ORIGINALITY IN TRUTH
JANUARY 4, 2021
Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. —C.S. Lewis
Being a part of a large family, Christmastime can be a challenge. This year was particularly tricky because of the worldwide pandemic. So we encouraged each other to get more thoughtful and creative rather than spend a bunch of cash.
My youngest brother-in-law introduced me to Mac Miller’s music a few years back, and I loved it. His collaboration with Anderson .Paak “Dang!” became our theme song, so for Christmas I decided I would comp the vibe and make a personal version of the tune about him. I listened to the song analytically — the beat, chord structure, bass line, horn hits, keyboard sounds, all of it — in an attempt to distill the truth about what made the tune so great.
The point was never to recreate the tune note for note. With what I had, I would never be able to do it anyway. So the driving force behind the process was, “There is a _____ element to this song. How would I do that?” For example, there is a funky guitar element to this song. I would do that by putting my Strat on the second pickup and playing groovy octave hits. Another example: there is a sparkling element to this song, I would do that by playing a sparse modern Fender Rhodes part in the upper register while adding some studio bar chimes. And I went step-by-step through all the parts with this in mind.
What came out was a really nice tune that ultimately had very little to do with the original. Aside from having the same tempo, it was almost wholly unrecognizable. It still had most of the elements that made it slap in the first place, but now those elements reflected how I viewed the truth, and that made it original.
This is obviously just one way to approach this concept, but I would encourage any songwriter or producer to try it. It’s an exercise that is worthwhile, fun, and gives you a better command of the sonic palate. And I hope it’ll help you find out what’s truly original about you, like it did for me.