Capitalization Rules for Song Titles

I found this guide back in 2007, provided by Standard MIDI Files on the Net, how defunct. I kept it on a TXT file on my hard disk for 11 years, and I rediscovered it today. And it’s still great, so I’m publishing the original here.

1. The first and last words are always capitalized, and all except the words listed below are capitalized.
2. These are lower-case, unless they are the first word or last word.
   • articles: a, an, the
   • conjunctions: and, but, or, nor
   • prepositions that are less than five letters long: at, by for, from, in, into, of, off, on, onto, out, over, to, up, with
   • as (only if it is followed by a noun)
3. Prepositions are sometimes capitalized.
   • Prepositions are capitalized when they are the first or last word.
   • Prepositions that are part of two-word “phrasal verbs” (Come On, Hold On, etc.) are capitalized.
   • Prepositions that are over four letters long. (across, after, among, beyond, etc.).
4. These short words are capitalized. Some people occasionally forget to capitalize these.
   • also, be, if, than, that, thus, when
   • as (if it is followed by a verb)

A List of Some “Phrasal Verbs”

These are some phrases in which the preposition needs to be capitalized.

Beat Up        Do Over         Go Over       Make Up       Take After
Blow Out       Fill In         Hand In       Pack Up       Take Back
Break Down     Fill Out        Hand Up       Pass Out      Take Off
Break Into     Get Along       Hold On       Pick Out      Take On
Break Up       Get Around      Keep On       Pick Up       Take Up
Bring Up       Get By          Keep Up       Put Away      Talk Back
Call Off       Get Over        Leave Out     Put Off       Talk Over
Call On        Get Through     Let Down      Put On        Throw Away
Call Up        Get Up          Look For      Put Out       Try On
Carry On       Give Back       Look Into     Put Up        Turn Down
Come Back      Give Up         Look Like     Roll Over     Turn In
Come Down      Go Along        Look Out      Run Into      Turn Off
Come On        Go Away         Look Over     Run Out       Turn On
Come Out       Go Away         Look Up       Run Over      Use Up
Come Over      Go On           Make Out      Show Up       Wait On