Don't Be Scared

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This article is about the Daniel Johnston album. For the John Lennon and Yoko Ono song, see Milk and Honey (album). For the Rip Chords song, see The Rip Chords.
Don't Be Scared
Studio album by
Daniel Johnston
Released1982
RecordedJuly 1982
StudioThe Johnston Residence's Basement, West Virginia
GenreBlues, Outsider, Lo-fi
Length60:37
LabelSelf-released[1]
Stress Records[2]
Eternal Yip Eye Music
ProducerDaniel Johnston
Daniel Johnston chronology
Songs of Pain
(1981) 		Don't Be Scared
(1982) 		The What of Whom
(1982)
Alternative cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[2]
Spin Alternative Record Guide5/10[5]

Don't Be Scared is singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston's second self-released album, released in 1982.[6] It was re-released on cassette in 1989 by Stress Records, a label run by Johnston's friend and manager Jeff Tartakov, on mp3 by emusic.com in 2000, and on CDR by Eternal Yip Eye Music in 2004.

"I Had Lost My Mind" features prominently in the 2005 documentary feature on Johnston's life, The Devil and Daniel Johnston. The song was accompanied in the film by animation created from cels drawn by Johnston in a book that he had intended to submit to a local competition.

Background[edit]

The album was recorded in July 1982, during Johnston's summer vacation between his sophomore and junior years studying at Kent State University. He was 21 at the time.

As with the previous album, Songs of Pain, the recordings were made in his parents' basement in West Virginia, where Johnston was living at the time.[7] Initially, Johnston only produced one copy of this tape, until 1986 when Jeff Tartakov of Stress Records began distributing copies.

Artwork[edit]

The artwork is a drawing of Johnston's 'Polka Dot Underwear Guy' character, with the top of his head removed. The exposed insides of his head represent Johnston's inability to hold anything back artistically, 'spilling forth embarrassingly personal expressions of vulnerability.' The character was when Johnston was in high school, representing anybody 'embattled by life', including Johnston. An evolution of the Polka Dot Underwear Guy, Joe The Boxer, later appeared on the cover of Retired Boxer.[8]

Legacy[edit]

On Kathy McCarty's 1994 tribute album Dead Dog's Eyeball, she featured two songs on Don't Be Scared, "I Had A Dream" and "Going Down".[9] Sparklehorse recorded "My Yoke Is Heavy" for their 2000 EP Distorted Ghost. In 2004, M. Ward covered "Story of an Artist" and Guster "The Sun Shines Down on Me" on The Late Great Daniel Johnston. Two years later, Chris Harford covered the song "Going Down" on another tribute album titled I Killed The Monster.[10] In 2013, Adrian Crowley and James Yorkston recorded a mini-album of Johnston covers titled after and featuring the song "My Yoke Is Heavy" as well as "The Sun Shines Down on Me".[11]

Retrospectives on the album published decades following its release praised "The Story of an Artist" highly; the Tampa Bay Times called it "heartbreaking", while The New Yorker referred to it as "haunting".[12][13]

In 2017, a benefit concert by the Canadian Mental Health foundation was held in tribute to Daniel Johnston and was named after the album.[14]

When Douglas Wolk of Pitchfork reviewed Johnston's first six albums as part of the "Story of an Artist" boxset, "Don't Be Scared" was described as "lacking in quality control", with Wolk calling "Stars on Parade" "plain awful" and the rest of the material "rather samey", save for "The Story of An Artist".[15] Similarly, Trouser Press called the album a "disjointed, a muddy transliteration of some fine songs."[1]

In March 2019, No-Comply Skateshop released a limited edition series of Vans shoes featuring Johnston's artwork, including that of "Don't Be Scared".[16]

