Stealing Like an Artist: The Creation Story of Driftin’

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In 2012, Austin Kleon wrote an influential little book called ‘Steal Like an Artist.’ “What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.”

The Nu Shooz song ‘Driftin’ is a perfect example of this kind of thinking in action. The song was written in 1987 for the Shooz’s second Atlantic album ‘Told U So.’ My songs usually start with a nice set of chords. ‘Driftin’ was based on two chords one of my friends used to play. I often name music bits: the BB King Lick, the Watchtower Progression, the Stevie Wonder Thing, etc. So the first two chords in Driftin’ are the Azul Chords, named after my late friend and fellow songwriter, Azul Amey.

The harmony (on the word Driftin’) came from some R&B tune I can’t even remember. I just knew I could use that bit for something. And it was that tiny piece that put the song into the Ballad box. Lastly, there was a Jimi Hendrix song called ‘Driftin’ on his album ‘Cry of Love.’ I can’t remember how that piece of DNA drifted into the songwriting process, but that one word fit everything else that was going on…

I remember exactly where I was sitting when this was all coming together. It was late spring. I had a cute little Gibson B-25 on my lap. I’m playing the chords and trying to stuff every nautical oceanic seafaring thing into the lyrics. And during this whole process something happened that was more than stealing. It’s more like borrowing a few lumps of clay from fellow artists, taking it back to the potter’s wheel, spinning and kneading it till it becomes something completely new. My version of Driftin’ bears no resemblance to Jimi’s, but he was definitely along for the ride.

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We loved this song so much that we recorded it twice: first in 1987 on our album ‘Told U So’ and then in 2010 on ‘Pandora’s Box.’

The Sweet Middle

Photo by Brad Switzer on Unsplash

by John Smith

It’s a frightening time to be an artist. On one hand, we have technological capabilities undreamed of thirty years ago. On the other, our lives are so full of distractions it’s a wonder anyone can do anything. Worst of all, it’s impossible to get anyone’s attention these days, not without a million-dollar advertising blitz. Open up the paper, and there are thousands of bands, art exhibits, films, dance performances, a tsunami of artists.

Welcome to the Post-Modern world.

One of the characteristics of Post-Modernism is that all art will be mashed together. The Mona Lisa and Venus DeMilo are Photoshopped into a ’58 Chevy Belair. They’re driving across the surface of the moon while listening to a hybrid of Flatt and Scruggs, Grandmaster Flash, and an Indonesian Monkey Chant.

You get the idea.

In Post-Modernism no one piece of art is more important than any other. Pure genres are dead. Long live the mash-up.

In the midst of this apocalyptic scenario, the conversation around our house lately has been ‘Why do art at all?’

Here’s what we came up with:

1.)  DOING SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN DOING NOTHING.

Sure, doing nothing has its place, say on a Zen retreat. Generally, though, doing nothing is boring. Nature abhors a vacuum, and our own natures abhor it most of all. Time is not constant. The observer influences the result. (Sorry for the oversimplification of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.) When you’re truly engaged, time flies by. There aren’t enough hours in a day. Compare that to its opposite, say the last period of the day before school gets out. We crave engagement, and engagement sets us free.

2.)  ART FEEDS THE MIND, BODY, & SPIRIT

Ask anyone with a career in the arts, and they’ll tell you they have never stopped striving. That’s because no matter what your chosen medium is, there’s always more to learn. Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci — two of the greatest artists in human history — never reached a point where they felt they’d arrived. The great cellist Pablo Casals was still perfecting his technique at age ninety.

That means there’s a lifetime of things to work on, a lifetime of food for the human spirit.

3.)  ART IS FUN

Even if no one ever hears your song or watches your movie or offers you three million dollars for your finger painting, the act of creation FEELS GOOD. It’s like meditation and sports all rolled into one. I’m no scientist, but I’m sure there are measurable effects when a person is creating, changes in heart rate and respiration, different parts of the brain lighting up.

4.)  THE SWEET MIDDLE

Now we come to my personal favorite, what I call The Sweet Middle. Imagine a hamburger, not a cardboard one made by a King, or a Jack, or a Clown. A real, honest-to-God American hamburger.

What’s the best part?

It’s not around the edges of the bun. It’s the middle. Think about it. That’s where the rare meat is, where it’s mixing with the condiments, becoming more than the sum of its parts.

The same is true with making art.

The best part isn’t the beginning of a project, though the initial idea may be exciting. (Some people never get past the idea.) It’s not when it’s finished. A lot of artists I know lose interest in their creations once they’re complete. They’re already on to the next thing.

The best part of a project is when it’s up and running, but it isn’t finished yet. It exists, but still contains possibility. In other words, it’s still in motion.

That’s the best part of the creative process, the Sweet Middle. After lots of soul searching, we realized that’s a good enough reason to keep making stuff, even in our crazy Post-Modern world.