Harry Styles loves to name-drop, as fans are well aware. And while he doesn’t always explain the monikers in his music, “Carla’s Song,” the closing track on his latest album, marks a rare exception. This week, the British pop star spoke to Zane Lowe in an Apple Music interview about the inspiration behind the title and lyrics.
Turns out, the titular muse is one of Styles’s friends, named—of course—Carla. “Carla kind of just became, in so many ways, the most important part of the record to me,” the singer told Lowe. He added that the song “answered so many questions” he had about why he makes music and loves performing. It reminded him that “there was a time when you heard a song for the first time that made you want to touch music, in some way.”
Styles recalled a moment when Carla and their group of friends were hanging out at someone’s house before an after-party and she mentioned she had just discovered Paul Simon. Styles, who grew up listening to Simon and Garfunkel, was already a fan. “When I lived in a pub a little bit when I was younger, there was like a four-CD changer that I think the ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ record was in the whole time I lived there,” he told Lowe.
That night with Carla and their friends, Styles said he decided to play her “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” thinking she might like it. The moment turned out to be life-changing for both of them.
“Watching her listen to it, having never heard that song, felt like I was just watching someone see or something, or like discover magic,” Styles said. “There was something in that moment that reminded me of, by making music, what you’re investing in, and it’s songs that go so beyond our lifetime.” He also played her Simon and Garfunkel’s “Kathy’s Song,” which inspired the title “Carla’s Song.”
Styles explained to Lowe that the experience helped him acknowledge what’s so special about making music, that “maybe someone hears a song of yours and goes, ‘This song’s going to be in my life forever.’ That is kind of it. Like, that is enough. And I don’t ask for any more than that, really.”
Listen to the song and read the full lyrics below.
There is a bridge that leads to troubled waters
If you know, then you know
If you don’t, then you don’t, it’s heavenly
From your head to your toes
Saw the light and the gold that you discoverThrough your eyes, in awe, melodies like a tide
It’s all waiting there for you
It’s all waiting there for you
Can you hear that voice
Delivering the news?
It’s all waiting there for you
Ignorance or innocence
Call it what you wannaYou’ve been a baby sleeping upon a candy bar
Till your eyes open on the changing summer light
It’s all waiting there for you
Can you hear that voice
Delivering the news?
It’s all waiting there for you
It’s all waiting there for you
Call it what you wanna
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, you can hear it anytime
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, I know I can read your mind
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, you can hear it anytime
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, I know I can read your mind
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, you can hear it anytimeIt’s all waiting there for you
It’s all waiting there for youI know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, I know I can read your mind
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, you can hear it anytime
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, I know I can read your mind (It’s all there waiting for you)
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, you can hear it anytime
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, I know I can read your mind (It’s all there waiting)
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, you can hear it anytime (It’s all there waiting for you)
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, I know I can read your mind
I know what you like, I know what you’ll really like
I know what you like, you can hear it anytime