True Love Will Find You In The End

[I don't have permission to host the video on my blog, so you can follow the link above to YouTube to watch the full music video. Believe me, I tried.]

This song has been around for a while, but I heard it for the first time last night. It played out through a really dramatic closing scene of a TV show, and I just found it really powerful. I came across this version of the song, covered by Mates of State, and thought the video was really original and definitely worth sharing with you guys. Be sure to give the original version a listen as well though. Personally I prefer the original (which was the one played on 'The Big C' last night,) and I'll share a video of that version as well below.

The original music and lyrics are by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston. His song True Love Will Find You In The End has been covered by countless bands and solo artists, and is one of the most well known tracks in his discography. Johnston's rise in popularity can't be credited to one particular person or event; some of his exposure was actually thanks to the late Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. Kurt would often be seen wearing a t-shirt with Johnston's album artwork on the front of it, reading "Hi, How Are You."

Although Johnston used to tour worldwide, his involvement in the music industry in recent years has been more behind-the-scenes. In 2004 he helped put out a two part album entitled The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered, which features a vast line-up of artists from Tom Waits, to Bright Eyes, to The Flaming Lips, to Beck, just to name a few. One disc features covers of Johnston's songs performed by these artists, while the other disc features his own renditions. Johnston suffers from bipolar disorder, but has managed to put out some really substantial tracks despite those difficulties.

Daniel's a really interesting character; in a 2002 interview with Pitchfork, he talked about his fascination for not only music, but old comic books, even Salvador Dali paintings.

"Now I'm really into Salvador Dali. I mean, I always was, but recently I got a bunch of Salvador Dali books and I bought some postcards and started hanging them on my walls. And like I'm listenin' to The Beatles, smokin', you know, and I'll be looking at these little postcard Salvador Dali paintings on my wall just freakin' out! They just look like they're movin'! When I'm high on... and I'm looking at the wall, it just freaked me out! I mean, those paintings are so loud."

It's nothing short of interesting to hear Johnston rant on about getting stoned, listening to The Beatles while Salvador Dali paintings come to life through the walls, like he's Hunter S. Thompson, and then listen to his mellowing anthem of undying love, True Love Will Find You In The End.

Take a listen.