Johnston spent extended periods in psychiatric institutions and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He gathered a local following in the 1980s by passing out tapes of his music while working at a McDonald's in Austin, Texas. His cult status was propelled when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was seen wearing a T-shirt that featured artwork from Johnston's 1983 album Hi, How Are You. In 2005, Johnston was the subject of the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston.
His songs were typically painfully direct, and often display a disturbing blend of childlike naïvete with darker, "spooky" themes. Johnston's singing voice is rather high-pitched, and his performances often seem faltering or uncertain; pitchfork writes that Johnston's recordings range from "spotty to brilliant". He also draws and paints; he is a cult comic book artist and his illustrations have been featured with most of his albums.
Johnston was born in Sacramento, California and grew up in West Virginia, United States, but then moved to Waller, Texas. Johnston suffers from manic depression, and has had varying luck with different treatments. He has been institutionalized for periods.
In the late 1970s, Johnston began recording his songs on a $59 Sony Boombox, singing and playing either guitar, piano or harmonica. He gave tapes of his music to anyone who would take them. Johnston created the comic book inspired art that usually accompanied his own recordings. His debut recording Songs of Pain was released in 1981.
His early songs established a number of themes that would persist through Johnston's career: Unrequited love, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and comic book superheroes, especially Captain America and Jack Kirby's other works. "Joe"—a partly autobiographical character—has been featured in a number of songs. Johnston has cited The Beatles as a prime influence.
A sizable proportion of Johnston's songs throughout the years have dealt with his unrequited love for "Laurie," a girl he became friends with in college, who was the first to encourage him to record his music. The Laurie character quickly assumed the role of the idealized female muse. The real life Laurie Allen married an undertaker, prompting Johnston to write lyrics in which the Laurie figure becomes strongly associated with the imagery of death in addition to her original role as a muse. For example, the song Funeral Home in which Johnston sings that he's "going to a funeral home" represents both the foreknowledge of death and Johnston's desire to be reunited with Laurie, who at the time worked at a funeral home. Laurie Allen has since divorced and filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig arranged a meeting between Allen and Johnston.
Johnston gained a cult following in Austin, Texas. Some regarded Johnston as little more than a quaint curiosity, but others recognized a genuine talent: Johnston has a knack for creating great, catchy melodies, while his lyrics are evocative and often use clever wordplay. His songs have been covered by a number of admirers.
A 1985 MTV special on Austin brought Johnston wider attention, and a number of record stores outside Texas began selling his cassettes.
His music has been acclaimed by David Bowie, Sonic Youth, and Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame praised Johnston's work, and often wore a t-shirt with a Johnston illustration and a caption reading, "Hi How Are You?"
1994 saw the release of Fun on Atlantic Records. The record was produced by Paul Leary of Butthole Surfers, a group who had long supported Johnston, even inviting him to open a number of concerts for them.
In 1993, Johnston painted a mural of the "Hi, How Are You?" frog, also known as Jeremiah after the Three Dog Night song, on the side of the Austin Sound Exchange music store. The site was converted into a Baja Fresh franchise in 2004. Although initial plans called for the mural to be torn down, public outcry caused restaurant owner John Oudt to let the mural stay, at a price of $50,000 in additional costs and lost revenue.
Fun was Johnston's only major-label release, but he has continued writing and recording songs, as well as drawing pictures.
In September 2004, a 2-disc release compilation entitled The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered. Disc one featured covers of Johnston's songs by such prominent artists as Eels, Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, Tom Waits, The Flaming Lips, Bright Eyes, and TV on the Radio, among others. Disc 2 featured Johnston's original tracks.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005) is a documentary by Jeff Feuerzeig about Johnston's life and music, and won the Director's Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
In August 2005, it was reported that Johnston had been experiencing mood swings requiring medical attention. This led to cancellation of his touring schedule. On November 25th, 2005, Johnston was hospitalized for what appeared to be Lithium poisioning (Johnston takes lithium to control his manic depression). His father had found him in an incoherent state and unable to walk. Johnston is recovering and is thought to be out of any immediate danger.
On December 8th, 2005, it was reported that his condition remained "very serious", but on December 23rd, Johnston was released from the hospital. Johnston's family had been told that "Daniel would require long-term medical care and permanent dialysis for kidney failure," however his health dramatically and unexpectedly improved. Johnston died on September 10, 2019.
