Surfer troubadour writes quirky uke track for View from a Blue Moon…
I can guess how you feel about the faceless, characterless, middle-aged jams of Jack Johnson. Cutting-edge it ain’t.
You’d need to be thirty-plus to climb back into 2001 and remember how revolutionary his new folk sounded amid the schmaltz of Faith Hill, Matchbox 20 and Celine Dion and the flatulence of Creed and Everclear.
If the black man of 1988 had Straight Outta Compton, the surfer of 2001 had Rodeo Clowns, the song that first appeared on a G Love and Special Sauce LP and, later, on the album Brushfire Fairytales.
Johnson’s cred was further established with the brilliant surf films Thicker than Water in 2000 and The September Sessions the following year that he filmed, scored and starred in.
Today we learn, via Rolling Stone, that Johnson has written a song for the John John Florence and Blake Kueny film View From a Blue Moon.
Let’s examine the quotes.
“Florence is a big music fan; Led Zeppelin, the Talking Heads and Black Sabbath are a few of his favorites. When he was thinking of music for the film, he decided to call in a favor from an old family friend friend: Jack Johnson. ‘We both grew up in the same place,’ says Florence. ‘Our family is really close to his family. He’s kind of like an uncle to me and my brothers. He’s always given me really good tips on life and how to do things.’
“Florence initially asked Johnson if he could use one of his songs in the film, but Johnson topped the idea: ‘He was like, ‘Love the idea of making one for the movie.’ So I was blown away that he really wanted to do it,” says Florence. Johnson sent back Seasick Dream a ukulele-steeped ode to the surfing lifestyle. ‘The song plays with a bunch of clips of when I was really young surfing with my brothers, so it worked out insane,’ says Florence.
“I’ve known John John since he was a baby,” Johnson told Rolling Stone in a statement. “The amount of soul that he is able to put into such high performance surfing is mind blowing … I’m always trying to give him uncle advice about everything besides surfing but he seems to have it pretty figured out.”
Watch Jack, John and Kelly rip Haleiwa together!
And, again, the trailer for View from a Blue Moon
“View From A Blue Moon” Trailer from John John Florence on Vimeo.
I only read rolling stone for the fake rape stories.
I like the part where JJF is swimming. That’s neat.
Does it strike you as odd that great songwriters have a…period… and then are completely unable to fashion another compelling tune? Think Jagger-Richards post 1980, Paul McCartney, and on a lesser plane, Jacky…
nope, because music taste is always changing, whereas artists pretty much stay the same. Best example you ask? John Denver.
The song aint blowing my mind, but man Jack got his surfing chops back, and how! Impressive.
That’s a pretty cool way to get your surf film on Rollingstone.
Everclear – Santa Monica circa 97 was playing somewhere a few weeks ago. Found myself singing/humming along until I had a light bulb moment became embarrassed and promptly stopped the merry noise.