Song Lyrics - Creating Possible Song Titles

his songwriting exercise that I'm going to show you is a great example of a powerful technique called brainstorming.

Brainstorming is being able to spontaneously come up with ideas on a given topic or a problem at hand, but in this case we want to fill a page full of possible song titles.

The task is not to write a song but to come up with possible titles for a song. I try to do this at least twice a week. I have pages and pages of possible titles for me to look back on.

To start the exercise, write the first thing that pops into your head and then using that phrase start writing song titles making sure that the next phrase is derived from the first phrase.

Heres a short example:

Cry Baby
Baby Don't Cry
Don't Cry For Me Baby
Don't Cry
Why So Sad?
Im So Sad
Im Leaving Today

(I'm hoping you get my drift here)

Remember, because you are brainstorming you can write anything down, go off on any tangent you like and not worry about whether you are going to use it in the future or not.

Incidentally, your critical inner voice hates this kind of exercise as it has no control over what you are doing.

In fact, when you are doing this exercise don't even think about what you are writing. Just be automatic and spontaneous. Have fun with it.

Set yourself a target of doing this for 30 minutes, two to three times a week and build up a body of possible song titles.

After a couple of weeks have a look at what you have written. Pay close attention to the rhythm of the words and I'm sure that something will jump out at you and BINGO! You have the beginnings of a new song.

Looking back on what you have written can be a very interesting experience in itself. Its amazing what you write down when you stop judging what you write.

In the meantime, give it a go and see what happens.

I personally use brainstorming a lot in getting my songwriting ideas. It's a great way in freeing myself into being in the now when I write.

If you're going to try the 'possible song titles' exercise I suggest that you write as blindly as you can and try to make your word associations rapid-fire.

Write down the first thing that pops into your head. Do it for thirty minutes and see where the spontaneity takes you.