Title

Songwriting Infobox

Song Model
Songwriting
Lyrics - Melody - Harmony - Rhythm - Form
Song Form
Title - Chorus - Verse - Prechorus - Bridge
v • d • e

Put your title in spotlighted positions: In chorus opening lines, closing lines, or both. in AABA form, at the end of each verse (modern) or at the beginning.

Titles should...

• Distill and express the central idea of the song.
• Be the target area that everything else in the song aims at.
• Be able to be developed as the song progresses, so that it gains more impact as we gain more information.
• Be engaging and interesting, either in themselves or in the ideas they are able to provoke.
• Specific rather than general

Kinds of Titles

DNA Titles

DNA Titles are self-contained. They contain meaning all by themselves.

• Rolling In the Deep, Adele
• Party Rock Anthem, LMFAO
• Firework, Katy Perry
• E.T., Katy Perry
• Black Velvet
• The Great Pretender
• The Tracks of My Tears
• Cleaning Out My Closet

Parasitic Titles

Parasitic Titles need lyrical context for full effect.

• Just Can't Get Enough, The Black Eyed Peas
• Just the Way You Are, Bruno Mars
• The Time, The Black Eyed Peas
• Only Girl (In the World), Rihanna
• I Wanna Go, Britney Spears
• And They Do
• All I See is You?

Finding Titles

• Transformed clichés
• Suggest or contain metaphor or simile.
• A clever turn on words, like "Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue?"
• Sonic bonding, either with vowels (assonance) or consonants (alliteration), or both.
• Opposites (wrong, right; sun, moon; dark, light; in, out; up, down, etc.)
• Repetition
• Repetition with Variation
• Double meanings
• Billboard signs
• Product slogans
• Book and movie titles
• Interesting things people say
• Songs, especially lines you misunderstand
• Thesaurus
• Dictionaries of phrases
• Rhyming dictionary
• Dictionary of alliteration

Recoloring Titles

Title Pitch, Rhythm, and Emphasis

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