1990

1990 is the eleventh album by American singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston. It was released in January 1990, through record label Shimmy Disc. Like Continued Story before it, 1990 was intended to be Johnston's first studio album, but had to be completed using live recordings and home demos. Background Writing Daniel Johnston wrote the album over four years between 1984 and 1988. The song "True Love Will Find You in the End" is possibly the earliest and had initially appeared on Johnston's December '84 demo tape Retired Boxer. In December 1985, an earlier version of "Funeral Home" appeared on his Continued Story album; later, in 1987, Johnston released an early version of "Don't Play Cards with Satan" on A Texas Trip.' Johnston had spent the entirety of 1987 living in West Virginia with his parents; he was heavily medicated after a severe mental breakdown in December 1986 and found himself unable to write new material. The track "Some Things Last A Long Time" was co-written with Jad Fair, who Johnston first met in April 1988. Home demo versions of the songs "Held The Hand," "Don't Play Cards With Satan", and "Lord Give Me Hope" appeared on Johnston's Merry Christmas tape, released in December 1988. 1990 also features a cover of the Paul McCartney composition "Got To Get You Into My Life" (credited to Lennon/McCartney.) McCartney stated he had written the song about marijuana, which had been earlier covered in Johnston's song "Pot-Head" on Songs of Pain. Johnston had been regularly smoking marijuana with his then manager before his mental breakdown in 1986.