On 23/08/2011 16:18, ClayE wrote:
Maybe there is no such thing as original material. Some songwriters come very close to creating original songs. Lennon and McCartney come to mind. Who else over the past 50 years? Brian Wilson? Simon and Garfunkel? Michael Jackson? Eminem? Madonna? ...several others but it's not a long list.
Well Brian Wilson predicated nearly all his harmonies on the Four Freshmen and latterly filtered that through Hal David and (to a lesser extent) Burt B.
If you need an honest to god original you're probably going to have to go back to Robert Johnson. There are way less than you think. It's like when comedians say there are only really seven jokes in the world and all others are synthesised from them.
Mike