My introduction to this week's tune is, for what seems like the millionth time, my darling daughter, who ever so kindly sent me a burned CD of this week's album, which I instantly fell in love with. Of the nineteen songs on the album, I counted nine that have made it onto my favorites playlist...which for an album that probably sold four copies is pretty impressive....
I wrote about Beck in Vol. CXXXIX, and in the eight years since I wrote that post his career has been surprisingly quiet. He's released two more albums, won three more Grammy Awards (nominated for six), and appears to have mostly collaborated with numerous other artists on one off projects. A list of his releases is here, and a list of his awards (the guy must literally have spent half his life at awards ceremonies) is here.
A brief note about Daniel Johnston, the man behind this week's tune and album: despite suffering from bipolar disorder and spending parts of his life in mental institutions, Johnston carved out a career in the music industry (big assist from Kurt Cobain) that spanned over forty years. He got his start by recording his own cassettes and handing them out to people to listen to, even when he worked at a McDonalds. He also created visual art that was displayed in galleries around the world. For his career, Johnston released twenty studio albums, twelve of which were cassettes he recorded himself. Sadly, he passed away in 2019 from a heart attack.
Fun Fact: Among the numerous awards won by Beck was a Hungarian Music Award in 2015 for the International Alternative Music of the Year. And you know just how big your career has become when you're getting awards from Hungary....
"True Love Will Find You in the End" was the tenth song on the rather ascertained entitled 2004 compilation The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered [Ed. Note: Despite the use of the world "Late" in the title, Johnston was very much alive when it was released]. The song was not released as a single, and near as I can tell, the album did not chart.
A harmonica. Acoustic guitar. Bongos (heard them while doing my half-assed research!). Beck's vocals. Three minutes, twenty-three seconds. And it is a work of sheer brilliance, because Beck manages to convey all the hope and wisdom that that seven little words can muster: true love will find you in the end (whether or not that's actually the case, on the other hand....). I've noted a time or two before how well simplicity can play in music, and this is a shining example of it. I also noticed as I listened this week how much it sounded like it could have been on Bob Dylan's debut album--there's a starkness coupled with hopeful hubris that reminds me of the youthful Dylan. In the end, it's another reminder of the legacy of folk music in America, a legacy that will continue as long as folks are making music.
Lyric Sheet: "This is a promise with a catch/Only if you're looking will it find you..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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