Poor You: A cappella. Interesting lyrics. Chorus has a catchy 'kids music' melody.
Big Business Monkey: Seems quasi political. References Burger King. Lyrics are good, though it's hard to realize such at first maybe. The "jumpy/'poundy' rhythm/playing"-style of the organ is very similar to the next track.
Walking the Cow: Absolute classic. Insanely great song. Lyrics I personally 'get' and love. Song begins with a 'sample' of audio from a child's toy (eg, "The cow says moo"). Tiny instrumental lead-in (after said sample intro) is eery, though seems essential. Best song on here. One of Daniel Johnston's top 5 songs.
I Picture Myself without a Car: Creepy. 45 seconds long. Daniel is playing an acoustic guitar off-key (which he will do again repeatedly throughout this album). Melody is good (interesting) but hard to decipher via poor execution/recording. Lyrics are strange, almost nonsensical but that isn't necessarily the case.
Despair Came Knocking: Acoustic guitar again. Sounds like a 'flanger' effect but probably just the lo-fi recording. Kind of a "spoken word over acoustic guitar" thing. Lyrics are straightforward. Sample line: "All of a sudden the room seemed dingy and dirty." In a weird way, maybe the 2nd best song on the album.
I Am a Baby: Track begins with 10 seconds of a vaguely heard ticking clock (or possibly a sound via the tape recording technique. The instrument accompaniment is odd, probably an acoustic guitar but more rhythmically-in-control than the previous acoustic guitar sounds. Very dreary, minor key.
Nervous Love: 18 seconds long. Same-ish acoustic guitar. Ends with a 'psychedelic' vocal-only recording of Daniel saying, "Hi How Are You?" a few times. (Seems funny that the title of the album--and really 'the' 'brand-defining' slogan of Daniel Johnston--is from such a 'throwaway' moment.)
I'll Never Marry: 23 seconds. A cappella with overdubs. Depressing.
Get Yourself Together: 33 seconds. A cappella with knee claps. Slightly less depressing than the last few 'tunes'.
Running Water: A cappella. A focal point of the documentary (when he performs it live right before crashing the small airplane). Great melody, great resolution of the melody line. Lyrics never connected with me like other songs' lyrics connected with me. Ends with a strange tape effect, short loop thing that bleeds into the next song.
Desperate Man Blues: After lead-in, song is basically Daniel singing his own lyrics into the tap recorder alongside an old 'jazzy/big band' instrumental vinyl record. Don't like this track. (2nd Longest song on here at 3:40.)
Hey Joe: Piano and voice. More similar to slightly older albums like Songs of Pain
. I think this is a 'fan favorite'. Not one of my favorites, but I like it. "There's a heaven and there's a star for you" is a sweet lyric. (Connection--if any--to the Jimi Hendrix song of same name is lost on me.)She Called Pest Control: Sing-songy a cappella. Almost like a very short musical story or play treatment (0:53). She said, I said, etc., the end.
Keep Punching Joe: Same deal as "Desperate Man Blues" in that it is Daniel talking/singing over a record playing old-time music. I think people really like these tunes but they are not my favorite 'type' of Daniel Johnston songs. Much like Lennon did with "Glass Onion" (not exactly but sorta) he references the titles of several earlier songs (eg, "Walking the Cow") found on this album.
No More Pushing Joe Around: Is there a concept here? Is this a concept record? I haven't tried to really put it together. Song begins with a boxer's bell and Daniel saying, "Round 2." A cappella. Does a 'mouth motor / vocal jam' thing as a sort of early bridge. Has multiple overdubs. Seems more hopeful, as is obvious by the title. Telling a story. Longest song by far at 4:42. At ~3:40 the song 'ends' and clips of songs from the album are played, most notably (and possibly only) "Walking the Cow" and "Despair Came Knocking."
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