A Word on Titles

How do songwriters come up with apt and catchy titles for their songs? Some write the lyric first then decide what title best fits the song, while others start off with a specific title and then build the lyrics from there.

Looking closely at several successful songs, you will notice that often songwriters use either a one-word title or a phrase. Here are some examples:

One-word Titles

"Unforgettable" (Nat King Cole)

"Crazy" (Patsy Cline)

"Desperado" (Eagles)

"Yesterday" (Beatles)

"Solitaire" (Carpenters)

"Burn" (JoDee Messina)

"Valentine" (Martina McBride)

"Breakaway" (Kelly Clarkson)

"Complicated" (Avril Lavigne)

"Beautiful" (Christina Aguilera)

Longer Titles

"Here There and Everywhere" (Paul McCartney)

"Can't Help Falling in Love With You" (Elvis Presley)

"Wind Beneath My Wings" (Bette Midler)

"How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" (Michael Bolton)

"Everything I Do, I Do It for You" (Bryan Adams)

"When You Say Nothing at All" (Ronan Keating)

"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (Aerosmith)

"I Just Called to Say I Love You" (Stevie Wonder)

"Love Me For What I Am" (Carpenters)

Types of Song TitlesTitles can be categorized in many different ways; they can answer the question who, where and when, they can be taken from a quotation, a title or line from a book or they can utilize the play of words. Here are some examples:

Who: "Diana" (Paul Anka)
Where: "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" (Tony Bennett)
When: "Tomorrow" (from "Annie")
Quotation: "The Days of Wine and Roses" (Perry Como)
Book Title: "Catch-22" (by Pink based on Joseph Heller's book of the same title)
Play of words: "Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" (Crystal Gayle)

The different types of titles are as vast as the number of songs that have been written through the years. Look closely at the titles of your favorite songs to see which category it falls under.