Catching Other People’s Rabbits. (Thoughts On Collaboration)

Ideas are so damn delicate, no?

ESPECIALLY when it comes to collaboration.

Neil Young once likened songwriting to trying to catch a rabbit. They’re easily scared, you want to be gentle with it at first, you don’t want to chase them, you want to give them space to come to you.

“…The idea is, he’s free to come, free to go. Who would want to intimidate or disrespect the source of the rabbit?”

When it comes to collaboration, the question is: What do you do when someone else says they see a rabbit peeking its head out a hole and you don’t see it?

My favorite artists and musicians to hunt with are the ones willing to set their ego aside and be willing to give space to someone else’s rabbit. I mean… sometimes you don’t even see it until the other person has already caught it!

That’s some serious trust.

What the pro’s know, is that nobody gives a damn who saw it first.

If it goes in the stew, everybody eats.

Cheers to Michael Shines for signing his new record deal this week! Man, I love hunting rabbits with this guy.

This is his single Misfit Toys (available everywhere) and when I was tracking bass on it, I saw this tiny rabbit out of the corner of my eye.

“Ok, hear me out… what if, on this super vibey bridge, we throw a slap bass line, wash it out with a space reverb, and a little delay. But get this… we’ll chop two measures out of the middle of the line and reverse the wave-form.”

Michael’s reply: “Catch that rabbit!”

For The Curious…

Rob Morgan is an internationally touring bassist and music director who keeps a weather eye out for the curious. He can be found online at www.therobmorgan.com