One of my favorite Christian singer/songwriters was recently caught up in a minor kerfuffle about one of his most popular songs. Another Christian recording artist whose platform and audience is much larger covered the song on a new album. Some of the original artist’s more passionate fans (of which I consider myself to be one even though I didn’t have a problem with the cover version) were upset by the new release. They felt that it didn’t do justice to the style of the original, and they wondered aloud through social media why the more popular artist would poach a song from someone with significantly less reach.
The original artist attempted to quell the controversy with a lengthy post online in which he declared the fact that someone else enjoyed his song so much that they wanted to record and release it for themselves to be a great honor—even to the point that he offered insight and feedback as the new version was being produced. Instead of feeling threatened by the cover, he was rejoicing that his words and music would be made available to thousands of more listeners because of the the new version. It was a gracious response, and it’s one of the reasons why he is one of my favorite artists.
It also brought to mind questions I’ve had for sometime about appropriating art. Long before I ever started producing my own writings on a regular basis, I found that certain songs, poems, lyrics, paragraphs, or scenes would resonate with me in such a meaningful way that I would “adopt” them. I would use them for inspiration or encouragement, and I would often pass them on to others in a context that wasn’t necessarily the same as the one envisioned by the original artist. (I still do this fairly often.) To be clear, I’ve never knowingly wielded someone else’s work in a way that was contrary to the original intent. My appropriation of their work likely goes beyond the vision they had when they first created it. Their words or images strike me in a way they may not or could not have foreseen.
Is this wrong? Is this cheap? Is this stealing?
I’ve wondered all these things before.
I wrote this poem as a way of sorting through my questions and as a way of paying homage to all those amazing artists who are so uniquely gifted in saying or showing what I want to say or show but find sometimes that I am unable to.
“My imitation is my gift.”
(Based on the story I referenced at the beginning of this post, it would appear that at least one of those artists agrees with that point of view.)
Enjoy!