The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => The Bar => Topic started by: GuyBarry on December 06, 2016, 04:22:31 PM
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I was thinking about this after listening to a song entitled "All By Myself" in the feedback section. What's your take on re-using the title of a well-known song? There's no copyright on titles of course, and it would be virtually impossible to prevent writers from using common words or phrases as titles, otherwise we'd run out pretty quickly. (Here (https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/07/different-songs-with-the-same-names.html) are some examples where a title has been re-used.)
But personally I'd be very uneasy about calling a song "Yesterday" or "My Way" or "Hallelujah" or anything like that. For one thing, people browsing through catalogues might mistake it for a cover of the original song. For another, by using such a title you're inviting comparisons with the original song, which might not always be favourable.
Thoughts?
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That's an interesting question. I am pretty much of the same mind as you. The exception might be, if I call a song something like "Happy Birthday," or something similar like that, where I am trying to evoke something that is a universal feeling or thing that everyone knows... but in a whole new way.
For instance, I don't think that anybody would necessarily expect a song on my record that is called "Happy Birthday" to actually be the Happy birthday to you... song.
You know?
And I think that could work with similar universally used songs with vague titles like that. But, other than that, I don't think it's really a good idea.
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For instance, I don't think that anybody would necessarily expect a song on my record that is called "Happy Birthday" to actually be the Happy birthday to you... song.
They might think it was this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inS9gAgSENE) though!
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Or even this one! ;)
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Or this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCqKMJiFj8A) - my favourite!
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I avoid well-known titles like the plague, google my title every which way - usually putting them in quotes does it :). I'll use a little-known title though - no honour amongst thieves I guess :)
It would just seem pretentious to me to write a song called "Yesterday". Would you call your painting the "Mona Lisa"?
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It would just seem pretentious to me to write a song called "Yesterday". Would you call your painting the "Mona Lisa"?
No, but I might have given a song that title if Nat King Cole hadn't got there first:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIDX18Xl16s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIDX18Xl16s)
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I would use the title I wanted to use....the title that the song suggested....unless it was going to be seen as an obvious lift. So I would avoid 'Strawberry Fields Forever', for example, but would have no worries about calling a song 'Yesterday' if that was what seemed to me to be the best title from the song and lyric that I had written. It's a commonplace word after all, not an unusual phrase or anything.
'All by myself' seems fair game to me if that's what the writer wanted.
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interesting fact about 'all by myself'
eric carmen who wrote it used some rachmaninov in the melody.
he thought it was out of copyrite and had to pay mr rachs estate ..