Daily Inspiration Quote by Billy Strayhorn

There is a kind of quiet flex in Strayhorn calling “A Train” “born without any effort.” Not because the work was literally effortless, but because he’s describing a rare, prized state in jazz: the moment craft disappears so completely it feels like conversation. “Like writing a letter to a friend” is doing double duty. It’s intimate and casual, yes, but it also frames composition as communication rather than self-expression. The song isn’t a diary entry; it’s addressed outward, meant to travel.

The context sharpens the line. “Take the ‘A’ Train” became Duke Ellington’s signature theme, even though Strayhorn wrote it. So the “friend” here can be read personally (Ellington, his mentor and collaborator) and musically (the band, the audience, the city). Strayhorn is positioning the tune as a piece of lived infrastructure, as ordinary and essential as public transit. That fits the composition itself: a melody that moves with purpose, changes that feel inevitable, a hook that sounds like it’s always been around.

Subtext: this is also Strayhorn’s way of sidestepping the romance of tortured genius. He was a meticulous arranger, often working in Ellington’s shadow, and the letter metaphor reclaims authorship without making a scene. Effortless becomes a strategy, not a confession - a declaration that the highest skill can look like ease, and the most enduring art can arrive with the friendly clarity of directions.