Song ideas, made fresh every time.

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All 406 of them, if you’d rather pick by hand.

Song title ideas

• Before the Lamps Go On
• Hold the Moon for Me
• Wait for Me, Morning
• The Kindest Thing
• All the Way to Tuesday
• If the Sky Should Ask
• A Light for the Road
• Little Lantern
• Paper Boats
• The Night Was Ours
• Somebody Loves the Rain
• Leave the Gate Open
• Two Minutes Fast
• When the Band Goes Home
• Ever So Far
• The Smallest Star
• Tell the Morning
• Sleep, the Sea Is Calm
• Higher Than the Kites
• Last Light at the Pier
• Carousel Horse
• Sunday Clocks
• Where the Music Can't Reach
• Keep a Window Open
• The Long Way Round the Harbour
• Over the Rooftops
• Count to a Hundred
• Someone Like Sunday
• Fireflies in a Jar
• Whistle Me Home
• The Year It Snowed
• Lend Me Your Umbrella
• Postcard from the Sun
• A Song for the Lighthouse
• All the Tomorrows Left
• The Moon Knows Your Name
• Rooftop Telescope
• Wish Me Well
• A Little Further
• Sweet Mabel
• Dancing on the Landing
• Until the Stars Come Out
• The Quiet Kind
• Ships in the Window
• The Brightest Thing I Know
• One More Turn of the Wheel
• Snow on the Bandstand
• Morning, Come Gently
• A Lamp in Every Window
• The Ferryman's Song
• Ribbons in the Rain
• Meet Me by the Clock
• All the Little Lights
• The Sea Can Wait
• Wherever the Wind Goes
• Little Paper Crown
• Sing Me Something Simple
• Thursday Tea Dance
• The Night Ferry
• Bring the Washing In
• One Small Wish
• Halfway to the Stars
• Up Before the Milkman
• Snowfall on the High Street
• Hush Now, Sparrow
• Lighthouse Lullaby
• Second-Hand Moon
• Until the Tide Turns
• Keep the Kettle On
• The Windmill and the Wren
• Brighter Than Brass
• Our Bench in the Park
• The Clockmaker's Daughter
• Rain on the Marquee
• The Sweetheart Bus
• Starlight on the Gravel
• When the Swallows Leave
• Telegram for Two
• All Aboard the Morning
• Paper Lanterns
• Dancing Shoes in the Attic
• Last Waltz at the Palais
• Old Moon, New Moon
• Pennies on the Pier
• Sweet Little Nothing
• The Kite String
• Home Before the Streetlights
• A Window Seat
• Best Coat On
• Little Ships
• Summer's on Its Way
• The Brass Band Plays Tonight
• Gentle on the Stairs
• Under a Paper Sky
• The Way Home Is Long
• Nearly Morning

