Monday, November 13, 2006

Scrambled Eggs*

Fresh off designing the Toaster of the Future, my mind produced another nugget. Half awake, very early Friday morning, the phrase "Don't blame the sun for what your shadow is doing" streamed through my half consciousness.

"I should write that down before I forget it, using the pad and paper I placed on my end table for this specific reason," I thought.

"I am still very tired and don't want to move," I responded, sure that the brain that manufactured the phrase would store it as well.

But does the phrase belong to me, or have I lifted it from somewhere? The closest thing to a match I could Google was "you blame the sun as the cause of the shadows on the wall", a Yo La Tengo lyric from a song I've never heard. Before I start pasting my phrase on inspirational posters, or inserting it into a soaring chorus, I feel the need to confirm its copyright.

*Fun fact: Paul McCartney had a similar problem with the melody of "Yesterday". He woke up with the song in his head, convinced it was already recorded, and was eventually convinced that it was his own. In its draft form, "Yesterday" was "Scrambled Eggs". Same number of syllables, see? Do you see?

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