Gifts from the creative Gods
You don’t always have to create. Sometimes you can just recognize the potential for a great idea in something that already exists.
I believe you can divide the creative process into two fundamental methods, if you will; active and passive creativity. Active: consciously looking for new ideas. And, passive: simply being open to new ideas.
When you look at creativity with this in mind you might see a surprisingly large portion of fresh ideas emerge in this latter, more receptive manner. And one of my favorite categories of creative exploration that demonstrates this quite frequently is song writing.
R&B giant Smokey Robinson didn’t so much concieve the gist of the song “I second that emotion,” he was just open enough to recognize it when it presented itself to him. Legend has it that he overheard a couple arguing. One of the key combatants, responding to the other’s hotly stated feelings, is said to have exclaimed, “I second that emotion.” Bingo. A Motown song is born.
When Dire Straits creative leader, Mark Knopfler was in an appliance store he didn’t just get the inspiration for a song, he heard the lyrics virtually being written for him. It seems two of the heavy lifters who worked in the store were dissing Knopfler with comments such as “we have to move these microwave ovens and custom kitchens,… (and Mr. Rock Star, you)… get your money for nothin’ and your chicks for free,..” etc ., etc., take it to the bridge.
Let’s face it, if these freewheeling creative geniuses, Robinson and Knopfler, and can be open to ideas around them, I guess we mere lunchpail mortals can do it.
No lesser rock star than Leonardo da Vinci’s definition of creativity was observation.
Be open to the gifts that the Gods of creativity send your way. Just be open. So often we miss great ideas simply because we are not receptive to what is presented to us by the universe. (Hey, no Twilight Zone music. We do live in the universe, don’t we?) Why do we miss these creative gifts? Because they don’t align with our preconceptions.
William James once said, “A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.”
If Smokey isn’t open to creative inspiration, we never get to sway to his timeless classic. If Knopfler doesn’t hear a cool lyric from the mouths of these characters with unfulfilled careers, then we never get the song, the famous primitive digitally animated video and Sting’s cameo singing, “I want my,… I want my,… I want my MTV.”
Hey, do you think these appliance movers sued for royalities?
If you have any stories about how songs were written, send them along. Maybe we can start a subcategory in this blog devoted to the subject.
© 2006 Tom Monahan, all rights reserved.
