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April 07, 2009
Hold On, I’ve Heard That Title Somewhere
I went to a writers’ night recently at Nolan’s Irish Pub in Cape Canaveral, FL. Sheryl sang a few of her new tunes (one of which I posted back on April 2), and we listened to several songs from other songwriters in the area.
It’s always a fascinating exercise to hear a new song for the first time. I find myself taking note of and mentally evaluating certain “song components” whenever I hear a song for the first time:
1. The title
2. The lyric
3. The melody
4. The chord progression
One of the writers sang an original song titled “Hold On.” Now, I knew right away that I had heard that title before. No harm done, you can’t copyright a title, but I began to wonder, just how many songs are called “Hold On?”
After a quick Google search, I found:
1. Wilson Phillips – Hold On
2. Tom Waits – Hold On
3. The Jonas Brothers – Hold On
4. Hold On Lyrics by Good Charlotte
5. Listen to KT Tunstall – Hold On for free
6. Hold On: Tyrone Wells: Music. ... 5.0 out of 5 stars Hold On by Tyronne Wells The CD is fantastic! Great songs with a smoky blues-rock feel. ...
7. Listen to Hot Chip – Hold On for free. Hold On appears on the album Made In The Dark…
8. Sarah McLachlan Hold On lyrics in the The Freedom Sessions Album.
9. KoRn - Hold On lyric.
10. Lazee - Hold On Lyrics at SeekaLyric.com, your source for free song lyrics!
11. Hold On Lyrics by Jet.
12. Hold On lyrics performed by Green Day
All right, that’s enough! Maybe we should retire that title.
There’s a lesson here: if you’re writing a song and you come up with a title you really like, “Google” it and see if anyone has beaten you to it!
If you find that a few songwriters have used it already, and you still love the title, go ahead and use it; after all, you can’t copyright a title.
You may want to think twice about writing a new song called “Hold On,” however.
Posted by leonolguin at April 7, 2009 11:40 AM