hypersongs

Retired Boxer

His seventh self-released cassette: nine songs on a consumer tape player, closing with a guitar song.
Daniel Johnston, 1984

Retired Boxer, his seventh self-released cassette album, was recorded in Austin in December 1984 and released that month. All nine songs, 30:05, were written and produced by Johnston, who played everything: confessional piano ballads on a consumer tape player, and an acoustic guitar for the last track. The title came after a concussion in a carnival fight, and the cover shows his character Joe the Boxer. Louis Black of The Austin Chronicle was among those who received copies. Stress Records reissued it in 1987, and Eternal Yip Eye Music issued a CD in 2005 with Respect and a cassette in 2010. Kate Davis released a re-recording of "Strange Boy" from it on January 29, 2021 for the Hi How Are You Project.

Track listing

  1. I'll Do Anything but Break Dance for Ya, Darling
  2. Bye Bye Barbie
  3. Fighting with Myself
  4. Too Young to Die
  5. This Song
  6. Feels Good
  7. Oh No
  8. Strange Boy
  9. True Love Will Find You in the End1:54

More from Daniel Johnston

Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album (1983), Respect (1985), Continued Story (1985), Merry Christmas (1988), 1990 (1990), Artistic Vice (1991), Lost Recordings II (1992), The Lost Recordings (1992), Fun (1994), Frankenstein Love (1998), Fear Yourself (2003), White Magic (2004), Lost And Found (2006), Is And Always Was (2009), Space Ducks: Soundtrack (2012), Alive In New York City (2024)

Sources

  1. Retired Boxer, Wikipedia
  2. Daniel Johnston, Wikipedia