JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Re-using well-known song titles - yea or nay??

I have noticed several examples of songs and lyrics on here that share their name with a song by a famous artist, or in some cases differ very slightly. I don't know if the writer was necessarily aware of the similarity and I know you cannot copyright titles, but do you think it is a good idea?

Not to pick on Travis, but his current song title, Midnight Rambler, is also the title of a Rolling Stones song from the 60s. There have been a lot of others in recent weeks.

Go.....

hey Colin,i think as long as it has no bearing what so ever other than the title,i see nothing wrong with it.And i mean not the slightest!Near titles don't count i think because it is or it isn't."The Midnight Rambler" is not "Midnight Rambler" though i will admit,the stones crossed my mind when i read the title but i soon forgot all about it as i listened to Vic & Travis' song,even in the chorus.I wouldn't plan on using a title but if that's how the cookie crumbles,oh well.I know of two Stairway To Heaven,one rock[Zeppelin],one r&b[O Jays].Not sure which came first.

Not being a big "Stones" fan, I didn't realise that, Colin,
but there is nothing in this world that is new or can't be adjusted.
I often look for a particular song on Google and find many songs with the same title. Some are years older than the "known" version.

I must admit that I would try very hard to not repeat a title if I can help it, but what matters more is the content.

I Googled this. Though I wouldn't vouch for its accuracy. Songs with the "Hold On" title:

Hold On - Korn
Hold On - KT Tunstall
Hold On - John Lennon
Hold On - Razorlight
Hold On - Santana
Hold On - Michael Buble
Hold On - Triumph
Hold On - Yes
Hold On - Deep Purple
Hold On - Green Day
Hold On - Tom Waits
Hold On - Wyclef Jean
Hold On - Jonas Brothers

I can only imagine how many songs have been written with an "I Love You" title. Anyway, I find nothing wrong with it, unless the songwriter has two songs with the same title. Could get complicated with their PRO.

John

Seems like a way to draw curiosity, I would never do it for that reason.

One thought on whether it is a good idea or not is, what would happen if someone Googled it? Write a song called Let It Be and it would be on page 679, right after 678 pages of references to another song by that name.

The same thing applies when selecting a band name. Call your band Chevrolet and imagine where it would show up in a search.

I guess it would depend on the title, and how well you write the song. Of the examples that John Lawrence Schick gave, I don't think I recognize any of those songs. I also probably wouldn't write that title, but just because it's such a nothing title.
I heard a hit writer in Nashville do a song called "Atta Boy, Girl" which was the name of a fairly huge Roger Miller hit. It wasn't the same song, but it also wasn't near as good.
I wouldn't think anybody would want to write a song called "Blues Eyes Crying In The Rain", "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", or "Margaritaville", which were all signature songs, but some titles beg to be re-written with different angles and from different points of view.

Hi Colin:

I'm not sure if my original post was lost in the recent "outage" here at JPF... or if I even responded... but I planned to do so if I actually didn't. As a rule of thumb... I avoid using existing titles if I am aware they exist... but I'm not going to lose much sleep if I happen to tread on that territory. It certainly won't be intentional, though.

I know, it happens all the time. As you stated, "Nothing to worry about since Titles cannot be copyrighted." I'm pretty sure it happens in the literary world also.

All the best,

Dave

What about story lines or ideas. I know that can't be copyrighted either. How familiar would it have to be before you were stepping on someone's copyright?

Hi Everett:

Unless it's a parody... it probably depends on the original artist's (or their barrister's) degree of interpretation... LOL!

It is a bit like "skating on thin ice"... not that we have much thin ice in this part of Texas!

How on earth are you doing? Glad JPF is back up and running... even with lost data. Always good to see and read your posts.

----Dave

Hello folks, good to see you all again.

As far as writing existing titles, inherently there is no problem with it. It is done all the time. But like most things, for newer writers, trying to get songs to publishers or get known, it can be a problem. Sitting down with a publishers, looking over titles and finding an existing one, then having them start singing the more famous one is just one more impediment to getting it heard.

I once had a girl from Chicago come in with a title called "Yesterday." She couldn't understand why every time she pulled out the lyric sheet people started singing "All my troubles seemed so far away." She had never really heard that song, but got the same reaction every time.

A few years ago, one of the other artist I worked with, Steel Magnolia, had a song called "KEEP ON LOVING YOU" which was their first number four single. At the same time, REBA came out with her newest CD, "KEEP ON LOVING YOU." And of course, these were all after the big REO SPEEDWAGON hit from the 70's KEEP ON LOVING YOU, which is a big staple on Oldies radio, which is one of the biggest radio formats.

So it would all depend. Like usual, an artist can probably get away with it easier than an unknown, but it is all going to run into just one more limiting factor to getting songs listened to. Personally, I'd try to avoid it when I can. Can't totally avoid it. If it is a big ICONIC hit, "AMERICAN PIE, SWEET HOME ALABAMA, MY WAY," you are just creating more problems than you need. If it is a recent hit, same deal.

Best avoided when possible.

MAB

Marc has got the right idea here, but I'm not sure it's as much about the song being "iconic" as it is to the title being unique and at least somewhat popular, at one time. If a title is so unique that in using it you could imagine people being drawn to the song cuz they think it's a cover of that song--well..you might want to avoid that title, unless you enjoy boos and hisses. I will not be writing a song called "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" anytime soon.

On the other end of the spectrum, if a title is so common..why use it? As pointed out, it will become lost in the shuffle at worst, and at best it will be competing with other songs with that same title.

If you simply have to use a common or unique title, perhaps a good solution is to put an "alternate title" in parenthesis. This is a rather common practice. "Lay Down (Candles In the Rain)" by Melanie comes to mind.

Mike

I say ‘yay’. Just as long as you are not effectively writing the same song. I think it’s a good exercise to take an existing title and put your own spin on it. That also goes for film and book titles.

MAB, from the mid sixties, "Keep On Loving You." Kalamazoo's own Rem Wall.

http://youtu.be/i8z4rboVIAc

Dan,

I'm sure if you looked you could probably find that title written back in the 30's and 40's if not before. That is not exactly my point. My point is when you have ICONIC or well known songs, it creates one more hardship on getting acceptance of songs from industry people who deal with so many songs, and creates more confusion than is needed in an already confusing business. More of a negative than a positive.

In the examples I cited, Steel Magnolia and Reba, they had enough momentum behind them or were big enough stars in Reba's case, to ride above it. That doesn't usually happen for newcomers. In the case of the song, KEEP ON LOVING YOU" there had already been a HUGE hit with that from REO Speedwagon, actually from the 80's not the 70's as I thought. The song is played constantly, on classic hit radio, in commercials, (recently used in a Swifter Mop commercial)and motion pictures.

In my estimation, it is more of a negative than would be a positive. That's my point.

MAB

I never worry about using titles that have been used previously, to be honest though I'd never heard of the Stones, Midnight Rambler before I penned my lyric
I also get inspiration from film, TV and book titles. As long as there's no plagiarism of course.