Potential

When I'm writing, I often feel that I don't have that much control regarding how «good» the song becomes. To me that is more determined by the indwelling potential of the melodic idea. I just try to bring out whatever is there to bring out, and I often feel that if I abide by the logic, it's as if you could not change a single note to make the melody better or to have it make more sense. If you bring out everything within the melody, and it becomes all that it can be, it's not necessarily your fault as a composer if the song doesn't end up being «better.» In many cases, I would rather blame the melodic idea itself, that it did not have more innate potential.

'Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round' never had within itself to become 'Yesterday' no matter how much you would have worked on it, because it did not have the potential to be anything more than what it is. I feel my job as a composer is to bring out everything within an idea, I can't do much more than that. And if the song then is not «good enough,» I'll just have to move on to the next idea, it's not because I didn't work on it enough. It became all it could be.