The day John Lennon sat down to write Strawberry Fields Forever, there’s a very high chance he didn’t expect to write what would be considered one of the best songs of all time, even if his ambition was to be regarded as one of the best songwriters of all time.
He was just writing a song, again.
Whatever the domain, if we need the grand vision to manifest in the short-term, we’re simply raising the odds that we’ll end up demoralised and exit the pool. Worse, we’re depriving ourselves of a chance to evolve.
After all, the bad songs that Lennon wrote which never got documented might well be lost in time, but they’re trodden into the pathway that got him to Strawberry Fields.
A good work of art might just be a palimpsest of all the bad ideas you laboured over, but which never quite worked out, which is as good a reason as any to endure the frustration of falling short today.
The Thoughts of Others
“I’m an artist. Give me a tuba, and I’ll get something out of it.” – John Lennon
“Every child is an artist until he’s told he’s not an artist.” – John Lennon