Pictures to write about

• A paper boat racing down a rainy gutter
• The moon caught in a puddle outside the bus station
• A music box that only plays when the house is asleep
• A kite tangled in the telephone wires
• The last train of the night, lit up and nearly empty
• Snow settling on a fairground after closing
• A dance band rehearsing to an empty hall
• A lighthouse still turning its light for no one
• Footprints on the beach going only one way
• A porch light left on all night, just in case
• The dark of the picture house before the film begins
• A name written in the frost on a window
• A bandstand in the park with rain on its roof
• Moths circling the one streetlamp on the lane
• The end of the pier, where the music doesn't reach
• A trunk in the attic full of someone's letters
• Church bells over a town that's still asleep
• Sheets on a washing line, filling like sails
• A telescope on a rooftop, pointed at the same star every night
• A carousel horse with its paint worn down to the wood
• The station clock that's always two minutes fast
• Two tin cans on a string between two bedroom windows
• A rowing boat tied up, knocking softly at the dock
• A garden gate that never quite shuts
• A jukebox in an all-night diner with one song left to play
• Sparklers writing names in the dark
• A tin rooster on the roof, turning with the wind
• An out-of-tune piano in the school hall after everyone's gone
• A postcard from somewhere warm, never sent
• A hot-air balloon drifting low over a field of cows
• Stopped at the very top of the Ferris wheel
• Fireflies in a jar on the windowsill
• A street of lamps coming on one by one
• A cardboard moon hung over the school play
• A swing still moving in an empty playground
• Paper streamers from a ship pulling out to sea
• A sunflower taller than the garden wall
• Pennies at the bottom of a wishing well
• The kitchen at dawn, before anyone's up
• An orchestra tuning up before the lights go down
• A dropped glove on the steps of the town hall
• Rain on the roof of a car parked by the sea
• A paper lantern floating out across the lake
• The lit window of the bakery at four in the morning
• A row of beach huts shut up for the winter
• An open violin case on a busy street corner
• Steam from the laundry drifting up past the moon
• Chalk hopscotch half washed away by the rain
• A bicycle leaning on a gate with flowers in its basket
• The pantomime horse hanging up backstage
• A snow globe on the mantelpiece of an empty house
• Gulls following the last ferry home
• A wedding cake topper for sale in a junk shop
• A candle in every window on the longest night
• An umbrella blown inside out, cartwheeling down the promenade
• A dog waiting at the station every evening at six
• A tree house with a rope ladder and a sign that says keep out
• Dew on a spider's web strung across the gate
• The village hall after the dance, chairs stacked on the tables
• A shop bell ringing as the last customer leaves
• A greenhouse full of tomatoes and an old radio
• Fog lifting off the river, one boat already out
• Christmas lights still up in the middle of March
• A bus shelter covered in names scratched into the paint
• A child's handprint pressed into the pavement
• A record still turning after the song has ended
• Deckchairs stacked on an empty beach at dusk
• A teapot under a knitted cosy, kept warm for someone late
• Fireworks far away over somebody else's town
• Rowing boats racked up like the keys of a piano
• The swimming baths after closing, the water perfectly still
• A message in a bottle on a cold grey beach
• A tram bell ringing down a hill in the rain
• A scarecrow wearing somebody's wedding suit
• Washing left out in the snow, frozen stiff on the line
• A hospital window full of get-well cards
• The lights of a fishing boat a mile out in the dark
• A long table set outside for a summer wedding
• A paper aeroplane stuck on the school roof
• A farmhouse by the railway where someone always waves

Characters

• Mabel, who sells tickets at the picture house and never sees the end of a film
• Old Mr. Abernathy, who winds every clock in town on Sundays
• A boy who built a rocket from a washing-machine box
• A lighthouse keeper who writes letters to the moon
• A girl who keeps every wish she's ever made in a jam jar
• The milkman who whistles the same tune at every door
• A retired trumpet player who still practises at dawn
• Ada, who still sets the table for two
• A postman who reads the postcards and smiles
• A tailor who sews a secret into every coat
• The balloon seller who lets one go each night
• A stagehand who knows every word but never goes on
• A sailor home on leave who can't sleep without the sea
• A librarian who leaves notes in the books she loves
• The ice-cream man who plays his tune in the rain
• Miss Harrow, the piano teacher whose metronome never stops
• A paperboy who knows every dog on his round by name
• A night nurse who hums to the ones who can't sleep
• An old sign painter whose letters are on every shop in town
• A circus girl who walks the tightrope in her dreams
• Grandad in his shed, mending things nobody needs
• The bus driver who waits a moment longer for the ones who run
• A clown having tea after the show, face half washed
• An astronomer who has never once seen the sea
• The lift operator who knows everyone's floor
• A beekeeper who tells the bees about her day
• A wedding singer who has never been married
• The newsagent who saves the last comic for one boy
• A gardener planting for a spring she won't see
• The projectionist up in the dark with the dust and the light
• A pilot who drops letters from the sky
• A fisherman who sings to his nets
• Walter, who still waves at the trains he used to drive
• A seamstress who hums the songs from every wedding she has sewn for
• The lollipop lady who knows every child's birthday
• Dot, who dances alone at the tea dance every Thursday
• A boy who falls asleep to the shipping forecast
• An usherette with a torch who knows every film by heart
• A gravedigger who plants daffodils for the ones nobody visits
• The woman next door who sings to her washing
• A chimney sweep who counts the stars from the rooftops
• A pianist in a hotel bar where nobody listens
• Frank, the ferryman who has crossed the river twenty thousand times
• A war bride who still keeps his first letter in her purse
• A boy who keeps every bus ticket in a shoebox
• The church organist who slips a love song into the hymns
• A magician who only ever makes things appear
• A girl who signals to her best friend across the street with a torch
• The window cleaner who sees everybody's lives through the glass
• An old couple who still hold hands at the bus stop
• Ruby, the hairdresser who knows every secret on the street
• A deep-sea diver who misses the quiet down there
• A shepherd who gives every lamb a name
• The station master who keeps a garden on the platform
• A lonely ventriloquist who tells his doll the truth
• A girl learning the trumpet on the twelfth floor
• The café cook who remembers how everyone takes their tea
• A man who feeds the ducks at the same time every day
• Iris, who writes to the newspaper every week and never gets printed
• A toymaker who never had children of his own
• A busker who only knows three songs
• A telegram boy who hopes the news is good
• A choir girl who only hits the high note when no one's listening
• An old sailor who builds ships in bottles

