Yesterday Once More

17 May 2016

One Syllable Titles

Hi Listeners,

Less is more seems to be the mantra of some song writers. Encapsulating the whole meaning of a song into a single, one syllable title obviously has some appeal to a listener. Indeed there are many examples of this. In the fifties Johnny Ray released his signature song ‘Cry’ which became a huge hit for him. The title and its sound appealed to the listeners’ ears through a succinct syllable which also captured Johnny Ray’s singing style. Other effective titles are Fleetwood Mac’s monstrous hit ‘Dreams’ featuring Stevie Nicks and the intriguing title ‘If’ from the sweet voice of David Gates and Bread.

Johnny O’Keefe’s biggest hit titled ‘Shout’ reflected the perfect combination of combining the title of the song with the driving repetitive chorus. Other songs with one syllable titles include ‘Girl’ by The Beatles and ‘Pride’ by Aussie, Ray Brown and the lush, melodic song from the early eighties with the clever title – ‘Drive’ by The Cars. Of special interest is the sharing of titles by different songs -‘She’ by the Monkees is very different from Charles Aznavour’s ‘She’. The Pointer Sisters and Van Halen both have different songs entitled ‘Jump’ which again suits the uptempo drive of both songs. Thrown in for contrast is the String A Longs big instrumental hit ‘Wheels’.

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