Reader question: Please explain “capture one’s imagination” in this sentence: They are looking for a songwriter who can write lyrics that capture one’s imagination. My comments: They’re looking for someone who can write lyrics that fascinate people. If rendered into a song, hopefully people will remember the words and care to listen to the song again and again. To capture the imagination of people is to catch their attention and hopefully for long. Imagination, you see, is one’s ability to dream, fantasize and wonder. To capture that isn’t easy, to say the least. A person’s mind wanders, for all that I know. And therefore for another person, an artist, say, to capture our imagination, really capture it, seizing it like a policeman collaring a thief and not letting go, well, they need to produce a real good piece of work. I mean it must be able to stimulate, entice and fascinate, having also scope enough to take us roaming, travelling with it into the limitless spheres of fantasy and wonder. It’s not easy to describe but it’s something you know when you see it – if, that is, you have a mind that’s actually imaginative. Most people don’t have it. Or, let’s put it another way. Most people can wonder but won’t allow their imagination to travel far. And because of that, they won’t go far in the wild-with-imagination department. This, I am afraid, only makes it all the more harder for others, songwriters included, to try and inspire them. |