Where to find new song title ideas?
I hope you and your family are doing OK through this nasty season of COVID-19, but I’ve been getting to the end of box series on the TV and films. Whatever you’re doing in lockdown, here’s something you might find useful.
After reading my book Song Maps - A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, someone recently emailed to ask me,
“Where do song title ideas come from?”
Well, there are many different ways to start writing a new song. And titles are an excellent place to start. So I took a look at my Idea Bank and here’s my top 25 techniques to find new song titles to write -
My top 25 techniques for generating song titles
In alphabetical order:
Adages titles
Alliteration titles
Altering the adage titles
Antonyms titles
Cause & effect titles
Colloquialisms titles
Colors titles
Conversations titles
Dates titles
Epigrams titles
Evolving situation titles
Literal & figurative titles
Maxim titles
Multi character titles
Multi meaning titles
Multi time frame titles
Neutralized chorus titles
One word titles
Physical & emotional titles
Places titles
Realization titles
Situation & reason titles
Times titles
Verses show, chorus tells titles
Word switches titles
How to use these techniques?
Here’s what I do:
Scan the list of 25 techniques until I find something I think sounds fun to try
Come up with a few words or phrases with that technique
Figure out how to develop through the song (i.e., a Song Map)
Jot that down ready for writing as a draft lyric
Every now and then, when I think I want something completely new to write about, I tend to spend an hour or two generating a whole LOAD of ideas to be written later. It’s a bit like binge-watching but for songwriters!
Question
Here are a few questions:
How about trying a few?
Is one that works better than any others on the list?
Maybe try TWO different techniques together? These are sometimes the best titles to write!
Maybe there’s something you use not on this list? Let me know if you’ve got a moment! simon@simonhawkins.com
Enjoy!
Simon Hawkins