all of the reading i have been doing lately about our belief as a people in demons, witches and the devil... keeps bringing me back to the documentary "the devil and daniel johnston"... daniel is bipolar... if you add to that his childhood steeped in guilt... and experimentation with drugs... you have the recipe for the mr. hyde counterpart of jonathan richman... an artist with a great capacity for feeling and expression. raw lyrics and heavy subject matter... when i listen to daniel sing it's almost as if he is bleeding the words. his cartoons are just as frighteningly beautiful. daniel spent a lot of time deflecting the urging of his family and peers to "be normal"... something many creative people can identify with .... the lyrics-
"Everyone, and friends and family, Saying, "Hey! Get a job!", "Why do you only do that only?, Why are you so odd?, We don't really like what you do., We don't think anyone ever will., It's a problem that you have,And this problem's made you ill."
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"They sit in front of their TV, Saying, "Hey! This is fun!", And they laugh at the artist, Saying, "He doesn't know how to have fun.", The best things in life are truly free, Singing birds and laughing bees, You've got me wrong", says he, The sun don't shine in your TV"
... make so much sense to me. genius is a close sister to insanity... why do i sleep 3 hours a night when i am excited about my work? why do i feel it necessary to photograph a broken television thrown off a bridge? why do i connect every feeling or event to a rolodex of lyrics and songs... I DON'T KNOW! i just know it's the way i am. the way i have always been... it's just something i have to do. and i don't know how to be any other way. when i try to fight it. i get depressed and restless. when i am absorbing and creating i am truly happy. only recently have i been lucky enough to be surrounded by people like myself. that are just as driven by any number of things. they echo this. "i just have to"
"Everyone, and friends and family, Saying, "Hey! Get a job!", "Why do you only do that only?, Why are you so odd?, We don't really like what you do., We don't think anyone ever will., It's a problem that you have,And this problem's made you ill."
&
"They sit in front of their TV, Saying, "Hey! This is fun!", And they laugh at the artist, Saying, "He doesn't know how to have fun.", The best things in life are truly free, Singing birds and laughing bees, You've got me wrong", says he, The sun don't shine in your TV"
... make so much sense to me. genius is a close sister to insanity... why do i sleep 3 hours a night when i am excited about my work? why do i feel it necessary to photograph a broken television thrown off a bridge? why do i connect every feeling or event to a rolodex of lyrics and songs... I DON'T KNOW! i just know it's the way i am. the way i have always been... it's just something i have to do. and i don't know how to be any other way. when i try to fight it. i get depressed and restless. when i am absorbing and creating i am truly happy. only recently have i been lucky enough to be surrounded by people like myself. that are just as driven by any number of things. they echo this. "i just have to"
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