Fab Creative Advice

Don't just stand there! Plus a reset update on counting your glimmers, and The Heard!

Mostly the creative advice explored here in TAoN is rooted in attention, engagement, noticing what others have missed. But I can’t resist breaking form a bit, to share something I’ve been thinking about — a mini lesson on creating from George Harrison.

This comes by way of Tom Petty, who once shared the following little anecdote:

George Harrison and I were once in a car and the Beatles song “You Can’t Do That” came on, with that great riff in the beginning on the 12-string. He goes, “I came up with that.” And I said, “Really? How?” He said, “I was just standing there and thought, ‘I’ve got to do something!’ ”

Surely it can’t be that easy, or we’d all be in the Fab Four, right? And as Petty adds: “That was part of that Beatles magic — they all seemed to find the right thing to play.”

But, really, on some level, isn’t “I’ve got to do something” pretty much the entire story of creating, in basically any context? And doesn’t it so often seem that it’s the very hardest step to take? Is it remarkable to come up with something on the spot — or is that just how creating, large or small, inevitably happens? And wouldn’t it always be easier to just stand there?

The anecdote “pretty much sums [George] up,” Petty said. “He just had a way of getting right to the business.” There’s a lesson in that, or a reminder, whether you aspire to fab-ness or just personal satisfaction: Do something is the only way to get there.

Footnotes: Admittedly, “You Can’t Do That” may not be top-tier Beatles, but that 12-string riff really is terrific. Also: I can’t remember where I originally read Petty’s anecdote; I think it was Rolling Stone. But this Beatles fan site is the only place I can find it now. The entry on “You Can’t Do That” also notes that the 1964 recording “featured George Harrison’s first prominent use of his new Rickenbacker 12 string guitar, given to him while in New York for The Ed Sullivan Show.” Here’s a live version:

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GLIMMERS

A quick (but useful) follow-up to the recent post about personal resets: