Daniel Johnston "Tears"

I'm not going to sit here and list all of Daniel Johnston's accomplishments or the effect he has had on so many artists. His music has been covered by the likes of Beck, Yo La Tengo, Wilco, Sonic Youth, TV On The Radio, M. Ward, Flaming Lips, Death Cab For Cutie, and Bright Eyes just to name a few. Instead I will tell you that his new album is called Is And Always Was and was conceived with help from producer/musician Jason Falkner, who besides his own solo career has worked with Paul McCartney, Beck, and Air.

It is often said that Daniel's music has a way of removing the listener from reality and transporting them into his own world where demons and devils do battle, and songs of love, and love lost reign supreme. I always felt that "Story of An Artist" was one of the most sad and tragic songs in his long catalog of music. So imagine my surprise when I heard "Tears" for the first time this past Friday night, and found myself fighting back tears of my own, and once again trapped inside Daniel's world.

I will close this post by saying there is a short list of things that make me cry. -The end of Cool Runnings, pretty much any Rocky with the exception of 4 and 5, game 5 of the 1994 playoffs Bulls vs. Knicks and the infamous phantom call against Pippen, Hugh Masekela's "Unohilo" and most recently the end of Be Kind Rewind. Okay so maybe it's not such a short list if you add in Old Yeller & now DJ's "Tears." What can I say... I feel deeply.