Start With Great Song Titles: Some Advice

[Greg_L]

Dumbest thread ever.....until the next one.

 

[Armistice]

I'm still not sure who asked the question this thread tries to answer...

 

[MikeSknabriaf]

Some people are hopeless, like the person (me) who wrote this song:

We Love Chinese Ladies

Verse I
Long, black hair and a lovely, lovely smiiiiiiile.
I could stay in China quite a whiiiiiiile.
Every time I see them I feel hiiiiiigh
Chinese ladies make me happy guuuuuyy.

(Chorus)
We love Chinese ladies.
Lovely Chinese ladies.
We love Chinese ladies.
Lovely Chinese ladies.

Verse II

I just love how they talk it sounds so graaaand.
Chinese ladies tell me I'm the maaaaan.
I don't think it come as a surpriiiiiise.
I just melt when I see those Chinese eyeeeees.

Chorus

Instrumental bridge

Chorus twice and fade.

 

[Rosenthal74]

Some people are hopeless, like the person (me) who wrote this song:

We Love Chinese Ladies

Verse I
Long, black hair and a lovely, lovely smiiiiiiile.
I could stay in China quite a whiiiiiiile.
Every time I see them I feel hiiiiiigh
Chinese ladies make me happy guuuuuyy.

(Chorus)
We love Chinese ladies.
Lovely Chinese ladies.
We love Chinese ladies.
Lovely Chinese ladies.

Verse II

I just love how they talk it sounds so graaaand.
Chinese ladies tell me I'm the maaaaan.
I don't think it come as a surpriiiiiise.
I just melt when I see those Chinese eyeeeees.

Chorus

Instrumental bridge

Chorus twice and fade.

ya never know.... could be the next big hit. Remember "Barbie Girl" *shudders* now that rotten song is going to be playing in my head for days. I hated it, but it was huge.

 

[Armistice]

Instrumental bridge

This needs to be really, really good....

 

[Shankapotomus]

I totally agree with what has been said about the importance of titles and formulas. I have always subscribed to your philosophy. I've consistently kept my titles unique and provocative and my lyrics formulaic and yet I find trying to find collaborators for my lyrics like pulling teeth.

Although I'm very grateful and proud of my collaborations, I've only had three in many years. Not sure what else I have to do.

 

[grimtraveller]

A side thread could be "Are your titles better than your songs ?" !
I think most of my titles are unmemorable. I can't remember them half the time.

 

[Armistice]

Here are some of my recent song titles:

Tears and Mascara
AM Radio
(I'm Not Afraid Of) The Dark (always wanted a wanky bracketed title... )
Gypsy #4
Talk Dirty To Me


Are they important? They give me something to say when I'm doing them live, that's for sure - something for people to remember...

So I place some importance on them.

Pretty sure I don't have any songs with the L word in them... When I go to open mics and hear yet another interminable singer songwriter with a badly tuned acoustic guitar, their titles rarely stay in my mind..

Mind you, neither do their songs, most of the time...

So, we can end the discussion now...

 

[Whatmysay]

Titles are like a cinema trailer

Scenario

I've gone to the multiplex on spec, I'm a keen movie goer and I have seen all the trailers for the movies on offer. I have a sense of what I want to watch and I have a sense of what each film has to offer by its trailer.

Bottom Line

1. If the movie trailer does not match the movie I end up watching I walk out of the cinema (turn of the radio/don't buy the CD)

2. No screenwriter/director started to make a movie with the trailer as their starting point.

No songwriter should worry if they leave their 'title' behind and the song becomes better - OMG already if that happens; change the title!

It is just one technique to start to write a song not the only. The most import thing like any good movie/book/narrative/fireworks display - your songs takes me comfortably through an experience which is at some level familiar, but also expresses something new, with toe tapping hook driven arrangement.

If you think you have got a way to do that better then starting with a title . . . do it and do it every time!

 

[Ty Ford]

I've been a published songwriter with London Records years ago. I'm getting back into my writing again and hope I still have the "juice" I once had (ha-ha).

Anyway, there's a theory out there (especially from old-schooled master songwriters like Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Paul Williams, Burt Bacharch, etc.) that you should start writing songs by coming up with great titles to work with before anything else.
Mike Freze

I think that's a Nashville thing, getting a great title first. I agree that the title is very important. Take one of my recent tunes, "Dead People In My Mouth." It's the hook and you can't NOT forget it.
http://gallery.me.com/tyreeford#100183

About the "juice." Some folks I talk to wait for "the juice" for the whole song to come out in a squirt, like an orgasm. I think they're hooked on the squirt and that may be OK, but there are a LOT of ways to craft a song that have little to do with the squirt. Once you get some craft skills, you can get a lot more done.

Regards,

Ty Ford