Tell Me

Every once in a while, I am struck by the fact that theoretically speaking, there is a mathematically limited number of original songs that can ever be written. There are a limited number of notes on the musical scale, which means that there is theoretically a finite number of permutations of how those notes can be combined. There is a finite number of musical instruments, as well, and when you put all of that together, you realize that eventually the world might run out of new melodies.

There are gaping holes in this theory, of course, and even if there weren't, it would likely take millennia to reach the point of exhaustion. But the idea serves only to illustrate my observance, anyhow, of how easy it is to "write" a song that's already been written.

A few years back a friend and I tried to get a band together. We had the worst luck, for some reason, and though we met all kinds of fascinating and odd people, we couldn't find those crucial elements for a successful music group - relatively sane people. So, in the end, we decided to push on ahead by ourselves. We were both fairly proficient at drums, guitar, bass and keys, so we figured, why not? It was easy enough to do in my friend's digital studio and the two of us got along just fine together. So we went with it.

We each came from two almost entirely different musical backgrounds, so our sound was fairly unique. The best way to describe it might be "An Alt-Rock-Blues Cocktail." Consequently, we thought our songs were pretty original, and not all that bad.

We were particularly proud of one guitar riff that my friend wrote as the main line of one of our ballads. It was one of those lines that immediately makes musical sense, like finding yourself standing in front of a giant, circular hole while holding a soccer ball in your hands. It's a very satisfying, "This goes HERE" kind of feeling, and it's a great part of writing music.

Imagine my dismay, then, when someone told me that they had listened to our songs and thought they were pretty good overall - except for the one with the stolen Guns 'n Roses lick.

I was dumbfounded. Not being a Guns 'n Roses fan, I had no idea what he was referring to. My friend was even more clueless - Guns 'n Roses wasn't even in the right generation for him to pay attention to. He had written the guitar line blind. If it was the same as the GnR song, it was pure coincidence.

I listened to the song, which turned out to be Don't Cry, and found this discovery to be 100% true. My friend had mimicked Slash almost to the note. We couldn't believe it.

Things like this make me wonder why it doesn't happen more often that something slips through. If we waited long enough, say a hundred years, would we start hearing songs that are almost entirely lifted from previous songs already written, with no credit given? If we ever do run out of original material, according to my cockamamie theory, that might just be the case.