[anthonyceseri]

Yesterday I took a class with Motown songwriter, Clay Drayton, and he offered up a great tip for coming up with song titles.

Next time you're in a conversation with someone, listen carefully to what they're saying. Don't just listen, but listen for titles. He had us do an exercise where we would speak to the person next to us for 2 minutes, while that person listened and wrote a list of all the titles they heard from the first person's conversation.

You'd be amazed by how many song ideas you can get from that. And once you have a title, you have a central focus for your chorus, which will get you going for your whole song as well... cool stuff. If you incorporate it into your every day life, you'll be flowing with ideas... 

[andy5544]

People have trouble with titles  ??
thats the easy bit .....surely ?

[Jack Simmons]

People have trouble with titles  ??
thats the easy bit .....surely ?

I find it hard to come up with titles that sound nice or provocative. I normally end up naming them just after lyrics in choruses etc. but I really like songs that have titles that don't relate immediately with the source material. It kind of gives the song an added layer of mystery. of Montreal are good with this, especially their last album. I sometimes take titles from less notable places in the song so that it's less obvious. I still have a few of my better songs floating around without titles 'cause I want to do them justice and there isn't an obvious refrain/hook.

[evanjavo]

People have trouble with titles  ??
thats the easy bit .....surely ?

I find it hard to come up with titles that sound nice or provocative. I normally end up naming them just after lyrics in choruses etc. but I really like songs that have titles that don't relate immediately with the source material. It kind of gives the song an added layer of mystery. of Montreal are good with this, especially their last album. I sometimes take titles from less notable places in the song so that it's less obvious. I still have a few of my better songs floating around without titles 'cause I want to do them justice and there isn't an obvious refrain/hook.

Try naming your song after a particular place like the name of a street that you live or or have gone to school, a restaurant. For example, Noel Gallagher named his song "Columbia" after the hotel he was staying at at the time. I'd suggest the next time your driving through town, pay attention to store names (mainly local businesses). I hope this helped..

[The Corsair]

I name mine in a way that adds something the song itself might not. In some cases I'd say I have titles that unlock the meaning of the song. That said, I don't have a standard format of title. Some are long, some are short, some are cryptic, some are taken from the chorus etc etc

[anthonyceseri]

People have trouble with titles  ??
thats the easy bit .....surely ?

I find it hard to come up with titles that sound nice or provocative. I normally end up naming them just after lyrics in choruses etc.

Actually, I think that's a great approach too. You really want someone who hears your song to be able to find it (with a google search, etc), so if your title is what appears in the most highlighted position in the chorus, it makes a lot of sense.