Page 74 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

Creativity versus Talent 65

This painting is not the result of creativity. It's the result of
artistic talent. If this scene looks like the vista that was
copied, then the painter created nothing. God created this
landscape. Or, ironically, if this were farmland, then a farmer
would have "created" much of it with a tractor. The artist with
the brush in this case exhibited talent, not creativity.
In fact, the artist here was my dad, and if I'm not mistaken
his "inspiration" was another painting.

written and first recorded by rocker Van Morrison when he was in a
British Invasion band called Them. The song is called “Gloria.” As I
play that piece of music, I ask people to play rock ’n’ roll trivia with me,
and in nearly every group, someone knows it’s Van Morrison.
Then I immediately play a different version of the same song,
recorded by the American band, The Shadows of Night, who covered
the Van Morrison song and actually had a hit with it in 1967. Some
people guess this.
Then I play yet another version of the song, this time by rocker
Patti Smith who reinvents the song. If you’ve never heard it, not until
the chorus line of “Gloria” do you know it’s that song—it’s very differ-
ent from the original.
Finally in this demonstration, I have a bunch of guys from my ad
agency singing “Gloria” on tape, and I play that for the group.
These four different “artists” demonstrate the four different combi-
nations of creativity and talent.
Van Morrison’s clip demonstrates true creativity—after all, he
wrote the song. He has talent. He can hit the notes and remember the
words. I wish I could do that.
The Shadows of Night did not create the song. They did a cover.
But they hit the notes and remembered the words. They have musical
talent.