Methods for naming original songs.

Well I don't think this really goes in song writing or anything, so in Uke Talk it goes I suppose (nice rhyme)

I'm just curious how other choose to name their songs.

I don't believe in making up fancy names after the fact, so usually once I've finished a rough draft, I just pick the first thing that comes into my head, or some object that was around me.

Like for instance, I was playing one day, and I had a California Poppy laying on my desk (don't worry it was farm grown) it had been laying there for a day or so, so it had started to shrivel up. I was creating the song and I finished and look down and knew that my song title was going to be Wrinkled Petals. I feel like it influenced the song making process (since I was at my desk playing the whole time) so I used it for my song title.

Or just after halloween, we had a bunch of candy left because no children at all came to my house. So I was amped up on pixie sticks as I created a tune. I thought, well I can't name it pixie sticks because that is a brand and its lame.... so I ended up with Sugar Steady.

Or one day I was feeling down, so I started to create a dark tune, and I got so into it that I realized it had to shape and change or else it would be boring, so I made it go upbeat at the end. The first word that came into my mind was "Esperanza", I did not consciously know the meaning of the word, but I thought it sounded right. I later realized that Esperanza means hope, and then I remembered that one of the Chilean miners wives named their child Esperanza. My subconscious knew that, but I didn't when I picked the title, how cool is that?

Anyways..... so share your stories please!

I have more by the way, but I don't want to bore you to death =)

My lyric usually informs the title pretty organically. The chorus hook or first line generally does the trick. That said, sometimes it's not so obvious and I have to dig into the feeling of the piece. I just try to keep titles simple and relevant.

Instrumentals titles are more like poetry to me, the title serving simply to call up a emotion of mine.

Sometimes the name comes before the lyrics....you get something pop in your head from a particular event, or experience....

My understanding is that John Scofield's wife Susan names a pretty fair number of his tunes. She sometimes gives them names with drug references, prompting him to add in the liner notes the exact date that he gave them up.

I've only ever written two somgs and both have titles from the lyrics: Ukulele Underground (yes - wrote it for the comp but never got it submitted in time) and Tits Up ("it went tits up" is an expression here for "it went awry")

Dane, I think a lot of your songs are very impressionistic and may suggest some imagery in the piece itself. You might want to check out "Chelsea Bridge" by Billy Strayhorn, or "Warm Valley" by Duke Ellington. I think both of these would be considered impressionistic, and I think both titles fit the music quite well.

For most of mine the title comes from something in the lyrics, maybe the first line, or something else that sticks out. However, one of mine, "Gold Miner's Lament" was the opposite. I came up with the title before I had any idea for lyrics. In this song I use a barred hammer-on effect that for some reason made me think of an ore cart rolling along in a mine. And since it was in a minor key, I decided to tag on the lament part.

The song languished without lyrics for a few months, and then I became motivated to come up with some for the Mainland Tenor contest on BringTheSong.org. I then remembered the story about a woman who was hanged during the California Gold Rush, and decided to tell it from the perspective of one of the miners.

Ron said:

Tits Up ("it went tits up" is an expression here for "it went awry")

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Ahh, yes, "tango-uniform," I remember it well...

OldePhart said:

Ahh, yes, "tango-uniform," I remember it well...

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We used that expression a lot when I was in the ARMY.

When that thing went tango uniform, you never saw a bigger charlie-foxtrot!

I keep a list of titles that come to me during my everyday life. If they inspire lyrics, great! If not, I can use them for instrumentals.

cheekmeat said:

I keep a list of titles that come to me during my everyday life. If they inspire lyrics, great! If not, I can use them for instrumentals.

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yeah, I can come up with song titles all day; the hard part is writing the songs to go with them...

Usually the song names itself, although I still have a love song that refuses to be named.

Fuzzy said:

yeah, I can come up with song titles all day; the hard part is writing the songs to go with them...

Usually the song names itself, although I still have a love song that refuses to be named.

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I like this idea.

And sound like you need to start an "Untitled" collection