Feelings to write about

• Being glad, just glad, that someone exists
• The first warm day after a long winter
• Falling for someone and wanting to tell the whole street
• Good news you can't keep in
• Coming home and finding the light on
• A day where everything goes right for no reason
• Feeling small under a sky full of stars, and not minding
• Being young with everything still ahead
• A friend who knows you better than you do
• Dancing in the kitchen when nobody's watching
• Loving someone more than you know how to say
• Wanting to keep someone safe from the whole world
• Watching someone you love fall asleep
• A quiet evening that needs nothing added
• Forgiving someone, and feeling lighter for it
• Still being there for someone after all these years
• Telling someone to hold on, it gets better
• Being proud of someone who doesn't know it
• Wishing for something you can't quite name
• The ache of a perfect day getting late
• Missing how big the world used to seem
• Walking down a street you used to live on
• Growing up faster than you wanted to
• The last night of summer
• The one who almost happened
• Finding letters from someone you've lost touch with
• Thinking of a friend who lives too far away
• Wishing you could tell your younger self it turns out all right
• Knowing this is the last dance
• Daydreaming of a life somewhere else
• Hoping anyway, when no one else does
• Being lonely in a room full of people
• Waiting for someone who isn't coming
• The quiet of a house after someone's gone
• Something you'll never get to say
• Feeling yourself drift away from someone you love
• Lying awake while the whole world sleeps
• Smiling so no one asks
• Being far from home on a holiday
• Missing someone you never really knew
• Laughing until you can't breathe with your oldest friend
• The first night in a home of your own
• Hearing your song on the radio for the first time
• Saturday morning with nowhere to be
• A letter from someone you thought had forgotten you
• The first sight of the sea after a long drive
• A kiss that makes the whole day make sense
• Walking home in the rain and not caring
• Running for the last bus and making it
• Starting again somewhere nobody knows you
• Hearing a child laugh in the next room
• Finding out you were loved all along
• Holding a hand in the dark
• Being the first person someone tells
• Making a home out of two people
• Growing old next to someone
• Coming back to someone after a long time away
• Thanking someone you never thanked enough
• Promising to wait, and meaning it
• Comforting a friend without saying a word
• Being brave for someone else
• Hearing a song from the summer you were seventeen
• Seeing your parents as people for the first time
• Leaving a party just before it ends
• Watching a train take someone away
• Wondering what became of someone
• Being homesick for a place that isn't there any more
• Packing up a childhood bedroom
• A love that only worked in summer
• Remembering the sound of someone's voice
• Missing someone who's only in the next town
• Pretending you don't mind when they leave
• Being the last one left at the bar
• Hearing their name and still feeling it
• Arriving too late to say goodbye
• Loving someone who loves somebody else
• The first Christmas without them
• Watching someone you love forget who you are
• Being told to cheer up
• Knowing it's over before they say it

