How do you people come up with song names?

[flavor_of_the_weak]

only problem i am having is naming songs for some reason and how do you guys name your own songs?

[ClusterOne]

as far as I'm concerned, there's three ways to name a song. First, and most often used, is the most commonly occuring line in the song. A good example of this is "Hey you" by Pink Floyd. Clearly a line used repeatedly throughout the song and well fitting to it . The second way is using the most poingant (if not the most descriptive) line in the song as the title, even if it occurs once. A good (?) example of this is "When the Tigers broke free" by pink floyd.

 

it was dark all around

There was frost on the ground

when the Tigers broke free

They were all left behind, most of them dead

the rest of them dying

and that is how the high command

took my daddy from me.

 

Tigers refers to German tanks in WW2, and while the title before the listen means very little, afterwards any other title wouldn't make any sense. While this by no means is a song that will echo through the annals of time, the title itself is what drew me in and made me want to listen to it. "What in the world are The Tigers, and what are they breaking free from?!" is the first question that came to my head. It draws the listener in. This is my preferred way of naming songs. The third way is to pick an all ecompassing title which doesn't even occur as a line in the lyrics itself. An awful example of this would be "Several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave and grooving with a pict" by pink floyd, a title certainly descriptive of the song itself, but which certainly appears nowhere in the lyrics itself, which mostly consist of near-meaningless garbage.

 

Hope I helped

[HOWDJA]

I generally have a title before I even have the song started. In a verse/chorus type of structure, the title is usually either the first words of the chorus or the last words of the chorus.

 

In a verse/verse/bridge/verse structure it is usually in the last line of each verse.

 

Then of course, there's instances like Tull's "Hymn 43" where the title never occurs in the song.

[WattsUrizen]

Generally I think of something that explains somewhat the lyrics of the song. Usually I try to make the title into a catchy phrase with alliteration and assonance or something like that.

[jthud]

I write lyrics either during or after the music is being finished, so my band usually has some pretty cool temporary song names. "deftonesy" "dropDone" "punkish" "buttwater" "booty" "whofarted" "the newestsong" etc etc etc

[Zio]

usually its the first thing to pop into my head when reading over the lyrics

Like igot a song called Washboard, though i never say anythign remotley close to Washboard, Its stil lthe name of the song, and it fits it well.

 

try to find a word or phrase that fits the song, doesn't even have to appear in the song

[Dana Jensen]

For me it varies. I have a song called, "Half Naked Teenage Girls From Outer Space" because that phrase appears throughout the song. Another song is called, "The Unemployment Song" because it's about the joys of milking unemployment insurance, though the title doesn't appear in the song. Recently I came up with a song title (Hooker With a Colostomy Bag) that I plan on basing a song on. I've never done it that way before and have doubts on how well it will work.

[Deryck]

Depends.

 

Sometimes it's a line from the chorus or another line I like.

 

Then there are cases where I watch a movie or read a book, and I like the title...then I think it would fit the Song perfectly...like "Lock, Stock and one hated Girl" or "How to be good" or "Harry" etc.

 

And, sometimes, I come up with the title first and then write the song...

[seamless]

I usually name mine after a recurring line or word in the song.

[nonreglA]

Most tunes I write are instrumental jazz pieces. I first think of a name then go to CDNOW or Amazon and do a search for that same song title. If none already exists by that name then I consider it usable if I want. I then copyright all my original stuff. If you have never done this before you should. You can do an entire collection for only $30. Look at some of the original titles on my debut CD called Piece Offering, below:

 

what I'm all about

 

has sound samples too; order one now!