Almost all of my songs are Title-based songs. Even though I don’t usually ‘write from the title’ (that is, start with a Title), when the questions inherent in writing the lyric of a song come up, for me the answers are usually found in the Title. It’s a code for me to crack. There’s a story in that Title – I just have to find it.
Thinking about and using a song’s Title this way may seem extreme to some. But the reason I state it this strongly is not because I think it’s a good theory… it’s that more and more I literally turn to the Title to… extract what is within it… to tell me what the rest of the song should be about.
In a Title-based song, the Title is the destination. The rest of the song is the trip to the destination. (And, of course, even if we all used the same Title, each of our lyric paths would be different.) In my lyric, I want to create an interesting journey to my destination, ideally a journey that might fill the listener with a feeling of both surprise and inevitability when they get to and come back to the Title.
I often start writing a song without having a Title. I might have a line, a riff, a bit of melody. So I’m just wandering through the forest… but I’ve always got an eye out for the river through the trees. I’ve got my antenna up for a Title (which may also include a melody, or part of one, or a chord progression…). Until I find it, I usually don’t feel like I’ve found ‘the river’. Once I have a Title that I feel good about, I can let myself think, ‘I might really have something here… I might get out of here alive.’
Oddly, when I do ‘write from a Title’ I like – but starting with just the Title lyric – I don’t have that same sense of ‘I’ve got something here’. For some reason, until that Title finds some music in which to make its home, I don’t feel like I have much yet, even if I know it’s a good Title.
For me, it’s the Organizer. Once the Title enters the room, everything else organizes itself around it. It’s the Sun King; the rest is the Court. It’s the Queen Bee… everything else is just buzzin’ ’round her hive.
When I was first trying to write songs, I remember someone saying to me, ‘Find your title, then prove it.’
So… if the Title is usually my answer… what’s the question? The question is, How do you organize your songs? What do you look to as the center, the principle the song organizes itself around? Do you even think of a song as something that needs organizing? How do you relate to your song’s Title, if at all?
Please let me know your thoughts in the Comments section below.
Interesting essay and one that I can relate to entirely. Our processes are much the same in writing — I find it much easier to navigate a song to completion if I have a good title rather than having a good catchy riff in my head but not having much before or after it. Sometimes those riffs stay in my head for a very long time before I do anything with it.
I also like that quote you gave: ‘Find your title, then prove it’. 90 percent of the time, that is my writing ‘modus operandi’.
Thanks for the day’s inspiration. 🙂
Mal,
Thanks for the thoughts, and for relating!
Best wishes,
Tony
ps Btw, if you’d like to get my weekly blogpost delivered direct to your Inbox, just send me an email from the Contact page (above).
Lyrically, (if I get lyrics in the beginning), I usually have a line that is making a “point”. I think I’m a bit of a philosophical writer, though I’m working on being more of a story-teller… Nonetheless, I usually start with a statement and its my center, I think. I LOVE the “Find your title, then prove it” advice. Because I get the best results when I manage to “prove” my statements by illustrating then with imagery and sound, instead of just stating them over and over. its the SHOW, NOT TELL concept that I try to watch out for!
Musically speaking – and I usually start with music – the mood, specifically, the emotional center of the song, is my river. If I think the ride down the river is getting boring – same progression repeating too much, same feeling through out, e.g. – then I look to add a twist or turn, or wave, or drop (waterfall?).
I’m always looking for the ‘release’, which the musical tension or lyrics build up to. Sometimes, I have the “release” first – like a hooky chorus that makes a big statement, so I have to ‘build the tension’ by writing some steady (more musically stable), imagery-rich verses to lead up to that chorus.
This is often the hard work, for me, as it can be ‘boring’, like hiking a mountain to get to the spectacular vista. I sometimes think of a making love (foreplay) analogy – you got to ‘warm me up’, not be too pushy or ‘go for the gold’ too soon – to remind me how important those illustrative and massaging verses are! 🙂
i hope i didn’t say too much!
love your blog!
-sarah
Sarah,
Not at all; really well put! Thanks for sharing your process… and for the kind words.
Best wishes,
Tony
ps Btw, if you’d like to get my weekly blogpost delivered direct to your Inbox, just send me an email from the Contact page (above).
I usually end up with the title somewhere in the middle of writing a song. But often the title will go through a series of revisions. It’s important for the title to hit the right tone. Sometimes I’m trying to evoke a certain style of song-naming, like one word titles of seeming irrelevance, or trendy misspellings like “Got 2 Get 2 U”.
I get a definite thrill out of naming a song. Sometimes it will be a pun or a private joke – like “Back In Five” for a news theme-like piece that happens to be in 5/8.
I think most songs are built on a tension or contrast between what’s being expressed in the verse and what’s being expressed in the chorus. If you can be clear about that, I think it helps to organize the song. Certainly a title that captures that fulcrum point can be a helpful reference.
Jon,
Thanks! Great point about ‘tension or contrast’. So true.
Best wishes,
Tony
I organize my lyric by the flow of information. That is, a 4 line section can really only hold so much information. Sometimes, I have to remind myself that I don’t have to get the whole story into 1 or 2 verses! I tell enough to move things forward, enough to keep a first-time listener interested, but I don’t have to cram it all into a small space.
Along with this, I am currently into the power of repetition because I’m writing old school R&B. In this genre, repetition has a lot of power. So I am trying to write a chorus that repeats my hook. As we know, one of the functions of the chorus (a word which means “voices” and, so, implies a sing-along) is that the first-time listener can recognize it. A new song holds a lot of information and some of it can be emotional. A chorus with repetition makes the new listener feel more comfortable. (Also, R&B was originally poor folks’ music, about lives that don’t change much from day to day unless something very good or very bad happens.)
For these reasons, I don’t have to cover as much information as I have in other genres. A relief! On the other hand, my lyrics need to be more punchy. R&B is a genre in which lyrics are very emotional AND very coherent.
So I’m organizing around my chorus, and my title’s usually in my chorus, but I’m looking at the chorus as a whole, as a road marker for the audience.
Thanks for writing, Annie!
I love the reminder of the original meaning of Chorus – I’ll remember that. Also that the lyric is often affected by the genre.
Best wishes,
Tony
Having a title to refer to can help keep from getting off track. I love getting lost in the woods as well as looking for the river to ride out. Sometimes it is very surprizing where you end up and discover the original emotion root is not where you expected. In that context, working from a title could stifle where one really needs to go. So never any set way of working. Just the need to work it out.