Hi, How Are You | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 1983 | |||
Recorded | September 1983 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 30:38 | |||
Label |
| |||
Producer | Daniel Johnston | |||
Daniel Johnston chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album is the sixth self-released music cassette album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded in September 1983. The subtitle refers to the length of the album; Johnston had intended for it to be an hour-long release, [2] as a majority of his earlier releases were.
On September 1, 1983, Daniel Johnston was evicted from his brother Dick's home in Houston, Texas. Daniel had been living with Dick throughout the summer and recorded his previous album Yip/Jump Music in the garage. Following his eviction, Margie Johnston, his sister, let Daniel live with her in her San Marcos home, where he worked in pizza delivery. [3] Margie did not have any extra furniture for Daniel, so they bought a mattress which was placed on a floor for him to sleep on. Margie notes that Daniel thrived in this environment because he was allowed to make a mess. [4]
The backing music to the song "Desperate Man Blues" comes from a song by Johnny Dankworth titled "Desperate Dan" from the album England's Ambassador of Jazz, which Johnston owned. The track resonated heavily with Johnston, leading to its inclusion on the album. [4]
The album is one of the most sonically varied of Johnston's early output. While earlier records found him focusing on piano or chord organ songs almost exclusively, this album blends both approaches along with experiments in tape and noise collage, and some tentative playing on a stringed instrument, referred to as a guitar, a toy guitar, or a ukulele. [5]
The album's artwork is a sketch of "Jeremiah the Frog of Innosense" (sic), [6] a character created by Johnston inspired by an old rubber stamp box he discovered while working at AstroWorld that previous summer. The box featured a picture of a frog along with the text "Hi, How Are You?". Johnston became inspired by the phrase and remembered that he had previously used it in his song "Grievances", from Songs of Pain .
Since he had already called back to "Grievances" countless times throughout his previous tapes, he felt it was only appropriate to continue to use the phrase as yet another call-back. "Jeremiah", the frog's name, was taken from the song "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night, which opens with the lyric, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog." [7]
Daniel would promote the album through handing out copies to people he met. One individual given a copy of the album was Kathy McCarty, who said that "That weird kid is probably the only genius I've met in my life!" [8]
This was the first Daniel Johnston album to be given a widely distributed release as a vinyl LP; it was released on Homestead Records in 1988. [9]
In the 1988 Richard Linklater film It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books , the unnamed main character is handed a tape by another unnamed character, played by Johnston. In the next scene, the main character listens to snippets of the album in his apartment. [12]
In 1988, when the album was pressed on LP by Homestead Records, Mark Lerario for the Reading Eagle said that it sounded like "A basement tape haphazardly put together by deaf hippies." [13]
The song "Big Business Monkey" appeared in the soundtrack of the 1990 film Slacker . [14]
By 1992 [15] Kurt Cobain began wearing a T-shirt of the album's cover, launching Johnston into mainstream popularity. [16] [17] Two years later, in 1994, Kathy McCarty released her Johnston tribute album, which featured five tracks from Hi How Are You. [18]
In 2006, Ty Burr Globe for the Record-Journal described "Walking the Cow" as "demented and heartbreakingly fragile". [19]
In 2009, the song "Desperate Man Blues" was included in the play Punk Rock .
A 2015 documentary about Johnston, titled Hi, How Are You Daniel Johnston? , was named after the record.
In 2018, the Mayor of Austin, Texas, declared January 22 (Johnston's birthday) to be "Hi, How Are You Day", a day dedicated to mental health awareness funded by the non-profit organisation of the same name. [20]
In 2019, American post-disco duo De Lux released a cover of "Get Yourself Together". [21]
On April 9, 2021, the Johnston estate announced an NFT based on the album's cover. [22]
A mural of the album cover was painted near the Drag by the University of Texas at Austin. In 2024, the surrounding building was demolished but the mural was preserved. [23]
All tracks are written by Daniel Johnston. All tracks produced by Johnston
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Poor You" | 2:03 |
2. | "Big Business Monkey" | 2:02 |
3. | "Walking the Cow" | 3:34 |
4. | "I Picture Myself with a Guitar" | 0:45 |
5. | "Despair Came Knocking" | 2:44 |
6. | "I Am a Baby (In My Universe)" | 1:37 |
7. | "Nervous Love" | 0:18 |
8. | "I'll Never Marry" | 0:21 |
9. | "Get Yourself Together" | 0:32 |
10. | "Running Water" | 1:32 |
Total length: | 15:28 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
11. | "Desperate Man Blues" | 3:40 |
12. | "Hey Joe" | 2:44 |
13. | "She Called Pest Control" | 0:53 |
14. | "Keep Punching Joe" | 3:11 |
15. | "No More Pushing Joe Around" | 4:42 |
Total length: | 15:10 |
Year | Label | Format | Region | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1983 | Self Released | Cassette | USA | |
1986 | Stress Records | |||
1988 | Homestead Records | |||
LP / Cassette | ||||
1991 | CD | Bonus tracks on Continued Story CD issue | ||
2006 | Eternal Yip Eye Music / High Wire Music | |||
2007 | Eternal Yip Eye Music | LP | ||
2009 | CD | USA/Europe | Bonus tracks on Continued Story CD issue | |
2010 | Eye Music | Cassette | USA | |
2011 | Eternal Yip Eye Music | Memory Stick | ||
2012 | Eye Music | Cassette | ||
2017 | Eternal Yip Eye Music | |||
2018 | Feraltone | LP | 3xLP box set containing Hi How Are You and Yip/Jump Music | |
2019 | Eternal Yip Eye Music | Cassette |
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establishment persona, his compositions widened the thematic conventions of mainstream rock music. He was heralded as a spokesman of Generation X and is widely recognized as one of the most influential alternative rock musicians.
Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Founded by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, the band went through a succession of drummers, most notably Chad Channing, before recruiting Dave Grohl in 1990. Nirvana's success popularized alternative rock, and they were often referenced as the figurehead band of Generation X. Despite a short mainstream career spanning only three years, their music maintains a popular following and continues to influence modern rock culture.
Daniel Dale Johnston was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded alone in his home, and his music was frequently cited for its "pure" and "childlike" qualities.
"Been a Son" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It was originally released on the Blew EP in November 1989, which charted at number 15 on the UK Indie Singles chart.
Mary Lou Lord is an indie folk musician who started out performing as a busker in Boston.
Songs of Pain is the first album by folk singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded on a simple tape recorder and released on Compact Cassette. Johnston recorded these songs in the basement of his parents' house in West Virginia. Johnston recorded the tape between 1980 and 1981, and it was later mass produced on cassette by Stress Records in 1988, and on Compact Disc in 2003 by the label Dual Tone, together with More Songs of Pain as Early Recordings Volume 1.
Don't Be Scared is singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston's second self-released album, released in 1982. 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.
More Songs of Pain is the fourth self-released music cassette album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded late 1982 and early 1983. The album was re-released on cassette in 1988 by Stress records, made available in downloadable mp3 format by Emusic in 2000, and in 2003 released on CD by Dual Tone, as the second half of the compilation Early Recordings Volume 1.
Yip/Jump Music is the fifth self-released music cassette album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded over the summer 1983. The album was re-released on cassette in 1986 by Stress records, and in 1988 released on CD and double LP by Homestead Records. The album has been re-released twice by Eternal Yip Eye Music: once in 2003 on CD and CD-R, and once in 2007 as a double vinyl LP.
It's Spooky is a collaborative album by musicians Jad Fair and Daniel Johnston. It was first released in 1989 on 50 Skidillion Watts Records, under the title Jad Fair and Daniel Johnston. Although receiving praise from critics and fans alike, the record was commercially overlooked. Both Johnston and Fair play the majority of instruments, including vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards and drums.
"Walking the Cow" is a song written and recorded by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston from his 1983 album Hi, How Are You. The title was inspired by an illustration on a wrapper for Blue Bell ice cream depicting a young girl attempting to lead a reluctant cow by its reins.
Glass Eye were an influential art rock group based in Austin, Texas, and were primarily active from 1983 to 1993. Popular in Austin, and on the college radio and tour circuit, the band's unusual and unique musical style, blending melodic hooks with dissonance and occasional tendencies for the avant-garde, delighted critics. Considered "one of Austin's most popular and influential bands", their commercial success never matched their critical acclaim. Through self-release, and being signed to Wrestler and Bar/None Records, they released four LPs, two EPs and one single, and when the band regrouped in 2006, they released their previously lost final LP, Every Woman's Fantasy, on their own label, Glass Eye Records.
Artistic Vice is the first studio album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, and his twelfth overall, counting his nine widely distributed demo tapes, two earlier aborted attempts at studio albums,, and collaboration with Jad Fair, It's Spooky. It was his first full-length album recorded after a three-year hiatus. The album is considered more light-hearted than its predecessor, 1990.
1990 is the eleventh album by American singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston. It was released in January 1990, through record label Shimmy Disc. Like Continued Story before it, 1990 was intended to be Johnston's first studio album, but had to be completed using live recordings and home demos.
Fun is the second studio album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, and his thirteenth album overall. It was his first major label release, as well as his only album for Atlantic Records. The album was produced by Butthole Surfers member Paul Leary. Two years after the release, Johnston was dropped from the Atlantic Records label.
Hi, How Are You is a third-person platform game that is based on the art and music of Daniel Johnston. It was developed by Peter Franco and Stephen Broumley of Dr Fun Fun and Smashing Studios for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Players control Jeremiah the frog and navigate platform mazes in order to win back his true love from Satan.
Retired Boxer is the seventh self-released music cassette album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded in 1984. The album's nine songs are performed in Johnston's usual confessional piano ballad style. This album, like those before it, was recorded with a consumer grade tape player. Evidence of this is found in the warbling tape hiss and distortion.
Continued Story is the ninth self-released album by Daniel Johnston, released on cassette tape in 1985. The album includes a cover of the Beatles song "I Saw Her Standing There". It was released on CD in 1991 by Homestead Records and re-released in 2003 on a dual-album CD, along with the 1983 album Hi, How Are You, by Johnston's own label, Eternal Yip Eye Music.
Merry Christmas is the tenth self-released music cassette album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded in 1988. The back of the cover features a typed message from Daniel: "Thanks to everyone who's helped in the past year, especially those who have bought and played my album. Thanks again."
Dead Dog's Eyeball: Songs of Daniel Johnston is an album by the American musician Kathy McCarty, released in 1994. It contains 19 renditions of songs written by Daniel Johnston. McCarty became aware of Johnston when he opened for her former band, Glass Eye, in 1985. McCarty supported the album with a North American tour. An EP of additional Johnston material, Sorry Entertainer, was released in 1995. Dead Dog's Eyeball was reissued in 2005, with bonus tracks and videos. Johnston and his parents were fans of the album.
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