Hey, Freight:

People what makes money out of music are sometimes driven to lead very restrictive lives as far as the music they listen to. Many years ago, the Patons tried to get a couple of my songs into the ears of Willie Nelson and Don Williams. As it turned out, from what I remember, Willie has to be careful about what he listens to, just for fear that he will subconsciously fold a line or a chord progression from someone else's song into one he has written. Certainly George Harrison, among others paid a price for "borrowing" (consciously or subconsciously) a melody from someone else.

I find, much to my amusement that, long after I've written an "original" song, that there are similarities to other existing songs that I've heard. I think that's all right. I never intentionally swipe someone else's melody (well, once I used a traditional melody... of Will The Circle Be Unbroken, in a song that I wrote honoring the songs that came before us. Fortunately, it never made a penny for me, so no one thought to sue me.

As for multi-tasking, most muses seem to have a fairly narrow focus to their strengths. That's why it's best not to buy an album of standards sung by Bill Cosby or William Shatner. A wonderful jazz guitarist I came to know, Sal Salvadore said once that "a musician's style is the summation of his limitations." He made the comment referring to Tal Farlow's limitations as a jazz guitarist. Tal was one of the finest, most creative jazz guitarists to ever live, and yet he worked within his own limitations. We should have such limitations. I can write song lyrics, but only within the framework of a melody, chord progression and rhythm. A friend once got up on stage and read the lyrics to a couple of my songs as if they were poetry. I thought they sounded phenomenally weak as poetry. That's why I am always a little hesitant to share lyrics to songs without the music. They always sound naked to me.

Maybe the greatest blessing is to recognize your limitations, and play to your strengths.

Jerry