Eddie Vedder & Chris Cornell on Daniel Johnston, “He Is Better Than Both Of Us” – Tribute
Eddie Vedder paid a beautiful and heartwarming tribute to Daniel Johnston on day 2 of the 2019 Ohana Festival in Dana Point, California (September 28, 2019). Watch the video clip below.
“There was a guy, a great, great songwriter, who we lost less than a month ago,” Vedder said when speaking to the crowd. “I know Glen Hansard and everyone from Kurt Cobain to Lana Del Rey, an endless list of musicians, who were inspired by this man. He lived in Austin, Texas as a kid and started making tapes. Then he put them in a store and made copies of the tapes and the tapes got around to musicians. Before you knew it, everybody was talking and sharing the genius of this young man.
“That was quite a while ago, I think in the mid- to late-80s. He made music until he recently passed. He had a tricky time, but out of that tricky time came some of the most poignant songs and vulnerable heart that I’ve ever heard.”
He continued: “I remember Chris Cornell and I listening to him. We were sitting in this little room in my house where there’s a fireplace and a small couch — it’s not even a couch, it’s like half a couch. I didn’t want to say love seat because it might sound a little weird. But we listened for two hours straight and that turned into four hours and that turned into six hours.
“We were laughing and crying and then smiling so hard that tears were squeezed out of our eyes. We looked at one another, and I’ll never forget, we said, ‘He is better than both of us.’ His name was Daniel Johnston.” READ MORE
