Last year, I penned a bug-infused tune called “Butterflies.” While attending an edible insect tasting hosted by Denver's Rocky Mountain Micro Ranch, I played it for bug wrangler Wendy Lu McGill. McGill then heard (and shared) a version of Kacey Musgraves' then-unreleased, similarly bug-infused “Butterflies” on NPR. I've been an enormous fan of Musgraves ever since a potential customer first turned me onto her early single “Follow Your Arrow” for a possible graduation singing telegram gig. My friend Kelsey and I went to see the Texas-raised singer at Denver's Bluebird Theater on my 4/20 birthday a few years ago, and it was one of the most fun shows I've ever seen. Musgraves and her gentlemen band covered an eclectic array of artists including Bob Marley, Gnarls Barkley, TLC and Roy Rogers. In between sets, each member of the group showed off a hidden talent: drumstick-juggling, joint-rolling and square dance were among them. They even passed out munchies to the stoner holiday crowd in attendance.
Musgraves and I certainly aren't the only two songwriters to pen songs about the physical sensation known as butterflies in the stomach. Michael Jackson included one on his greatest hits album HIStory. But the timing was auspicious, especially considering my demonstrated appreciation for Musgraves' artistry. Both tunes are love songs with multiple insect allusions/references. And even though the melody of each hook is certainly different, the cadence of the two hooks is eerily similar. Yet neither of us had heard the other's version when we each composed our respective ditty. When two or more scientists in different parts of the world come up with the same idea at the same time (Calculus, oxygen, black holes, the Mobius strip, the existence of the stratosphere and the theory of evolution are examples), it's known as multiple discovery. In her book Big Magic, Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert theorizes that the artistic version of multiple discovery is possible. Maybe that's what happened with Kacey and I. Maybe we tapped the same muse at the same time. I'd like to think so:)
Give Musgraves' recently released version a listen below, and stay tuned for details on my own "Butterflies" release.