Maybe I could have titled this Contentedness isn't creative. Or maybe it's that old four letter word so many people fear: Change Is Creative. Status Quo Creates Stagnation.

A point you made, Dave, is one I find anything but "the truth:" You referred to an artist who said that "it is because he has the ability to see the truth in the world that he gets sad." I don't buy that for a minute. That's much like people who brag that they are honest, who rarely say a good thing about anyone or anything.. The "Truth" isn't necessarily depressing. It's just the "Truth." And Honesty isn't negative or positive. It's just Honesty. As my youngest son says, whenever he hears anyone say, "I tell it like it is," or "I'm not afraid to tell the truth," he heads for the nearest door. He knows that it's going to be negative or judgmental. That isn't because the "truth" or "honesty" are negative (or positive.) The person is just revealing their own attitude toward life. It's funny to me that people who try to be self-protective are so revealing about themselves in the things that they say.

It's true, too, as someone said: you can write a basically happy song when you are feeling negative about your life. Sometimes, writing the song, or playing a song can be the catalyst for lifting yourself out of a depressed state by giving you a perspective you need.

I think that great songs, poetry, novels and paintings can be (and are) created in any state of mind, from depressed to joyful. They may not necessarily reflect the state of mind. I agree with Susan in that I think that songs created in misery or great unhappiness are most commonly self-reflective and inward looking. Almost by definition. Many great, great works of art have been created in that state. Some have come from an artist who's life is tortured. I think that it is difficult to write outward-looking songs when you are depressed. Great art can also celebrate life, and that usually requires being able to look beyond yourself and the moment.

And no, Art, it wasn't you who made the comment to me. It was another loving and loved friend of many years, Pat Conte. But, one of Pat's great loves in music is blues. I was never a blues writer, even when I was miserable. If anything, I ended up writing songs recalling times when I wasn't miserable, just as a healthy release. I wrote a line in a song I never finished to my satisfaction that said that I could only go back to the good times in my life in a song.

Great art lasts. That includes you, Art. And what wonderful news. Makes me feel like writing a song!

Jerry