David Peisner, writing for The New York Times, included the song "The Story of An Artist" in his "12 essential Daniel Johnston tracks" article.[17] Similarly, Willoughby Thom for The Observer had "The Sun Shines Down on Me" in their top five.[18] For The Miscellany News's retrospective on Johnston, Abby Tarwater described this album (as well as Songs of Pain) as 'strikingly lo-fi and achingly honest, balancing sunny, childlike pop songs with unfiltered musings on love and longing so agonizing that they're often uncomfortable to listen to'.[19] In 2021, the American mystery-comedy television show Only Murders in the Building included the album's title track in its first episode.[20] In May of 2022, Vans produced a second shoe design featuring the album's artwork in a collage with his other tapes.[21] In May of 2023, an exhibit of Johnston's work hosted in Houston's Redbud Gallery was named after the album.[22]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks written and produced by Daniel Johnston.

Side one:

No.TitleLength
1."Going Down"2:57
2."Lost Without a Dame"2:58
3."Harley Man"2:03
4."Something More"3:23
5."Evening Stars"2:04
6."Cold Hard World"3:10
7."I Had a Dream"2:40
8."The Story of an Artist"5:08
9."My Yoke Is Heavy"5:53
Total length:30:16

Side two:

No.TitleLength
10."Stars on Parade"2:42
11."And You Love It"4:01
12."I Had Lost My Mind"1:46
13."The Sun Shines Down on Me"2:50
14."Loner"4:09
15."Don't Be Scared"3:20
16."Lullaby"3:12
17."I Was Alone"4:44
18."Mother Mom Said"3:37
Total length:30:21

Release history[edit]

Year Label Format Region Notes
1986 Stress Records Cassette USA
1989
2004 Eternal Yip Eye Music CD-R
2010 Cassette
Munster Records CD Spain As part of 'The Story Of An Artist', a 6 disc box-set containing Johnston's albums recorded in West Virginia between 1980 - 1983.
LP
2014 Eternal Yip Eye Music Cassette USA

Personnel[edit]

  • Daniel Johnston – vocals, piano

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Daniel Johnston". Trouser Press. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 611.
  3. ^ AllMusic review
  4. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 4. MUZE. p. 667.
  5. ^ Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 200.
  6. ^ "Genius of Love". www.austinchronicle.com.
  7. ^ The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Dr. Jeff Feuerzeig, 2005
  8. ^ Yazdani, Tarssa; Goede, Don (2006). Hi, how are You?: The Life, Art & Music of Daniel Johnston. Last Gasp. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-0-86719-667-2.
  9. ^ K. McCarty - Dead Dog's Eyeball: Songs Of Daniel Johnston (Justine, JUSCD002, 1994)
  10. ^ I Killed The Monster - (Second Shimmy, 0100, 2006)
  11. ^ Adrian Crowley & James Yorkston – My Yoke Is Heavy : The Songs Of Daniel Johnston (Chemikal Underground, PCHEM203CD, 2013)
  12. ^ "The heartbreaking story of Daniel Johnston". Tampa Bay Times.
  13. ^ Baker, Peter C. "Working Through the Sadness of Daniel Johnston's Last —for Now—Tour". The New Yorker.
  14. ^ Fournier, Emelia (24 March 2017). "Local musicians gather to pay tribute to underground folk hero Daniel Johnston – The Manitoban". Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  15. ^ "Daniel Johnston: The Story of an Artist". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  16. ^ "No-Comply Skateshop & Daniel Johnston Team up on Exclusive Vans Collection". HYPEBEAST. 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  17. ^ Peisner, David (2019-09-12). "Daniel Johnston's Essential Songs: Listen to 12 Tracks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  18. ^ "Hi, how are you Daniel Johnston? // The Observer". The Observer. 2019-09-19. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  19. ^ "Enchanting, enigmatic, enduring: RIP Daniel Johnston – The Miscellany News". Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  20. ^ Leung, Yasmine (2021-09-01). "The gripping soundtrack to Only Murders in the Building season 1". HITC. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  21. ^ "Daniel Johnston x Vans Collection Release Date | SneakerNews.com". Sneaker News. 2022-05-06. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  22. ^ New Daniel Johnston exhibit remembers the outsider art of a Texas icon


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