Film & Music: Interview: 'I know the darkness': Daniel Johnston is a lifelong manic depressive. Is that what makes his songs so haunting? And how does he feel about being the subject of a new film? Laura Barton meets the indie icon

• Published in: The Guardian (London)
• Main Author: Interview by Laura Barton
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Guardian News & Media Limited 21.04.2006
• Subjects: Feuerzeig, Jeff; Johnston, Daniel
• ISSN: 0261-3077

A new documentary film, The Devil and [Daniel Johnston], which garnered Jeff Feuerzeig the best director award at last year's Sundance Festival, attempts to relate Johnston's story, from his childhood in West Virginia - where he made Super 8 films, was infatuated with the Beatles, and rebelled against his religious upbringing - to his life today, living at home in Waller, Texas. While the film celebrates Johnston's art and music, it also charts the story of his depression and his manic episodes - hitting his manager over the head with a metal bar, for example, or scaring an elderly lady into jumping out of a window; his obsessions with satan and Casper the Friendly Ghost; the time he took the keys out of a plane while his father was flying it. In particular, the film captures the strain on his ageing parents, who fear what will happen to their son when they can no longer look after him. The Johnston song that echoes through the film is Some Things Last a Long Time, which serves as a curious summation of Johnston's life: the unrequited love that has lasted a lifetime, the mental illness that has lingered almost as long, and the music that has given him a measure of the fame he always craved. Would, though, anyone have taken any notice of Johnston had he not suffered from manic depression? Central to his appeal is the idea that his illness is what makes his work pure and free of artifice - an assumption also made about the likes of Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, Skip Spence and Roky Erickson, of the 13th Floor Elevators, who has also spent time in Texas mental institutions. "It seemed that Daniel's mental illness allowed him to tap into a place where the music and art he was creating was truly unfiltered and I found it mesmerising," Feuerzeig claimed when explaining his reasoning behind making the documentary. "The most important thing in music is absolute honesty," [Jason Pierce] has said. "People like Daniel and Erickson - 'cos they're slightly damaged - have this great ability to touch your heart because they don't know where to stop. When a child hits a piano he makes untainted music, and that's there in Daniel. He goes between extremes of naivety and darkness." The recurrent anecdote in the story of Johnston is that of [Laurie], the girl with whom he tumbled head-over-heels in love when she walked into his classroom at art college. Laurie was engaged to a local undertaker, and she and Johnston were never more than friends, yet in her memory he has found inspiration for dozens of songs. "Oh Laurie, uh? Wanna know about Laurie?" he smiles softly at the mention of her name. "Well, Laurie was a girl that I really liked a lot. When I found her, she already had a boyfriend. But it was just magic. She had a magical quality. It was only over a few months that we would talk, she worked at the store, and she loved me, I know she did. But it was like a sister and a brother type thing, and I was afraid to really try anything. But I was just so obsessed. When I wrote a song I would think of every moment I had with her."