Dolly Parton Said She Needed to Be in a ‘Mood’ to Write

Dolly Parton sets aside time to write every single day, but she said she doesn’t have a particularly disciplined songwriting practice. Some artists set aside the same few hours every day to work, but Parton said she doesn’t like this much structure. Instead, she waits for certain moods to hit her before she can put a song to paper.

Dolly Parton said she had to be in a certain type of mood in order to write

Parton takes greater pride in her work as a writer than a singer. It leaves her feeling more fulfilled as well, as she is able to pour her emotions into written words. Because the songwriting process is so emotional for her, she said needs to be in certain types of moods to write.

“I’m not a disciplined writer at all. I’m strictly an impulsive writer, and I write from inspiration,” she said in the book Dolly by Alanna Nash. “I get my ideas from everybody. When I feel this need to write, it comes out of my heart and soul. Because I get moods, great moods, weird moods. You know, really inspired moods, and I just get real involved in what I’m doin’ and I can’t stop.”

She said that when the urge to write grabs her, she struggles to stop for anything.

“I’ve stayed up as long as three days before — well, at least two days, and into the third day before I could really make my mind stop enough to rest.”

Dolly Parton doesn’t notice anything around her when she sits down to write

Those who have watched Parton write say that she pays attention to little else when she begins to work on a song. She centers all her focus on her creative inspiration.

“Her writing is automatic,” a member of her band said. “I mean, she’ll sit down with the guitar and the licks just come and the words fly right out of her mouth. I’m not kiddin’ you. She just sits down and writes them. There’s no tellin’ how many she’ll write once she starts — ten or twenty, maybe. And when she gets in that writing mood, forget about talkin’ to her, because she’s mesmerized. You ask her a question and she don’t know what you’re sayin’, she’s so into her writing.”

Parton’s friend said that she was once in the room with Parton while she wrote, and the musician hardly seemed to notice she was there.

She said she wrote 20 songs in her most prolific writing session

In her most inspired state, Parton sat down and wrote 20 songs, a fact she says some find difficult to believe. Even more impressive, she recorded most of them.

“Out of those twenty songs I wrote, fifteen of ’em have been recorded. Because when I get on a real wild streak, look out!” she said. “Now it depends on the nature of the song. Up-tempo is easier for me to write, with simple words. But anyway, twenty is the most I’ve ever written in a setting.”

She said that the songs “Take Me Back” and “You Are” were among the results of this writing session.