Tricks from the great songwriters

• Sing the title on a leap of a whole octave. Over the Rainbow, Starman
• End the chorus on a note that isn't home, like a wish not yet granted. When You Wish Upon a Star
• Keep the melody off the home note until the title. When You Wish Upon a Star
• Let the verse chords wander and the chorus land. God Only Knows
• Paint one ordinary street, then make one thing on it a little strange. Penny Lane
• Tell one stranger's story in the verse, then turn it to all of us in the chorus. Eleanor Rigby
• Bring someone from the first verse back in the last. Penny Lane
• Put a sad story inside a happy tune. Harry Nilsson
• Say it as simply as a telegram. Irving Berlin
• Keep the whole tune on five notes. In My Life, Here Comes the Sun
• Move the whole song up into a new key for its last time round. God Only Knows
• Make the title a question. Life on Mars?
• Name it after a real place you loved as a child. Penny Lane
• Give your character a name and one small, telling habit. Eleanor Rigby
• Bring one line back at the end, changed by a single word. Jimmy Webb
• Make the chorus one plain sentence anyone could say. Paul Simon
• Open with one note and a breath of silence before you sing. Life on Mars?
• Write it like a children's song that's really for grown-ups. Harry Nilsson, The Point!
• Let someone escape into a picture show, a radio, a daydream. Life on Mars?
• Let a wordless "ooh" carry the feeling where words would say too much. The Beach Boys
• Put a number in the title. Harry Nilsson, One
• Climb up the scale in the middle section, as if reaching for the light. When You Wish Upon a Star
• Write it as a conversation across a great distance. Space Oddity
• Let the chorus be a wish, said out loud. Wouldn't It Be Nice
• After every leap up, let the melody step gently back down. When You Wish Upon a Star
• Sing the verse low and close, then open up high for the chorus. Life on Mars?
• Say one feeling, all the way through, and nothing else. The Great American Songbook
• Put something enormous next to something everyday. Cole Porter
• Let the tune rise a sixth where the hope comes in. In My Life
• Let one note inside the chords fall a half step at a time. In My Life
• Let the bass climb a half step at a time into the chorus. Life on Mars?
• Sing the verse in short phrases, so it sounds unsure of itself. God Only Knows
• Never sing the same note twice in a row. When You Wish Upon a Star
• Keep the first half of the verse simple and make the second half richer. Wouldn't It Be Nice
• Make the verse seven bars long instead of eight. Yesterday
• Let the words fall where they want, not in neat fours. Yesterday
• Slip in a bar of a different length somewhere unexpected. Here Comes the Sun
• Hold the highest note of the song for three whole bars. Life on Mars?
• Start the song with the chorus. She Loves You
• Make the hook a phrase people already say. Jimmy Webb
• Save a twist in the meaning for the very last line. Ira Gershwin, But Not for Me
• Put long, open vowels on the long notes. Anthony Burgess
• Don't use the word "heart" anywhere. Jimmy Webb
• Put the verse in one key and the chorus in another. Life on Mars?
• Start on a chord that isn't home, as if the song began a moment ago. God Only Knows
• Give your prettiest melody a wry, funny line. Harry Nilsson
• Use the old AABA shape: a verse, the verse again, a bridge, then the verse once more. When You Wish Upon a Star
• End every verse on the same rhyme sound. When You Wish Upon a Star
• Sing harmony with yourself on the chorus. Harry Nilsson
• Give each line of the verse to a different person on the same street. Penny Lane
• Write the last line first and work back to it. Stephen Sondheim
• Use the bridge to move the story somewhere new. Jimmy Webb
• Choose the unusual word over the obvious one, once in every verse. Jimmy Webb
• Lean on a note that clashes with the chord, then let it settle. Yesterday
• Sing the same tune again over different chords. Here Comes the Sun
• Bring in one chord from outside the key in the bridge. In My Life
• Write it first as a letter to one person, then make it a song. Jimmy Webb
• Hint at the title in a verse line before the chorus says it outright. Jimmy Webb

Chord colours

Shown in C major or A minor. The generator moves each one to a key that suits it. A chord written with a slash, like Am/G, has the second note in the bass.

• The wishing turnaround

  The old songbook circle: warm, hopeful and a little old-fashioned.

  Verse: C A7 Dm G7Chorus: F G7 Em A7

• The minor four

  A major chord turns minor for a moment, like a memory. John Lennon's favourite, all through In My Life.

