Listening to the voices in your head. Letting the music happen

By Carla Muller

I’ve never been a patient person. I have none, and have never liked surprises. I’m the person who flips to the end of the book, reads the synopsis in the episode list, and always needs to know where we are going. I would not be an easy kidnap. My trunk has a glass-breaker, bear spray, emergency water and Air Tag. And I could probably live out of my backpack for a week. I guess what I’m saying is I always feel the need to be in control.

 Songwriting doesn’t work that way. Most of the time, you can’t plan for it. I mean, sure - you can sit down in a writers’ room and make something beautiful, but it’s the songs that come to me unbidden, that are the best. Honestly, there are times I wonder at the way my songs come together. Sometimes, it’s magic. Sometimes, it’s effortless, like breathing. And those are the best.

I’ve had people ask me how I am so prolific. I have hundreds of songs. Some are better than others, and many have gone to the lyric chop shop for parts, but it seems like a lot. It’s especially strange because I only started writing real songs in 2005. Why, then, is most of my music from after 2005? Before that, I’d only written a handful of songs. What changed?

When I really looked at it, I realized that I’d been writing since I was a kid. Singing made-up pieces of songs, as I played and drove my sister nuts. It was the dire situation of Hurricane Katrina that urged me to see it through. The difference? I had an iPod to sing into. Now, I use my phone, but it doesn’t matter what you use. Recording the pieces as they came to me was a game changer. It meant that I didn’t need to make sense out of anything; I just had to let it happen. All could be assembled later. And it usually comes when I’m not even thinking about writing.  I’ll be washing dishes at the sink and suddenly a line of melody will come to me. Hands dripping, I’ll turn on the voice memo app and just let it run, singing what comes, as it comes to me. And this happens in the kitchen, garden, bath – even in the car. There are times I wake up with a song in my head, and before I even let myself say ‘good morning’ to Tom, I have to sing into my phone. Tom is a very patient man.

That’s how songwriting is for me.

Sometimes they come easy, sometimes they don’t. But it’s when I’ve been patient, that I’ve written my best songs. And these are usually the easiest for me to sing well. They’re not at all contrived. I’m just listening to the voices in my head.

Website: www.carlamullermusic.com/