You Know You're Good When...

Imagine being so good at so one thing that it's nearly impossible to duplicate. That's what the creators of the movie, "The Blues Brothers," discovered while working with Aretha Franklin and James Brown.

Both artists have singing roles in the 1980 comedy, which also could be described as musical. From the special features on the film's DVD, I learned that both Franklin and Brown had a very tough time lip synching their songs. This is critical while making a movie as the singing is typcially recorded separately in a studio and later matched up with the pictures on screen. The editor can then choose from multiple angles while keeping the singing consistent.

But Franklin and Brown were anything but. Apparently, neither was very good at lip synching because they never sing the same song the same way twice. Think about that. Every time they sing, they add something to their music depending on their mood, the crowd, or the moment. It's second nature to them and neither could change the way they perform.

So the producers had to do some creative editing with Franklin's song so that her lips matched up her voice. By the time he shot James Brown's song, the director decided to record the live singing and then match up everything else. It was an unconventional choice but one that ultimately worked.

So many of us follow the same routine that requires us to repeat tasks over and over again. Perhaps we should take some inspiration from the Queen and Ambassador of Soul to treat every time we do it as if it was the first time.