Originality is for Suckers

I've always imagined musicians locking themselves into confinement and anguishing over each note and verse. My buddy Alex dashed my dreams this weekend when he showed me this:

I came home and realized you could spend hours listening to songs that sound like other songs. Many have resulted in law suits and controversies, including Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Radiohead, J.Lo, Madonna, Flaming Lips...others "steal" from decades past and slip by unnoticed.

I started wondering if there is little left to call original or if, perhaps, we're all just dissecting a little too much. For now, I'm going to assume that somewhere in the world there is an artist toiling over the last few lines of my new favorite song.