There’s a lovely piece on The Millions exploring the benefits of listening to music while one writes. Writer Jacob Lambert basically concludes that listening to some nice music while you write might get you in the mood, psych you up, or make your time at the keyboard a little more pleasant, but it won’t actually, you know, do the writing for you or instantly turn you into a genius. Darn.
I asked some of my clients and friends yesterday whether they listen to music while writing. Some of their favorite tunes of the moment include ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” Electric Six’s “Danger! High Voltage!”, and music by Explosions in the Sky and Pinback. I don’t listen to music that much when I write, but I do use it for inspiration: I like to create playlists for projects that I listen to as I go about my daily business. It helps me keep the project on my mind at a nice low level, perfect for creative mulling. Anything can make it on the soundtrack if it speaks to some aspect of the project for me. Lots of the selections come from the era I’m writing about, in the case of Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted in the ’70s and Seinfeldia in the ’90s, but other selections are more thematic. I’ve gotten more good ideas than I can count this way.
Here are some selections from my Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted “soundtrack”:
Joan Jett’s rock version of the theme song, “Love Is All Around”
Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion”
Boston’s “More Than a Feeling”
Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”
Carly Simon and James Taylor’s “Mockingbird”
Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move”
Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way”
The Guess Who’s “American Woman”
James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”
Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart”
Joni Mitchell’s “River” (I am convinced that Mary Richards listened to James Taylor and Joni Mitchell in her “off screen” time)
Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire”
Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly with His Song”
The Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses”
The Rubinoos’ “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”
Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
Tom Waits’ “I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love With You”