Billy Wilson

In ‘The Anxiety of Influence’ Harold Bloom talks about 'misprision', the Oedipal desire of the young poet (son) to kill his predessors (father), using the 'weapon' of deliberate misinterpretaion. This willfull misunderstanding facilitates the poets liberation from the influence of his master.Or as Cézanne said "Beware of the influential master" adding "When one imitates a master, the technique of the master strangles the imitator and forms about him a barrier that paralyzes him".I guess I would like to avoid Paralyses. All too often the technique of a songwriter is transparent to his or her influences. This may be impossible to avoid, but when individuality is strangled by a need to sound like an idol, creativity suffers.Both Jody and I seem to have a desire to kill our fathers.