All my life I've been compared to people. During school years it might have been friends or family member comparisons but as I've got older the amount of times I've been compared to famous people has been increasing.
The first I remember of this was back when I was 18, in my pub/club days, when one friend compared me to Liam Gallagher and another insisted "no, Ian Brown". He was really into The Stone Roses then, I was into Oasis at that point, and it'd be a few years before I got into Ian Brown and The Stone Roses. I write this post because recently Ian Brown has started tweeting about conspiracies and things I've been into for over 10 years now. One of the few famous musicians to actually speak out about Covid-19 and the conspiracy. Granted, being older than me, I'm aware he's been into this stuff probably longer than I have but has only just recently started voicing it loud and clear.
Other famous people I've been compared to over the years include George Harrison, Russell Brand, Bob Marley, Bruce Lee, Jimi Hendrix, Noel Gallagher, Dave Grohl, Jesus, actors from Mexico I'm not even aware of... not to mention the times I've been compared to a video game character or even a character from a book!
At first, I found these comparisons amusing and sometimes even flattering though never taking them seriously, but gradually they became irritating as I saw that very few people would see ME. Something about it also felt like people were trying to "lock" you into the past, into something known and familiar. It was a way of trying to limit you from breaking free, dressed up in most cases as a compliment.
There are, however, undeniable strange patterns between me and the people I've been compared with. George Harrison loved ukulele and was very spiritual, I play ukulele and I'm spiritual... Ian Brown wears Adidas and takes an interest in conspiracies, I wear Adidas and take an interest in conspiracies... Liam Gallagher loves rock'n'roll music, I love rock'n'roll... Bob Marley also wore Adidas, loved football, was spiritual... on and on I could go listing similarities. Could this be a soul group or soul family thing?
I see it with other people too, not just myself. For instance, Ian Brown's middle name is George and Ian Brown connects with Bob Marley through Adidas. Liam Gallagher's middle name is John Paul and Noel's is Thomas David. Thomas was Sean Connery's first name and Sean Connery is from Edinburgh where I am from and played 007 and the number 7 has featured prominently throughout my life.
The question is... when are we going to be ourselves?
Something about it seems to me to be limiting in the way its as if people are trying to box you in or put a veil over you so they don't have to look at and confront the uniqueness of the individual in front of them. They don't want to see anything truly new, and that even if you share some similarities with various individuals from the past, the way those similarities are arranged within you as an individual has never been seen before.
In addition to these famous people comparisons, I've also had it with unknown buskers and all sorts. The tone and feeling that accompanies people pointing out these similarities is one of trying to put me off, as if they are subtly suggesting "See! There is someone else like you already doing what you are trying to do so you don't need to bother!".
But they are not doing what I am doing, that is the thing.
No matter how similar it looks they don't know the thing inside me and how it is informing me, they don't know the intelligence behind the 'man'. There are always as many differences as there are similarities and that is what makes me - and them - unique.
All the famous musicians before me, no matter how well-intended, signed contracts with the record industry. They all signed into that 'club'. They all chased the fame and the fortune. I didn't. People tried to convince me again and again to go down that route, they came up with theories, that it was a lack of confidence. They were all wrong. I've always had other ideas about where I want this Music life to go and I intend to bring it to reality because that is my unique path and nobody else can do it.
Nobody knows the details of how my path will go, other than God directly communicating that to me. The large 'I' informing the smaller 'i', which is all me.