If you haven't already, check out the 'The Devil and Daniel Johnston" documentary, it does a really great job of detailing Daniel's struggles, and give insight into what his songs mean. Casper is a continuing theme through his music and art. He was definitely obsessed with the image, most likely because he identified with being an outsider. Casper was the 'friendly' ghost who no one understood and was shunned by those in his circle for not being scary enough, and shunned by those in the real world because he was a ghost. For a time (especially when the song was orignally written) Daniel was ostrisized by his family and friends for being an outsider, and had not yet been accepted by the music community. While me may have written this as an ode to his favorite cartoon, the similarities between the two should not be overlooked....
If you haven't already, check out the 'The Devil and Daniel Johnston" documentary, it does a really great job of detailing Daniel's struggles, and give insight into what his songs mean. Casper is a continuing theme through his music and art. He was definitely obsessed with the image, most likely because he identified with being an outsider. Casper was the 'friendly' ghost who no one understood and was shunned by those in his circle for not being scary enough, and shunned by those in the real world because he was a ghost. For a time (especially when the song was orignally written) Daniel was ostrisized by his family and friends for being an outsider, and had not yet been accepted by the music community. While me may have written this as an ode to his favorite cartoon, the similarities between the two should not be overlooked....