Frequently, I've critiqued songs whose titles were obviously thrown on after the song was written. I will ask the writer how he/she came up with the title. He'll invariably say, "Oh, I always do those last. I just sort of look for a line in the song...maybe the first line or something." That's a little like getting in a car with all your possessions and starting to drive. Then when you cross the line into another state, you decide to move there because that's where you ended up. It would be helpful to know generally where you're going when you get in the car.
Titles of many of the songs we love are written before the song is written. That's not always the case, but very often the title is the first definite thing to be thought of. There may be an emotion, an impetus to communicate, a melody approach, a chord progression, even a concept...but the first thing to be put on paper is frequently the title. This should cut to the heart of what you want to say and condense it, capsulize it, say it provocatively, say it with a picture, a metaphor, an analogy, say it in a common expression, but whatever it does, it speaks to the heart of the matter. While we're on the subject, look at the Don Henley song, "Heart of the Matter." That song could have been called "Forgiveness," or many other central themes of the song, but it was called "Heart of the Matter," because that's what it's about. The first line of the chorus is "I've been tryin' to get down..." but that's not a fraction as powerful as the title he chose.
Sometimes we don't start with a title, but rather find the word or phrase from the song which accomplishes what a title should. In this case, I believe a concept preceded the writing, but maybe the title itself came later, in the process of writing. An experienced songwriter will often start writing, not knowing where exactly the song is taking him/her, and in the process of writing, the story line emerges. The title will usually come later in such a situation.
Conversely, sometimes when we have a concept and a title, the song will simply develop without a firm road map of where it's going when we start. The more you focus through the title on what you want to say, and brainstorm that particular take on your story, the more supported your title will become. Every time you come to the title, it should have new meaning from the lyric leading to it. Each time we hear "This shirt.." in the lyric by Mary Chapin Carpenter, we know more about it and about the relationship and her feelings. Each time we hear "Lyin' Eyes," we know more about the characters. It's not just mindless repetition of a "hook." Writers, at the insistence of those who do not really understand what makes powerful writing powerful, will repeat a title until it becomes Chinese water torture. And yet at the end of the song, it means no more than it did the first time we heard it.
Students sometimes come to me with a wonderful concept for a song which I brainstorm with them. There are frequently over 50 titles that could come from the same story. Each one would lead to a different song. Deciding which angle to take, which title to develop will make the difference between a successful venture and an aborted one. That's why I discourage merely throwing the title on the song, whether before or after the concept is investigated. The title deserves a lot of thought and the lyrical road it will take you down should be looked into as clearly as possible before you devote time and energy to it. Having written songs for over 20 years makes this process almost instanteous for me, but I shudder to think of all the titles I developed when the song I wanted to write should have been called something else.
Nik Venet talks about writing from a "concept" rather than a "good idea" because a concept is open ended and can go deep. A good idea boxes you in and is two dimensional. "Desperado" is a concept. "Achy Breaky Heart" is an idea. A title can be either one. So you might as well make the title a concept. That way, it will give you the room to deepen its meaning each verse and result in the kind of song people listen to over and over, each time getting a layer of meaning they hadn't caught the first time. All this and having it communicate something clear on first listening. Now that's the challenge! And if you've achieved all that, don't you think your song deserves a great title?
© 1996 Harriet Schock
Webmaster: Jeff Mallett (jeffm@lyricist.com)