[Skub]

My thought has been provoked on the topic of song titles.
I readily admit after putting effort into composition and recording I give a song the first handy name to enter my head.
Any of you have a method for escaping the banal?

[Boydie]

Title usually comes first for me

The snippets that go in my "hook book" are mainly titles and then the odd snippet of fleshed out lyrics

I pick them up from conversation, tv, films, books etc.

[Neil C]

I'm with Boydie,
I have a list in notes on my iPhone of words and phrases that could be titles.
For me an ideal write would be to start with the concept and title, write the words and then put them to music.
 
Neil

[JonathanSmith]

Sometimes there's an obvious lyric that is going to be the title, but when there isn't, I have spent ages trying to come up with a title that fits! For me, I generally go for a shorter title (2-3 words) for preference, people are more likely to remember it. But then, heavy metal and prog rock bands would probably go the other way! I think having titles that don't turn up in the lyrics add an additional layer of meaning sometimes.

[GuyBarry]

It surprises me that so many people seem to write the title first, because the title is always the last thing I write.  I come up with an idea for a song, write the music and lyrics, and then decide what to call it.  Often the title is the hardest part, because I write comedy.  Normally if there's a repeated line in a song it's natural to use it as the title.  But if you do that with a comedy song you've given away your punchline before you start!  (That's why some comedy songs have relatively unmemorable titles - take the Victoria Wood song which is almost universally known as "Let's Do It", but which is actually entitled "The Ballad of Barry and Freda".)  I try to get some sort of play on words into the title if I can, though it's not always possible.

With the four songs that I've posted for review, I had various difficulties.  When I first performed the song about not knowing how to vote, I called it "Don't Ask Me", but afterwards it struck me that "Ask Me Another" would be more appropriate, so I used "Don't Ask Me" for the title of the EP instead.  On the other hand, "Don't Mix Your Drinks" came to me almost instantly (probably the title I'm most pleased with).  I decided on a more or less straightforward title for "Counties of England", though I subverted it by adding a footnote to the title (the song has footnotes, so why not the title as well?).

The worst one was the Christmas song.  Because it's based on "All I Want for Christmas Is You" I originally called it "All I Dread for Christmas", but that seemed a bit too clunky.  It eventually became "Christmas Cacophony" because of the alliteration, but I'm still not completely happy with the title - will everyone know what "cacophony" means? 

At the end of the day it's the song that people remember, not the title.  Back in the 70s Rupert Holmes released a rather catchy song called "Escape", but everyone kept going into shops and asking for "that song about pina coladas" because of the repeated line in the chorus.  Reluctantly, at the insistence of the record company, he changed the title to "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" because that's how people knew it.  You can't always win! 

[Oldbutyet]

Its a good idea to write down song titles for future songs whether you use those same words in the lyrics or not for me doesn't really matter, like for me there are a few songs i wrote where the title is not in the lyric, i wrote a song call the whale but the word whale is not in the lyric but the song is about whales, another one i wrote that comes to mind is the irish famine but those words are not in the lyric but thats what the song is about, the title or maybe i should say the idea for those songs and others i wrote came from the title, its like anything you write it always come from an idea or song title and after the song is finish you can call it what you want, its your song but what also comes to mind is there were songs i wrote when after recording them i did change the title, i need to lie down now 

[tina m]

At the end of the day it's the song that people remember, not the title.  

yes at the end of the day its the song that people remember but at the start of the day its the title
no one plays my songs automatically  ...people  are terribly spoilt for choice  music wise  so I need to attract them to mine  & they usually come across mine in a list with other songwriters songs so I want mine to stand out ...so I need eye grabbing titles...its just good advertising dont you think
skub the only  sure fire way to get great titles is to think fabulous!  Think up fabulous titles  & start from there...& its easy to write a lyric from a great title bcos it gives you loads of ideas
if you write the lyric first then you are usually stuck with getting the title from whatever youve put in the chorus....

i need to lie down now  

omg yes lie down   that is the longest sentence ive ever seen that i didnt say!

[GuyBarry]

At the end of the day it's the song that people remember, not the title.  

yes at the end of the day its the song that people remember but at the start of the day its the title

Good one!  

no one plays my songs automatically  ...people  are terribly spoilt for choice  music wise  so I need to attract them to mine  & they usually come across mine in a list with other songwriters songs so I want mine to stand out ...so I need eye grabbing titles

How about "FREE BOTTLE OF WINE WITH EVERY COPY OF THIS SONG"?  That'd probably work  

I suppose I'm in a different position because I mainly perform my songs live, so the audience is already there and it doesn't matter too much what you call the song.  They'll decide whether or not to buy the recording on the basis of what they've heard, not on the title.

You certainly seem to have the knack of coming up with eye-catching titles though - I still haven't heard "Going to Hell in Petrol-Soaked Knickers" but the title is imprinted on my mind.  I suppose I ought to listen to it soon!

[Oldbutyet]

i need to lie down now  

omg yes lie down   that is the longest sentence ive ever seen that i didnt say!
[/quote]

LOL      sorry I just couldn't stop  

[MartynRich]

 ...people  are terribly spoilt for choice  music wise  so I need to attract them to mine  & they usually come across mine in a list with other songwriters songs so I want mine to stand out ...so I need eye grabbing titles...its just good advertising dont you think

Yes it is. When I saw the title of that song among all the other new ones in the Finished Songs section, it was the first I clicked on, with some anticipation. However, it also made me desperately hope I loved it...does that mean people feeling the same would be objective when they listen?

[Skub]

It's interesting that a brave few of ya pick the title first and that's the song idea and hook.

With me the title usually is the song hook,but comes as a result of the finished song. We both end up in the same position with different strategies! I assumed I was being lazy and uninventive,perhaps I'm not...or maybe we both are guilty as charged? 

skub the only  sure fire way to get great titles is to think fabulous!   Think up fabulous titles  & start from there...& its easy to write a lyric from a great title bcos it gives you loads of ideas
if you write the lyric first then you are usually stuck with getting the title from whatever youve put in the chorus....

There is much to muse over in this thread already,but in the partially highlighted quote above, the inimitable Ms T may have hit one out of the park for the title first brigade.

Thanks to all you fab people! 

[hardtwistmusic]

For the most part, I choose a title only after the song is done.  There are exceptions.... but really, If I choose a title, then come up with a better and/or more dramatic line while writing, what do I do?  Change the title?  Leave it? 

I never know entirely what a song I'm writing is going to be about and/or where it will end up.  I don't like to close off ANY directions that a lyric might take.  So I simply don't like to think about titles until it's time.  For me, that's only after the song is written. 

[tboswell]

I'm similar to Boydie. I keep a list of song titles in my phone ready for when I sit down with an instrument to write.

I find the quality of my lyrics has improved greatly since I began doing this.

[Paulski]

Yep - title first for me too though it sometimes changes if the song demands it to change.
In the internet world, your title is like a flower's bloom attracting bees to its golden pollen