A long time ago in a galaxy far far away,
John Lennon found a time machine and ended up at
Beethoven's crib, circa 1817. They hung out and talked and had a good time. As John Lennon was leaving, Beethoven tapped him on the shoulder and said, "John, this is of the utmost importance! Don't forget this:
you don't know shit about music or what makes it good."
John was a little taken aback, and to be frank, a tad
offended.
"Okay, Weegi. How do YOU know that I don't know shit about music?"
Then
Mozart showed up and said, "Because HE don't know shit about music either!"
Suddenly,
Jimi Hendrix and
Robert Johnson were there. They proudly proclaimed "Hey! We don't know shit either!"
Miles Davis popped in and owned up to his total lack of knowledge.
Then of course,
Bach showed up. And everyone realized all at once that they owed their very
musical existence to him, and they all listened intently to what the immortal god of
harmony had to say.
"Guys, guys, guys..." Bach intoned. "You have to understand that it is you of all people who know more about music than anyone else!"
John Lennon said, "But,
Maestro Bach! We don't know shit about music!"
Bach smiled, raised a glass and said "The very fact that you all understand that you don't know shit about music tells me that you know more about music than he who thinks he knows
everything."
The moral of the story is: You have to know what you don't know about
music before you can pretend to know anything about music.