Mark Linkous named the song that best describes him

He is in good company with this view. David Bowie also rejected the claim that his music was tied to intelligence and said that one only needed to be “a social being” to be a good writer.

Linkous was a “social animal” of a different sort; indeed, those who knew him felt that he often drifted off into a very private social plane. He floated like a sponge in the ocean, passively soaking up the world and gently wringing it out in his music – music he considered his fitting craft rather than his “calling”. “I think a lot of people have the opportunity to turn what’s in the air into art,” he continued. “Unfortunately, there are great painters and songwriters working at the power plant that we’ll never see or hear.”

Of the songwriters we heard, however, he identified most with one: Neil Young. When asked by NME When asked which song he thought best described him, he settled on the Canadian’s laid-back ballad, “F*!#in’ Up.” First released in 1990, the slacker-rock-inspired song, which Young recorded with Crazy Horses, asks a simple question with a drunken undertone that may provide the explanation: “Why do I always screw up?”

Even the opening lyrics seem to cast a grim light on Linkous’ self-image: “Thoughtless drifter on the road, bearing such a light burden.” Growing up in rural Virginia, Linkous was always aware that trying to take an easier path in life brought its own heavy burdens. But like the song itself, Linkous found solace in his music, and that’s something we can share with a legion of ever-growing fans, even years after his death.

So it is both comforting and sad to realize that his three simple wishes in life were: “To have a baby, to set records that will be recognized, and to own one of the new Moto Guzzi V11 Sports.”

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