i disagree
he's very original.....
he grabs things that move him, and he finds brilliant ways of writing songs about it
i was a creative writing major in college for a while.....among many other majors
my poetry professor said something i totally agree with, and have continued to use to this day
"if you take a piece of some one elses work and morph into your piece you are but a common thief and should be treated as one, but if you are moved by another's work, and you use it in your work, not altering it one bit, just flat out using it. you are paying huge respect to that person. that's not stealing, it's honoring another artist by saying, that was so good i had to use it for myself"
the thing that i love about john is that he won't even discuss it with you. if you brought this up to him, he'd smile and laugh, maybe give you a hug, but he would not admit to anything, or discuss it with you. i know, because i try all the time....every time he's in town.
trust me man, the extent of the "stealing" he does goes way deeper then you mentioned above.
the thing that john can do better then most singer/writers is sell you the story as if it's his own.
you just aren't sure if he lived the subject matter or made it up.......
promising actress is a beautiful piece.......no matter where he drew the inspiration, he delivers on that song.