Music Charger
1. Daniel Johnston – Impossible Love
What more can I write about Daniel Johnston that haven’t been written? Johnston is both a musical genius and a sad story. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. On top of that he took way too many drugs than he could ever handle, which unsurprisingly only made his mental condition even worse.
Johnston was deeply in love with Laurie Allen, which was his long-time muse and obsession. He had never denied that a great deal of his song are greatly inspired by her.
His love to Laurie was indeed an impossible love. Here are a few words from the documentary – Daniel Johnston and the devil:
“He started following her around with a tape recorder and begging Laruie to say ‘I love you Dan’ which eventually she does. She has no idea he is massively obsessed with her. That’s the kind of love that he needed to have. He needed to have a love which he couldn’t successfully connect up with. He had to have a thing he can chase but couldn’t have. So when she marries someone else it was even better because then he can really pine, she was gone.”
2. The Decembrists – We Both Go Down Together
This one is a modern Romeo and Juliet story – two lovers from a different background and an impossible love which is not meant to be. The song title implies for the tragic ending – a possible suicide of the two.
3. Nick Cave – Mermaids
On his last tour (2013) Nick Cave used to host kids choir for a few of his songs. One of these songs was Mermaids. Unfortunately he had a really hard time finding kids for his European tour. Unsurprisingly most of the kids parents weren’t zeal to hear their kids singing lines such as: “I was the match that would fire up her snatch”. Cave is infamous for his graphic and sexual themed lyrics and this song is no exception. I won’t linger about this lyrics because any attempt to interpret Cave’s lyrics will be futile.
4. The Smiths – Hand in Glove
Homosexuality, strangeness, loneliness (all over again). Yada Yada Yada.
5. The Beautiful South – Don’t Marry Her
This song had two small but profound modifications from its original for the radio friendly version. First, the original line was ‘don’t marry her fuck me’. That fact is well-known and It was censored and substituted by ‘have me’. To say the least, the song lost its meaning with only one word. Second the line - ”She’ll grab your sweaty bollocks” Was changed to - ”She’ll grab your Sandra Bullocks”
To be honest, in this case I think the change is even better.
