The Daniel Johnston file: Naked Truth, part II

En El idioma imposible, tercera parte de la trilogía de “El día del Watusi”, Francisco Casavella habla de los músicos “penita”, aquellos que “exhibían sin empacho la incompetencia extrema sobre todo lo que no fuera el absoluto”. Y a Daniel Johnston, considerado por muchos un genio compositivo pero desde hace años lisiado en sus facultades mentales a causa de un mal viaje lisérgico, la definición le va que ni pintada. La transcripción literal de la entrevista que con él mantuve, en diciembre de 2003 y a raíz de la publicación de Fear Yourself (Sketchbook / Decoder), tiene como único objetivo constatar nuestro desencuentro (uno más en el haber de la parte interrogante). Obviando el absoluto musical, Barcelona y Texas se mostraron ciertamente incompetentes.
You are quite a prolific songwriter. How is your creative process?
I write all the time.
Could you go a little deeper?
I write all the time, so I am always writing.
And the songs just come to you…
Yes, I am always thinking about them, always writing.
Do you have a particular moment when you feel more creative?
Night and day.
To what extent were the songs you gave to Mark Linkous finished?
I got the songs already written by the time he came. And the last song I wrote was LEAVING IT FOR THE MOMENT…
Are you happy with his production?
Well, what do you think?
I think it’s a great...
You like the album?
Yes.
Alright.
FEAR YOURSELF… Is that some kind of advice for the listener?
Yes, I think it’s an advice.
And what should we be afraid of?
(silence) Yourself.
What part of ourselves?
(long silence) You should be scared when you just said something and you don’t know what you are going to say next. But there is someone deep inside of us making all the decisions and we don’t know who we are.
Is that the subconscious you are talking about?
It really is ourselves but sometimes we do things that are wrong. I think that we should watch, that sometimes we are doing wrong when we think we are doing right, that`s all I am saying.
Is the drawing in the cover of the album reflecting that?
Well, I just thought it was a good title. There’s a lot of people, like your friends, and there is like this party atmosphere and everybody’s partying and having a good time. And in the midst of that is like Hell, they are treating you bad about something, they are giving you Hell about something. But they can’t see the light of day, they just don’t know that they are a bad person. They are getting high on being wrong, they don’t understand that they are mistaken, they don’t see themselves. But if they knew that they are wrong in a certain way, maybe, they would change.
What is your daily schedule nowadays?
Well, I write songs and draw pictures.
All day? I know you enjoy going out one day per week to buy records and comic books…
Yes, it’s like… (silence) How do you know about that?
I read some interviews.
Oh really? (laughs) What’s the echo? Is it here?
It’s a long distance call…
OK.
You are a huge Beatles fan, but have you ever turned to the Fab Four in search of musical inspiration?
Yes, definitely, they are my favourite. For sure, yeah.
And for a living inspiration?
I listen to music the most. I got into the Beatles when I was trying to write my own songs. And I was writing a lot. But once I got into the Beatles, about 1980, the whole music theory of the Beatles and everything really inspired me. Changed my whole life, I just started writing all the time. And other things that happened at the same time… I met a girl whose boyfriend worked at a funeral house and I really liked her a lot, and she told me that she liked my song, and it was at the same time that I was into the Beatles, and because she said she liked my songs I just went crazy and wrote night and day. That kept me going.
I’ve noticed many of your drawings are about Captain America. What do you like about him particularly?
Well, Captain America was drawn by Jack Kirby. And Jack Kirby was one of my favourite comic book artist. When I was young I bought so many comic books of creatures, monsters that drill upon us, stuff like that, without knowing that all the comics that I just kept buying were Jack Kirby comic books. Then I saw this one comic book, Captain America, giant size Captain America, I saw it and I was like wow, Captain America, I got it at the grocery store while I was with my mom shopping, and read it and saw that Captain America was a legend of World War II, and he’s my favourite. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby is always on my mind. It was just Captain America, that’s all I could think about, Captain America. Buying Captain America and stuff. Captain America was my favourite, and Jack Kirby the artist.
Your father being a World War II fighter pilot, how do you feel about the war in Irak?
Well I just wish it was over and they finished it up…
So you’re following John Lennon’s lessons…
No more war? I agree. This is Christmas, a good song for this Christmas.
Definitely.
War is over.
Hopefully.Thank you very much, Mr Johnston.
OK, thank you for calling and take care.
Best of lucks with the album.
Merry Christmas war is over.