Some artists have a penchant for a great song title. In most cases, those titles grace equally great songs. Mr. Zimmermann, the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner to some better know as Bob Dylan often has a tendency to come up with these, so does Joni Mitchell. So did the late great Leonard Cohen.
Of course, these artists are poets at the same time, but some musicians that are not known for a poetic discourse with words, only with notes, like Astor Piazzola, another late great, was able to do so too, perfectly describing the music that bore a great title, like ‘Intruder…Female.’
No wonder one of his best producers, an excellent artist in his own right, Kip Hanrahan, picked up the above song for one of his albums, with a great title itself, ‘Days and Nights of Blue Luck Inverted.’ The music there matched the titles including a beautiful version of one of jazz classics, with not only another great title, but great lyrics too:
“Love is like a cigarette
You know you held my heart aglow between your fingertips
And, just like a cigarette”
Constant Follower - The Merry Dancers on TV
Constant Follower comes with yet another great title. Why? In ‘Scots’ (a traditional language spoken in Scotland), natural phenomena are often given beautiful phrasing – the ‘Merry Dancers’ of the song being the Scots term for the Aurora Borealis. Again, the quality of the song easily matches the title.
Elke - The Pink Tip of A Match Turns Black
Nashville’s Elke says what lies behind the title of this one. I wrote ‘The Pink Tip Of A Match Turns Black’ after I had a falling out with a friend. Rather than digging into the feeling of the bad taste, it left in my mouth, I made this song to be healing after a closure-less ending. The slow-burning song matches.
JU4N - Container with Dove
Juan Cisneros, aka JU4N, is an artist who tries to describe his titles solely with music, and this one is from his forthcoming album ‘Enhanced Interior Landscapes.’ It is all in sonic nuances here, so how the container and the dove fit in lies solely with the listener.
Wilderado - Take Some Time
Tulsa Oklahoma’s Wilderado is yet to release their debut album this Autumn, but they have already started to make a name for themselves. This live version of one of the upcoming tracks shows why.
Casper Skulls - Thesis
One-word titles are often quite intriguing, particularly when they present a term with such a wide-ranging meaning as this one from the Toronto band. Here, Casper Skulls combine their usual shoegaze with some nicely balanced folkiness.
Al Staehely - Wide-Eyed and Innocent
Seasoned singer/songwriter hands, like Al Staehely, the one-time member of Spirit and The Staehely Brothers should have no problems coming up with great titles for equally great tunes. And Staehely, who also wrote songs for everybody, from Bobbie Gentry to Marty Balin, shows how it is done on this one, all the way back from 1978.