Why is it a "Song..."?

[Fanless Mace]

This may have been discussed elsewhere, or there may be some GRRM comments somewhere I've not seen:

Why is the title of the books series "A SONG of Ice and Fire"? In other words, is there significance to it being a "song," and what might be that significance? Will there be some upcoming reference to a song, perhaps sung by the Children, that is crucial to the denouement?

Or is GRRM just using the word for a poetic title, and it has no significance? Whaddya think?

[yolkboy]

I think it will have a deeper meaning, simply because that's Grrm's style.

[Jon Snow-Targaryen]

I thik that in Westeros stories are told on song .(at least in most cases)

which is why he chose to use the word SONG

[Jon of the Dead]

Because Dany had a dream in which a dragon was singing to her and the thing about how for the first time in hundreds of years the night came alive with the music of dragons. And Bran also heard the direwolves singing to him when he was in a coma and then he started to get better. So Dany/dragons = Fire and Bran/Direwolves = Ice, and Jon is the balance

And my own theory is that the Song of Ice and Fire is the song of Jenny of Oldstones. Prince Duncan (Fire) gave his crown for Jenny and Oldstones is connected to the First Men (which I relate to Ice). My guess is that he was trying to fulfill the AA/PtwP prophecy, for which you need a Targ and someone with blood of the First Men. And Rhaegar tried to fulfill the same prophecy with Lyanna

[Ser Greg of House House]

Because 'chronicles' is lame

[Vaxis]

Ice and Fire are opposites, and the story is full of parallels for these two forces opposing each other, locked in a chaotic struggle. Even the seasons of the world are unpredictable. A song signifies harmony and beauty sprung from a balance of these two forces. So I'd say the series is named as it is because it's about creating unity from that multiplicity

[Kienn]

Intentional obscurity as to what it refers.

[Winds of Winter blow cold]

It just sounds cool.

[Ours if the Fury]

well many famous events or significant historical events are later made into a song... hence the song of ice and fire theoretically (Jon (ice) and Dany (Fire)

[IRON BANK]

A song in some tomes is decribed as a battle or dance. The series has a lot of war fare hence the title.

[Ser Onaventea Helms]

Maybe because a song has a progression of ups and downs, battles and drama, it's a song of betrayal, lust and war...

Or maybe he didn't want to call it something lame like "Saga" or "The Ice and Fire Chronicles".... I like how it's a "song".

[Ser Pigeon Pie]

I thik that in Westeros stories are told on song .(at least in most cases)

which is why he chose to use the word SONG

This. The bards were very popular in Medieval times and it appears the same in Westeros. Stories sound so much cooler in song anyway!

[Atropis the Elf]

Because it rhymes with long, strong, prolong, come along, and so on.

[evita mgfs]

Because Martin is paying homage to the epic tradition, specifically Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, great epics that were originally meant to be sung by a bard who is often accompanied with a lyre. Many Homeric scholars believe that Homer was illiterate; therefore, he did not pen his long poems about the deeds of heroes. Hundreds of years later, a group of rhapsodists recorded Homer's works on scrolls.

[Old-Growth]

Because 'chronicles' is lame

Just so.

[EstEst]

i think the Song here means the Harmony, in addition to just a Story. A harmony like in a mutual combination, when one is not complete without another. You can note how Martin never writes purely dualistic stuff, I mean, he does not make two things completely opposite - his Light and Darkness, Ice and Fire, they always contribute the world together, one is impossible without another. Hence the Harmony, hence the Song.

ETA: it's like saying that the Whole is partly Ice and partly Fire, which is perhaps also true for the main heroes, be that Jon or Dany or whoever.

[jon stark I]

Just to say it:Tolkiens Silmarillion mentions a song of creation and in the same song Eru(Iluvatar) creates a harmony in the song but Melkor(a.k.a. Morgoth) to show his power enters the song but all Melkor creates is chaos, when Melkor enters the song Eru intensifies his part of the song to silence Melkor and Melkor rises his part as well like his father did but while Eru creates more harmony Melkor continues to create more chaos in the end Eru shuts Melkor.Eru reveals that this song was the song of creation and when Melkor entered this song he changed somethings Eru also mentions the secret fire.Melkor searches for this fire for a long time in search of power but he never finds it.Let me skip forward Melkors effect in the creation harms Ea(earth or middle earth) when Valar finds Ea they also find volcanos and destruction also they found forests, rivers and stuff.Melkors always used Angband as his Fortress and if you look in the history of Melkors assaults you will see too much volcano and fire.Hell Melkor created the dragons, trolls, orcs, vampires, werewolves etc...Actually Sauron was lord of vampires and werewolves he became a vampire once.

Well what I am trying to say is Fire consumes and destroys (Melkor) but ice preserves.

[Winter's Knight]

To remind readers that life is a song, and like in the songs, no matter how bad things get, evil will fail and good endure.

LF's wrong y'all.

[joluoto]

It's a Song because both dragons and the Others are very musical and their clash will just be the biggest consert ever.

[ninewinter]

I believe it's about to tell the battle between two distinct, powerful, maybe opposing, forces of Life.

I dont know how to completely say this but for me Ice personifies tradition, duty, or the personage of Jon, while Fire means progress, aggression or daring, or Dany.