Picking a song title...

[TBman]

Random words picked out of a hat? Your mood at the time of completion? Initial inspiration? Family member suggestions?

What's your method?

[Silly Moustache]

Huh? A song title will be in the lyrics won't it?

If you are talking about an instrumental, then call it what you like, but it ain't no song without lyrics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Huh? A song title will be in the lyrics won't it?

If you are talking about an instrumental, then call it what you like, but it ain't no song without lyrics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song

Infinitely helpful as always.

[Johnny K]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

If you are talking about an instrumental, then call it what you like, but it ain't no song without lyrics.

I bought a CD from a band, Karma To Burn, that does metal instrumentals and they dont name their songs. The sequentially number the songs from one album to the next. The album I have, Wild Wonderful Pugatory, is numbered in the 20's. And I have a bunch a Joe Satriani and Jeff Beck CD's and those guys dont seem to have too much trouble giving real names to their instrumental's.

[Tele1111]

Hey TB,

For me, there isn’t any one way.
After years and years of writing songs, (I disagree with everything SM said and inferred in his reply) I have found certain things that seem to work for me.

Let the song name itself. That is to say, if you did not have something in mind when the melody, words, or whatever came to you, play the song until it comes to you. I’ve found with time, it always will. Don’t be in a rush to name it-there’s no need. What images, emotions or thoughts come to you when playing the song?

Try to avoid cliches’. It always makes me cringe when I read a song title that uses cliches’. Especially when I listen to the song and it seems contrary or not at all related to the actual song.

Record and listen to your song. I don’t usually listen to the songs I write after I’ve written them-unless I haven’t come up with a name. I’m generally already writing another, and I just want to move on. Refer to the second paragraph above.

I seldom if ever, ask for anyone else to suggest or “help” me name a tune. How could that work? They have no real interest in the song, or at least not anywhere near my interest or intent. I have tried this in the past, and I’ve never been pleased with the results.

Try to avoid “cute” or intentionally “clever” titles, simply because of the word or word play-unless it actually fits the song. Again, refer to the second paragraph.

There’s probably more that I could suggest, but I think for me, these are the things that work, and do not work.

Remember that only you can really name your songs. You’re the only one with the intent, the inspiration, and the one who has done the work to write a song. Unless of course it was a collaboration.

Mark

[stanron]

This is a common problem in the traditional music field. A tune can be named after the person who wrote it, or the person who introduced the tune even if they didn't write it or just someone who liked it and always asked for it to be played.

Like Cooley's Reel or Fahey's Number 2, Peacock's Jigg and Pecket's Hornpipe. There can be names after a place like the Manchester Hornpipe, the Liverpool or Belfast Hornpipe, the Chicago Reel and the Wakefield Jigg.

My favourite method of naming a tune goes like this. You go into a pub and buy a drink. Essential! You sit down and start drinking. The title of the tune is the first snippet of overheard conversation. Try it.

[mr. beaumont]

For instrumentals, I really like to think about where I was, what I was feeling, what was going on around me as I composed...

But sometimes, the title even comes first...it can be fun to compose TO an idea...

[Bob Womack]

I studied music composition in college. Part of what we were taught was naming our pieces. What was taught to us was that a picee name helps put your listener into the mindset, the mental space, for your piece to be best received. Part of our curriculum was writing modern pieces, VERY modern, some without melody, harmony, or rhythm. You can imagine that creating piece names was incredibly important when an audience was being presented something they really had no contact point for. I remember a couple of my titles for electronic pieces: "The Fall of Man" and "A Day in the Lives of Thomas P.Catt." "The Fall" was a very serious piece, with lots of drama. "Thomas R. Catt" got its name from a playful sensibility that ran throughout and from a particular portion that ended up sounding like a cat fight. Incidentally, we were graded on our names as well as the content of our compositions. Both of the pieces mentioned above received "A" scores and ended up being premiered by the school at the yearly recital.

Ever since, I've worked to make my titles intriguing and appealing.