  Verse: C F Fm CChorus: Am F Fm C

• The falling line

  One note slips down a step at a time inside the chords, like something gently letting go.

  Verse: C Cmaj7 C7 FChorus: F Fm C G7

• The flat-seven sunrise

  A chord from just outside the key that feels like sun breaking through, like the long goodbye at the end of Hey Jude.

  Verse: C Bb F CChorus: F C G C

• The shadow key

  The song keeps leaning toward its sad twin, the relative minor, the way Yesterday does.

  Verse: C Bm7 E7 AmChorus: F G C Am

• The bright two

  A major chord on the second step lifts the line, then turns somewhere you don't expect. A Beatles habit from the start.

  Verse: C D7 F CChorus: Am D7 F G

• The dreaming sevenths

  Soft major sevenths that float instead of landing.

  Verse: Cmaj7 Fmaj7 Cmaj7 Fmaj7Chorus: Am7 Dm7 Fmaj7 G

• Wander, then land

  Unsettled chords in the verse and a clear home in the chorus: the shape of God Only Knows.

  Verse: Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 GChorus: F G C C

• The rising wonder

  One note climbs inside the chord like a held breath before something marvellous. Showtune magic that Bowie loved.

  Verse: C Caug C6 C7Chorus: F Fm C G7

• The lullaby

  Three chords and the gentlest walk home. As simple as a telegram, as Irving Berlin put it.

  Verse: C F C GChorus: F C G C

• The old-time sixths

  Sweet sixth chords, straight out of the songbook era.

  Verse: C6 Am7 Dm7 G7Chorus: F6 Fm6 C6 G7

• The falling steps

  Four chords stepping down: minor, cinematic, a little like a tango.

  Verse: Am G F EChorus: F G Am Am

• The minor reach

  A minor key that keeps reaching for the light.

  Verse: Am F C GChorus: F G C E

• The warm minor

  A minor key with one surprisingly warm major chord in it.

  Verse: Am D Am DChorus: F G Am D

• The amen

  Four to one, the soft amen at the end of a hymn: comfort, not drama.

  Verse: C Em F CChorus: F C F C

• The long way home

  Two chords from outside the key step round the circle to home, the way the bridge of Here Comes the Sun does.

  Verse: C Eb Bb FChorus: Eb Bb F C

• The circle

  Each chord pulls to the next round the circle of fifths, like walking gently downstairs: the songbook's road home.

  Verse: Am Dm G CChorus: Em Am Dm G

• The street corner

  The fifties ballad: four chords round and round under a street-corner harmony.

  Verse: C Am F GChorus: C Am Dm G

• The borrowed six

  A chord borrowed from the minor key passes like a cloud across the sun.

  Verse: C Ab F CChorus: Am F Ab G

• The hero's return

  Two borrowed chords stride up to home, bold and cinematic.

  Verse: C Ab Bb CChorus: F G Ab Bb

• The passing diminished

  A diminished chord slips between two others like a half step on the stairs. Pure songbook.

  Verse: C C#dim Dm G7Chorus: F F#dim C G7

• The ballroom

  Two, five, one: the move half the standards are built on. Smooth, grown-up and a little smoky.

  Verse: Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Cmaj7Chorus: Em7 A7 Dm7 G7

• The sigh

  Suspended chords that lean, then settle, like a breath let out.

  Verse: Csus4 C Gsus4 GChorus: F C Gsus4 G

• The front porch

  Three dominant sevenths: a little blues and a lot of front-porch warmth.

  Verse: C7 F7 C7 G7Chorus: F7 F7 C7 G7

• The old minor song

  A minor key with a major five, the way folk tunes and lullabies have always done it.

  Verse: Am Dm E AmChorus: F Dm E E

• The Picardy light

  A minor song that ends on a major chord, like a window opening at the very last moment.

  Verse: Am F Dm EChorus: Dm E Am A

• The sun comes out

  A minor verse that opens into its relative major for the chorus, like clouds parting.

  Verse: Am Em F GChorus: C G F C

• The minor falling line

  The bass sinks a half step at a time under one minor chord: the sorrow of My Funny Valentine.

  Verse: Am Am/G# Am/G Am/F#Chorus: F Dm E Am