I had a dream where Aimee Mann and Neil Finn were both sitting out at the edge of my front lawn. Out by the curb. Chilling.
They were talking about my songs. They were discussing in low voices which parts of which of my songs had been ripped off from each of them.
Now, let me say in my defense that prior to all this happening, I wouldn't have particularly considered any of my particular songs to have been particularly "ripped off" from any of their particular songs. Not particularly. Perhaps a vague mood or vibe in common. Perhaps an overall strong emphasis on song-first melodicism. But then, listening to these two...! Each speaking so knowledgeably yet so off-handedly, citing all these detailed instances from song to song! I began to doubt myself. The most convincing thing was how each named more than their fair share of the other person's songs*, as having been ripped off. Clearly each songwriter had a deep familiarity and appreciation for the other's catalogue - something I've always suspected, but was glad to see confirmed! Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances.
All this time, I stood awkwardly by (having just brought each of us a tall, dew-beaded glass of fresh-made cloudy-pale iced lemonade) at a respectful distance - but Neil Finn kept throwing me a dire sidelong glint out of the squinting corner of his eye. Which kept backing me off.
So I stood there nursing my own glass of lemonade. Aimee Mann looked at me as one would at a worm and asked "didn't you put anything in this?" Neil took one sip of his, made a barely-perceptible face and put it down on the curb.
I took a long draw of mine and responded, defiantly: "It's delicious as-is."
This won a brief look of grudging respect from each of them.
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