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2. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances" (1983)
Album: Yip Jump Music
This is another one that sounds like it could have been an anthem strong enough to sway a stadium had it not been sung by Daniel Johnston and played on a chord organ. But there's a charm even in Daniel's cracking voice, and as he encourages his non-existent audience to "sing it!" it sinks in that this song is perfect exactly how it is.
3. "Crazy Love" (1994)
Album: Fun
That term "crazy love" has never felt quite like this. By this point in his life, Daniel has been through a lot, and you can hear it in his voice. Taking heavy breaths between lines, Daniel sounds like he lost that lively yelp from his younger days, but that innocent and simple lyricism is still there. Instead of sounding like a song written for a girl, it sounds like a song more fitting to sing if you're sitting alone in the dark, rocking back and forth and picking at the carpet, overwhelmed by being in love with a girl you can't have.
4. "Loner" (1982)
Album: Don't Be Scared
"Loner" is one of a handful of Daniel Johnston songs that strangely resembles a Beatles song, or at least the more distant, maladjusted cousin of a Beatles song. You can even hear a little John Lennon touch to Johnston's voice when he sings "oh yeaaah" during his verses. An anthem for all outcasts, it's the songs like this one that connect Daniel Johnston to his biggest fans, and it's the songs like this one that will ensure that he will have a cult following for many years to come.
5. "Walking the Cow" (1983)
Album: Hi, How Are You
On the song "Go," Daniel Johnston sings, "Someone once said that life is like a cow, but I don't know how it applies." On "Walking the Cow," it seems to be another struggle to figure out what, exactly, to do with this cow. It's a classic example of Daniel's early, lo-fi pop masterpieces disguised as sloppy chord organ music.
6. "Devil Town" (1990)
Album: 1990
Perhaps unfinished because of the troubles with geting this album recorded while Daniel struggled with mental disorder, "Devil Town" features nothing but Daniel's lonely, vulnerable delivery. For any other artist, this might come across as one of those weird random cuts from an album that never made sense. For Daniel Johnston, the one-minute acapella has become a fan-favorite that, without fail, will convert an entire audience at any Johnston concert into a sing-along. Sidenote: the Bright Eyes cover is filled out musically and is also great.
7. "Casper the Friendly Ghost" (1983)
Album: Yip Jump Music
On the surface, "Casper the Friendly Ghost" is a playful song, played on a chord organ and recorded on a home recorder, but upon more careful listening it becomes clear that it's full of inner turmoil and confessions of an outsider. Casper was a character Daniel visited often with his music, and the undertones of death and not being accepted make this lighthearted theme sit heavy and a become slightly unsettling.
8. "Man Obsessed" (1982)
Album: The What of Whom
This is one of Daniel's many songs about Laurie, and while the death imagery is strong, it's not all just a bunch of dramatic symbolism—Laurie is an actual woman that Daniel had a crush on, but she was already engaged... to an undertaker. It sounds like something out of a dark sitcom, but it's a true story and it's one that led to some slightly twisted and highly unique music.
9. "Some Things Last a Long Time" (1990)
Album: 1990
During the making of 1990, Daniel Johnston became interrupted by a worsening of his mental condition. It's a sporadic, half-finished album with flashes of clarity, and none is more whole than "Some Things Last a Long Time." The song keeps extra to a minimum, mostly driven by a lone piano and Daniel's echoing, earnest vocals. Not all of Daniel's work is better off for better recording quality, but the lack of recorder buzzing makes this stand apart as one of Daniel's most fully realized and powerful songs.
10. "Grievances" (1981)
Album: Songs of Pain
As a melody, "Grievances" is as sturdy and alive as "Linus and Lucy," but this welcoming piano provides a stark contrast to the tragic lyrics. "And I saw you at the funeral, you were standing there like a temple/I said hi, how are you, hello/And I pulled up a casket and crawled in/Yes I did," Johnston sings bluntly and matter-of-factly, as if he was singing about ladybugs or sweaters. That contrast between the sound and the message—both bleeding through the fuzzy, lo-fi recording—somehow makes this one sound even more painfully striking in a very Daniel Johnston kind of way.
11. "True Love Will Find You in the End" (1990)
Album: 1990
Most of us in the world live in a comfortable middle ground that doesn't seem to exist for Daniel Johnston. While this drives Johnston into some dark directions with his lyrics, "True Love Will Find You in the End" goes to the opposite extreme with an optimistic, romanticized notion of love and hope and not giving up. But Johnston's shaky voice isn't very convincing—instead he sounds resigned, detached, exhausted, and pained. And then you start to wonder exactly what "the end" is. The thing that has always been interesting about this song is how greatly listeners' interpretations vary. Some take it as the most uplifting of Daniel's entire catalog, and some see it as the most tragic. All things considered, that seems about right for a Daniel Johnston song.