But here is the takeaway: If you are interested in helping the audience enter the mental space of your piece, the best way is to give the piece a name that makes them think about it before they even drop the needle.

Bob

[TBman]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

For instrumentals, I really like to think about where I was, what I was feeling, what was going on around me as I composed...

That's what I did more or less. I lost track of time while working on the initial idea and ended up staying up way past my bedtime, so I came up with "Timeless" for the title. Recording to be posted this weekend.

[Brent Hahn]

If you're Bob Dylan you name your songs (and albums) any old thing, just adds to the mystique. If you're the rest of us, you name it something that people will remember and know to look for and ask for. Or you start with the title and then write the song.

[PHJim]

A few of my songs and tunes and how I got their titles.

Maggie's Anniversary Waltz was written 26 years ago on our 10th anniversary.

Spilt Beer - I had just written this tune and Bernie Martin asked me to play it into his tape recorder so he could learn it. Part way through the tune, I knocked over a bottle of beer and said, "Oh ****." The next rehearsal Bernie said, "Hey let's try Spilt Beer." We agreed that it was a neat title. Bernie said, "It was either that or Oh ****.

Robbie Burns' Day - I had just written this tune and Maggie came in the room and said, "Happy Burns' Day!" and I had a
title for my tune.

I started writing a twelve bar blues about all of the pubs that were closing down. I couldn't find 12 of them so I changed it to being kicked out of twelve bars. I called it The Dozen Pub Blues, but when it went on the album, the guy who wrote the notes put Twelve Bar Blues.
I tried for years to write a good drinking song, but never managed to make it past the third or fourth bar.

A couple I'd like to write: Dan's Dance and Walt's Waltz just 'cause I like the titles.

[KevWind]

Instrumentals it is mostly the mood or feeling it invokes or rarely just something random that pops into my head

Songs it is usually something directly in the lyrics, or to do with the story line .

[Brent Hahn]

I do ad work, and once in a while I'll get lyrics written by an ad agency copywriter and put a tune to it. Once when this happened, the title on the script was, "7-Eleven Shuffle." I tracked a little demo, the agency and clients liked it, and then I said...

"... but you'll have to change the title."

"Why?"

"Because it's not a shuffle."

"The agency approved it, the clients approved it, legal approved it..."

"Silly me. What was I thinking?"

NOT A SHUFFLE.

[islandguitar]

Barry,
Many of my song titles ( or tune titles!) come from my wife who is quite clever and intuitive with this. She is not musical, and that might free her up to connect with her creative side (considerable) in this element. Nature, or feeling tones are often right up there as themes for my stuff.
A few examples:
Sweet Honey Daze
Honestly I Do!
Mayfly Whispers
Ya Can't Get There If Ya Don't Try!
Softness at Dawn
Meadow Breeze
Open Doerr (done on the Doerr, of course!)
Quiet Dance
My process is not to necessarily wait until something is finished, but to play even a short, yet to be worked out, segment of what I'm trying to develop. First off, she'll tell me if she thinks it's "garbage" , but something will often come to mind that sparks a potential title. With that, I often use that title to continue composing along that theme......using a potential title as a creative pathway.
We have two rules/understandings: She'll only name something she really likes, and she'll only take one shot at a name......after that I'm on my own!!
A few that have been my own titles:
Midnight Melody
While I Wait For You
Winter's Light
Simple Overtones
Cliff Walk Interlude
Calliope
So, anyway there's my process for my own instrumentals. No question that my wife enjoys being part of the creative process.
Have fun! Looking forward to your new creation!
Fred

[DukeX]

For instrumentals, my subconscious reveals the title to me...in time.

For songs it is the "money" line from the chorus, usually the first or last line of the chorus.

Also, I just get song ideas. When I get them I write them down, sometimes just a title or a phrase, sometimes with a little idea of what type of song and where it might be going. I have notebooks full of ideas.

For example, a song title came to me a few years back, "Little Miss Somebody." A couple of years later, scanning through my Idea notebooks, I came across the title, and the lyrics and melody started coming to me. The result is a little Blues/Rock song, a little Love ballad, if you will.