Lyrics (in singular form lyric) are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of expression. The lyricist of traditional musical forms such as Opera is known as a librettist.
Lyric derives from the Greek word λυρικός lyrikos, meaning "singing to the lyre".[1] A lyric poem is one that expresses a subjective, personal point of view.
The word lyric came to be used for the "words of a song"; this meaning was recorded in 1876.[1] The common plural (perhaps because of the association between the plurals lyrics and words), predominates contemporary usage. Use of the singular form lyric to refer to a song's complete set of words is grammatically acceptable. However it's not considered acceptable to refer to a singular word in a song as a lyric.
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The differences between poem and song may become less meaningful where verse is set to music, to the point that any distinction becomes untenable. This is perhaps recognised in the way popular songs have lyrics.
However, the verse may pre-date its tune (in the way that "Rule Britannia" was set to music, and "And did those feet in ancient time" has become the hymn "Jerusalem"), or the tune may be lost over time but the words survive, matched by a number of different tunes (this is particularly common with hymns and ballads).
Possible classifications proliferate (under anthem, ballad, blues, carol, folk song, hymn, libretto, lied, lullaby, march, praise song, round, spiritual). Nursery rhymes may be songs, or doggerel: the term doesn't imply a distinction. The ghazal is a sung form that is considered primarily poetic. See also rapping, roots of hip hop music.
Analogously, verse drama might normally be judged (at its best) as poetry, but not consisting of poems (see dramatic verse).
Currently, there are many websites featuring song lyrics (e.g. www.lyrics.com). This offering, however, is controversial, since some sites include copyrighted lyrics offered without the holder's permission. The U.S. Music Publishers' Association (MPA), which represents sheet music companies, launched a legal campaign against such websites in December 2005, the MPA's president, Lauren Keiser, said the free lyrics web sites are "completely illegal" and wanted some website operators jailed.[2]
Lyrics licenses could be obtained in North America through one of the two aggregators; Gracenote Inc. and LyricFind.[3] The first company to provide legal lyrics was Yahoo, quickly followed by MetroLyrics. More and more lyric websites are beginning to provide legal lyrics, such as SongMeanings.
Many competing lyrics web sites are still offering unlicensed content, causing challenges around the legality and accuracy of lyrics.[4] In the latest attempt to crack down illegal lyrics web sites a federal court has ordered LiveUniverse, a network of websites run by MySpace co-founder Brad Greenspan, to cease operating four sites offering unlicensed song lyrics.[5]
McAfee claims searches for phrases containing "lyrics" and "free" are the most likely to have risky results from search engines.[7]