Public Domain

There is an episode of The Twilight Zone that scares me so bad I can't watch it. It's called "Come Wander with me," and it's the last episode filmed. One of the things about this episode that sticks with me is that in the beginning, Floyd Burney, the traveling musician, tells a music store owner that if he gives his songs to most of the other musicians, the song will end up in the Public Domain.

Floyd Burney is in search of a tune. One that will make him rich and famous, more famous than he already is. He seems desperate to find that song that he believes exists somewhere in the heart or soul of some hillbilly in the region he is searching.

He wants rights to this music and will pay cash for it, he tells the man behind the counter. He warns the man that someone else will not pay him. But the man tells him, "there is nothing for you here."

I don't know why this episode scares me, or what it is about this idea of the music becoming public domain that fascinates me. My hunch is that the music or song represents someone's soul, and that this melody actually belongs in the public domain, and to try to own it is a crime against some aspect of humanity.

In the episode he essentially steals the song by stealing the heart and innocence of a young girl. The song was her essence. It was her sadness, her dreams and he stole them from her by tricking her into believing he loved her. She would have never sold her song for money, and he seemed to know that, so he tricked her to get it.

She could have never written her song for money. The only way she could have written it was for love. It was her essence, this song, and when he stole it she essentially died.

So what I am thinking is, with art, does it really always belong in the public domain, all of it? What is it we are selling, when we sell art?

It's just a thought. Of course we artists must eat. It's just a thought, and only one thought inspired by this truly strange, hypnotic episode.