Hi and Museum of Love

[katzel]

First off let me say Hi! to everyone. I just registered an account to post messages but I've been creeping around the message board for a while now. I totally appreciate the vast amount of knowledge that is shared here and wanted to jump into it head first.

Here's something that has me stumped. On "Museum of Love" Daniel is kind of setting up his mythology and presenting significant moments, statements, objects of his art career. At one point he states "And these are the drawings and his library card and this is the cow". Had he created other songs about cows or made reference to them in his art previous to releasing Yip / Jump because this would have been before he'd recorded "Walking the Cow"...right? Love to hear your thoughts on this.

It doesn't matter how many times I listen to Daniel's music, he's constantly surprising me.

[Thibo]

Hi,

In "Grievances", from the Songs of pain (1981) :"I look for a nice girl and I don't want no cow".
Look at the lyrics, and you will find "Hi How are you", "almost hit by a truck", "you can't buy no respect"(used in Casper). It's the first song of the first album ! The best first song ever.

[katzel]

Totally agree, Grievances is a great first song. Not sure if I think that cow reference would have been enough for him to highlight it in the "Museum of Love" though. It seems more like a "Walking the Cow" reference, like "and here on display is the burden he has been walking all these years".

[gina164]

For Fans reading this:

Your 'burden reference is from this interview from Mondo 2000, right?:

"Daniel Johnston INTERVIEW BY ANDREW HULTKRANS"

 Transcription found here:
http://www.rejectedunknown.com/press/interviews/Mondo2000.htm


EXCERPT~

M2: What does 'walking the cow' mean?

DJ: There was that Borden ice cream that had the little girl walking
the cow on the wrapper. I cut it out and glued it on my notebook. And
later when I picked up my chord organ and started writing songs, I
looked at that and I wrote down 'walking the cow', and when I'd
finished I thought I'd done something pretty cool.

M2: But then later in Key-Punching Joe, you say "I've been singing
the blues and walking the cow." Did walking the cow become like
singin the blues for you?

DJ: What it represented was walking your responsibility. It's like a
burden to me, like walking the cow was bearing your cross. I don't
want to stay here but I'm walking the cow.

M2: So it's sort of living out life; it's sort of carrying on.

DJ: Yeah, that's another song of mine, Living Life.

[katzel]

Good stuff, love the info from that interview. I guess my point is though, like Daniel said, that all happened at the point of Hi, How Are You. Museum of Love was supposedly written before Walking the Cow, before that song and it's meaning became so impressed upon him. So I guess that's why I find it so bizarre, that he included the reference within his "Museum of Love" and the next album later it's like some kind of self fulfilling prophecy, he writes "walking the cow" and it all makes sense, but it seems backwards, right?

[gina164]

WOW... this shows that I do not know the finer details on Dan's songs...I was first attracted to his artwork...and haven't followed lyrics/songs in detail like you...

I wonder now:

Perhaps he drew a pic of himself walking a cow (or envisioned himself doing so?), before writing Museum of Love, and of course - therefore - also before  writing"Walking the Cow"?...and that image of him stuck with him? .... inside of his psyche...that he was walking a COW versus a dog? ...maybe because 'normal people' do not walk cows?...  

and MAYBE? he even drew it before both songs, when he was feeling the feelings he later expressed in the interview? And, when he felt like a hick...and maybe not worth a second look/consideration by a woman like Laurie...or like his image of her?

...perhaps even the act of drawing it (or EVEN thinking it?) left a BIG impression inside of him, so much so that he needed 'to exorcize (sp?) it later, or just wanted to communicate about having those feelings?

I know it is all conjecture...and I hope you can get a bwetter rply, but I actually can see ALL of  that as a potentially viable explanation, because I have a severely manic-depressive (and creative, but not at Dan's caliber) older sis, and I could FULLY imagine that fascinating (but sad to so-called normal people)
scenario happening with her...or someone like her...so, also with Dan- and, having met him, and knowing how my sister's psyche is...I can tell you, he (and she) is very aware of the 'burden of mental illness' ...the abnormality of it...

He did say that he is just a conduit when he draws...that it just flows...and, I saw him draw, at his parents' dining room  table when he still lived with them....and that's certainly how it appeared to take place...
but, I feel - as probably most people would, I imagine - that it flows not only from 'Source,' but also from deep inside his psyche...and it is a catharsis or sorts for him...both to draw and compose...
Well... I also wonder, are you perhaps gathering info for the next film?  
I ask because you are asking a great question...really addressing his psyche!  Love it!
If so, that interview is certainly jam-packed...

[ghostjr.]

The icecream is actually BlueBell "the best icecream in the country"

[gina164]

Neat

So, Dan is walking the cow that provides the cream for the best ice cream in the country

NICE!

His symbols often have mutilpe layers/connotations.