Retired Boxer

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Retired Boxer is the seventh self-released cassette album by Daniel Johnston, recorded in December 1984 in Austin, Texas. The nine songs are Johnston’s intimate piano ballads, made with a cheap consumer tape player, which gives the record a warm, warbling hiss and rough-edged sound. It runs about 30 minutes.

This was Johnston’s first album made in Austin, where he found new attention. His life that year included a dramatic turn: he disappeared in April 1984 after his mother suggested he be institutionalized, only to reappear on Father’s Day. He bought a moped, worked at a carnival selling corn dogs, and was attacked in a porta-potty incident that left him badly hurt. He found aid at the Austin University Church of Christ, where staff helped him get medical care and housing, and he also worked at McDonald’s. The assault is referenced in the song Bye-Bye Barbie with the line “A knock in the skull sure changes a man.”

Most of the album features Johnston on piano, while the final track, True Love Will Find You In The End, uses acoustic guitar. He was influenced by local Austin guitarists, and the album’s artwork features his Joe The Boxer character from Hi, How Are You. The title Retired Boxer came after the carnival concussion, which made him feel less tough than he had thought.

Johnston handed out copies of Retired Boxer to many people, and they circulated widely in Austin, helped by figures like Louis Black of the Austin Chronicle who heard the music and shared it with others. The song True Love Will Find You in the End has been covered by many artists and was even used in a 2012 Axe commercial. The track Oh No has also been covered.

In 2021, Kate Davis released Strange Boy, a re-recording of Johnston’s album as a benefit for the Hi How Are You Project. The lead single was Oh No, and the release included respect for Johnston’s DIY approach and lyrics. Davis says Johnston’s death during the period of her project influenced her performances, especially the song Too Young To Die, which she dedicated to her father. All songs on Retired Boxer were written and produced by Daniel Johnston.