Some songwriters won’t even start a song without a Title they feel good about.

I understand the thinking behind this – what’s the point of investing a lot of time and energy into a song when you don’t even know if you’ll end up with a strong ‘Big Idea’?  And in most popular songs, across almost all genres, the Big Idea, the central idea, is really important.  And the Title is a major part of the Big Idea.

In my songwriting, I’m perfectly willing to follow an interesting song idea even if it comes without a Title attached.  But in my wanderings I’m always looking for the Title – it’s usually important to most of the songs I write.

Recently I noticed that I’d gotten further into the habit of writing this way – that is, not having a Title when I started, assuming I would find one.  Around the same time I noticed that my Titles seemed to be getting weaker – not all, but in general (and, to some extent anyway, as go my titles, so go my songs).  I thought it was time to make an in-course adjustment.

So I went to my Titles.  I have a box where I put scraps of paper with Title ideas.  (And I hadn’t taken anything OUT of this box in a while…)  From these scraps, I made a list of Titles – I had maybe 50 – on a few sheets of paper.  I pinned them onto my bulletin board (in a stack).

Now when I get a musical idea, a phrase where it feels like the Title should go, I pull down my list and see if there’s anything that fits.  By ‘fits’, I mean fits with the music rhythmically and emotionally.  If I find something, great.  If not, that’s OK too.  No harm done.

And sometimes I just start writing from a Title on the list, before I have any music.

I think my recent increased focus on Titles has been helping my songs.  The pendulum went too far the other way and now it’s swinging back.  My songs seem more focused and the central ideas seem stronger.

I’m not saying I’ve found a better way.  But I’m OK with leaning this way for a while, until it gets stale.