Alphabetizing Song Titles
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Printed Date: 30 October 2025 at 2:25am
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Topic: Alphabetizing Song Titles
Posted By: Scanner
Subject: Alphabetizing Song Titles
Date Posted: 13 December 2021 at 5:11pm
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English teachers would likely cringe at even proposing
this question...but, how do you alphabetize songs that begin with "A," "An," or "The?" Despite grammar rules, I have always included those articles as part of the titles. So, "A Little More Love" is under "A," not "L," on my song lists. This can help distinguish between two songs with the same title. Andy Gibb's "An Everlasting Love" is not the same song as Carl Carlton's "Everlasting Love." It also can better define what the song is about. If "The Rose" was just "Rose," is Bette Midler singing about a flower or someone named Rose? To me, song titles just seem incomplete without the article included. Curious whether I am the only "rebel" to do this! |
Replies:
Posted By: chendagam
Date Posted: 13 December 2021 at 6:35pm
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I agree and always include the article. I have more
trouble with Huey Lewis and the News going under "H" or "L." Same goes for Steve Miller...should "he" go under the M for his last name or is that the name of his band? Hmmmmmm. |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 13 December 2021 at 9:41pm
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I used to feel that way, but my library got large enough that it became a lot more of a chore. Now I live with it,
even if it's technically "wrong." :) /And it gets worse if I try to do it with numbers. ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 14 December 2021 at 3:50am
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I label the songs differently than that. So for example
Everlasting Love (An) Rose (The) Little More Love (A) Andy Gibb's title would be different than Carl Carlton's, which would simply be: Everlasting Love I have found that when I make playlists in iTunes, it ignores the "The" or "A" and alphabetizes it under the fisrt letter of the next word. |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 14 December 2021 at 6:36am
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I don't file songs by title, but my method of filing by artist varies between physical media and audio
files. LPs, 12" singles & CDs are by artist; last name first. Audio files are by artist; first name first (and when known, in folders by year). Vinyl compilations are by general era of music contained. CD comps are alphabetical by title. Then for a total curve, 45s are filed chronologically (with novelty and Christmas songs filed separately in no particular order). |
Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 14 December 2021 at 9:32am
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For my DJ computer I have always set up titles using the
"classic" method such as: Midler, Bette - Rose, The Gibb, Andy - Everlasting Love, An Clark, Dave, Five - I Like It Like That Petty, Tom, & The Heartbreakers - Free Fallin' Whatever works for yourself is probably the best solution, but I will admit if other people are looking at your files it's best to let them know your method-of- alphabetization because things can get confusing to the lay person when one is dealing with acts like 'Marshall Tucker Band' when there's no member in the band with that name... Andy |
Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 14 December 2021 at 11:16am
When I was getting a list together on computer, I used to use the style of [Lewis, Huey and the News] or [Miller, Steve (Band)]. the brackets were not used in the database. However, inevitably I would need to make a notation for the folks who were also using the database in cases like [Steely Dan] not [Dan, Steely] and especially, [England Dan & John Ford Coley]. Whew! ------------- <Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo! |
chendagam wrote:Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 14 December 2021 at 2:09pm
I like tagging like this James Taylor - Up On The Roof I would not tag Taylor, James - Up On The Roof. I tag by billboard position # and don't put last name first. I would tag The Beatles as Beatles. The word The is left off unless THE is essential to the name and not a group (The-Kid Laroi). In the case of a group from 2000-2001 called Dream, you have to add the THE back in to the artist in the mid to late 2000's who calls himself The-Dream as well. So clearly Dream and The-Dream are needed to differentiate. Latest is The-Kid Laroi. The in this case is not the name of his group but an individual name so it stays. I also put Featuring rather than Feat its just the way I tag. That is just the way I do things. Song title names are as they are. I don't shorten Rose when the title of the song is The Rose. Title of songs are what they are. ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 15 December 2021 at 6:40am
I have an Excel file I use to keep a database of compilation LPs & CDs (and the remaining small amount that's on a reel and hasn't been digitized yet), and titles are a bit of a mess. I began this database 30+ years ago when drive space was expensive, so the "title" field size was set to a value that would accommodate most songs, but really long titles needed to get abbreviated. Same goes for artist, though to a lesser extent. Alas, the program I used for this initial database wouldn't run on anything newer than XP, so I had to import it into an Excel file (I didn't really want to have to learn Access). As time has permitted, I've updated entries, but it's an ongoing project. |
Posted By: jono
Date Posted: 15 December 2021 at 7:35pm
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When I first started organizing my songs in a database, I used the same
alphabetizing method that Joel Whitburn used in my old Billboard Top 100 book, probably from around 1988. That way I could kind of keep track of what I had vs. what was on my wish list. So as far as artists go, it’s generally the same as Andy a couple posts above. Song titles have just been straight forward, however. I’ve found over the years that this is what I’m used to, so really I don’t have any plans to change it. I should add that when a group comes up like 1910 Fruitgum Co., I tell iTunes (in particular) to sort as Nineteen-Ten Fruitgum Co., as that way it still appears under the N’s, but displays the proper group name. Jon O. |
Posted By: VWestlife
Date Posted: 16 December 2021 at 3:59pm
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iTunes skips over The when alphabetizing, which is fine, but it also skips over A/An, which just seems wrong to me. When I want to find A Flock of Seagulls and A Taste of Honey, my brain thinks of the letter A, not F or T. Luckily with iTunes you can override its sorting by typing in how you want it to sort an entry.
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Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 17 December 2021 at 6:39am
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I always leave off "the" for artist names, not sure who Kid Laroi is, but anything by the Weeknd I have is filed under W. Likewise Flock Of
Seagulls is under F. YMMV |