Tears
Daniel Johnston Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All the lights were bright
You were not around
On my lonely night
And tears were dripping from my eye
And I was feeling like I could die
Packed its bags to go
In a broken dream
It was such a drag
And I could cry like nothing was right
And I could die in the dead of night
And so I cry my tear
So sorry you're not here
My deepest darkest fear
The love that never was
Tears that hate me, tears that fake me
And you know I gotta go
Tears that wake me, tears that have me
And I know you had to go away
All the love we had
Have we all gone mad?
Like a T.V. show
And we were all the cast
Like I would never see you again
Like the dream had just began
And our brains were blocked
To think that we would not
Make it to the shore
What a horrible thought!
Our hearts still beating at the door
And we were just a tired bore
And so I cry my tear
So sorry you're not here
My deepest darkest fear
The love that never was
Tears that hate me, tears that fake me
Don't you know I had to go
Tears that shake me, it's too late for me
Don't you know I love you so
Tears that wake me, tears that have me
It was written in the snow
Tears that fake me, tears that hate me
Don't you know I had to go away
The lyrics to "Tears" by Daniel Johnston depict a feeling of loneliness and heartbreak. The singer describes his sadness and how much he misses the person who is not around. He is wrestling with the pain of love that has left him and it seems as though he fears that he may never find love again. The singer shares his deepest, darkest fear that the love he once had may never return, thus making it the "love that never was".
The song also explores the extent to which emotions can take over us, causing us to think and feel in extremes. The singer says that he could cry endlessly, but it would never make things right. He also suggests that we can feel lost and that the love we once had can feel so far away. Although there is sadness and despair throughout, there is a sense of resilience, as he continues to push through the pain and hopes for a better future.
Overall, this song resonates with those who have experienced heartbreak and feelings of loss. The lyrics serve as a reminder that although love can feel painful, it is important to keep moving forward in hopes of finding the love and happiness that we deserve.
Line by Line Meaning
All the time was sad
I felt sad all the time
All the lights were bright
Even though everything around me was bright, I still felt sad
You were not around
You were not there with me
On my lonely night
I was alone at night
And tears were dripping from my eye
I was crying
And I was feeling like I could die
I felt so sad that I felt like I could die
Love was leaving me
The feeling of love was fading away from me
Packed its bags to go
Love left me
In a broken dream
Love left me in a situation where I felt hopeless
It was such a drag
I felt defeated by the situation
And I could cry like nothing was right
I was so upset that I couldn't see anything positive
And I could die in the dead of night
I was so sad that I felt like I could die during the darkest point in the night
And so I cry my tear
I am crying
So sorry you're not here
I'm sorry that you're not with me
My deepest darkest fear
My greatest fear
The love that never was
The love that never came to fruition
Tears that hate me, tears that fake me
Tears that make me feel worse, tears that aren't genuine
And you know I gotta go
I have to leave
Tears that wake me, tears that have me
Tears that wake me up or make me feel overcome by emotion
And I know you had to go away
I know you had to leave
All the love we had
The love we shared
Have we all gone mad?
Have we all lost our minds?
Like a T.V. show
Like a show on television
And we were all the cast
We were all playing the roles in the story
Like I would never see you again
As if I would never see you again
Like the dream had just began
As if the dream had just started
And our brains were blocked
We couldn't think clearly
To think that we would not
We couldn't imagine that we wouldn't
Make it to the shore
Make it to the end
What a horrible thought!
That would be terrible!
Our hearts still beating at the door
We were still holding on to hope
And we were just a tired bore
We were just exhausted and uninteresting
Don't you know I had to go
You should know that I had to leave
It was written in the snow
It was like it was already decided
Tears that fake me, tears that hate me
Tears that aren't real or make me feel worse
Tears that shake me, it's too late for me
Tears that make me feel overcome with emotion, but it's too late to change the situation
Don't you know I love you so
You should know that I love you so much
Tears that wake me, tears that have me
Tears that wake me up or make me feel overcome by emotion
Tears that fake me, tears that hate me
Tears that aren't real or make me feel worse
Don't you know I had to go away
You should know that I had to leave
Contributed by Gianna B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.