I've had quite a few people this week say that they like the title of my new single; 'If I close my eyes I am worried I will fall asleep and not wake up again'.
It was even awarded the 'song title of the week' on the
Fresh on the Net review page. Now, I know that is not a real accolade but I have always been rather proud of the titles for my songs.
The nice thing about being an electronic artist is I generally have free reign for making up bizarre titles as most of the songs don't really have lyrics or tell a story. There are a few exceptions to this but on the whole, I could call a song anything I like and often have.
And because of that I thought I would share a few of my favourite titles and where possible explain some of the thoughts behind them. I've also included some embeds to listen to the tracks too.
Music to brush your teeth to
This was the title of my first album and the opening track on it. I've explained this one before, but if you missed it, the idea came about because all of my early demos came in around the two minute mark, which is the recommended time to brush your teeth for.
One of the original ideas was to release a 7 track record with 2 minute songs on so you had a different one for each day of the week and you could play them whilst brushing - that didn't happen sadly.
If you unwrap the wrapper you leave me exposed
Vulnerability. That is what this title is all about. The idea that everyone has a wrapper; a wall around them to protect them and when it is taken away it leaves them open to getting hurt. The title came about whilst I was eating some Christmas chocolates and was feeling rather low myself. One the outside the chocolate had a lovely shiny red wrapper - but once that was gone, it was left exposed for my eating pleasure.
The Latin word for amusement
This title has a hidden agenda in that there is no word for amusement in Latin. The song has some Latin speaking running through in in which someone is telling a joke. Well, I thought it was funny.
The Man Who Smiles When Things Go Wrong
All of the titles on my second album 'Get Amongst It' are taken from things other people said. This title came about when I was working at a software company. One of my colleagues was talking about a project he was managing and on the client team there was a guy who seemed to take pleasure in things going wrong.
He was explaining that this chap would tell everyone some bad news and then smile at the end of it. I loved that idea and that is how the title came about.
If I close my eyes I am worried I will fall asleep and not wake up again
I have been known to suffer with depression and many years ago had a really bad case of it, mixed with anxiety and uncontrollable thoughts about dying. It got to the stage where one night, I was so scared of sleeping because I truly believed I would die in my sleep.
Thankfully now I don't mind going to sleep and would happily have more of it if I could. I liked songs with either really short one word titles or really long ones like this. I actually think it makes a song stand out when you have unique and clever titles and makes people more inclined to listen to them.
The Camden Shuffle
This is not the most exciting title out there, but it does always take me back to when I was recording it. I was going to a gig in Camden and had my laptop with me, so was working on the song whilst looking out of a bar window onto the High Street.
The melody of the song seemed to fit perfectly with everyone walking along and maybe it was just me but the people of Camden High Street really did seem to have their own unique 'shuffle' so I named the song after them.
No Link yet as the track is released on 24th November as part of the 'Close My Eyes EP'
