may be slightly skewed in that direction anyway. item's comment: "most people have a breaking point with Daniel Johnston. I did it for as long as I could and have some very weird memories," is pretty much true for any outsider/visionary artist. I used to tell a ha-ha only serious joke about going to a folk art fest and the that the best artists were always the ones no one wanted to talk to for more than five minutes. Those oddball folks were the real deal, not to be confused with the clever pretenders with acrylic paint and roofing tin, and they were always notable for being as crazy as a bedbug in July.

I've since come to the conclusion that the outsider art movement is a complicated, multi-level con game, and if you don't know which side you're on, sure money is that you're the mark, regardless of wether you're the artist or buyer.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 8:37 PM on March 30, 2014 [3 favorites]


I fubared that link (and made several misspellings, many pardons you'll allow, I hope, since I just got off a ten hour shift), let me try again: This is the Daniel Johnston show.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 10:25 PM on March 30, 2014


(What the hell ACL camera people? I saw zero shots of one half of The Swell Season, Marketa Irglova.)
posted by kmz at 10:55 PM on March 30, 2014


Nicely full circle, because my first full-on Hansardian swoon was when I saw him do a very, very quiet rendition of Johnston's "Devil Town" on some, I think, Irish TV show that I don't think is even floating around anywhere.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 3:41 AM on March 31, 2014


(What the hell ACL camera people? I saw zero shots of one half of The Swell Season, Marketa Irglova.)

(That would be "what the hell ACL director," as it is the director who is calling shots on shows like this)
posted by nevercalm at 4:12 AM on March 31, 2014


but can someone unpack who Daniel Johnston is and why this is special for those of us unfamiliar with him?

I think there's some hyperbole expressed sometimes about his level of genius, but I really liked this performance.
posted by ovvl at 5:41 PM on March 31, 2014


« Older it seems... familiar, somehow.   |   Wow! Newer »


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