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(lĭr'ĭk)

1. 1. Of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often in a songlike style or form.
   2. Relating to or constituting a poem in this category, such as a sonnet or an ode.
   3. Of or relating to a writer of poems in this category.
2. Lyrical.
3. Music.
   1. Having a singing voice of light volume and modest range.
   2. Of, relating to, or being musical drama, especially opera: the lyric stage.
   3. Having a pleasing succession of sounds; melodious.
   4. Of or relating to the lyre or harp.
   5. Appropriate for accompaniment by the lyre.

1. A lyric poem.
2. Music. The words of a song. Often used in the plural.

[French lyrique, of a lyre, from Old French, from Latin lyricus, from Greek lurikos, from lura, lyre.]

For more information on lyric, visit Britannica.com.

adjective

Of, relating to, or having the characteristics of poetry: poetic, poetical. See words.

Term used (usually in the plural) for the words of a song; also to describe a voice, usually soprano or tenor, of a light and unforced quality. It is also used simply to mean ‘to do with music’: the ‘lyric theatre’, ‘lyric stage’.

lyric [li‐rik], in the modern sense, any fairly short poem expressing the personal mood, feeling, or meditation of a single speaker (who may sometimes be an invented character, not the poet). In ancient Greece, a lyric was a song for accompaniment on the lyre, and could be a choral lyric sung by a group (see chorus), such as a dirge or hymn; the modern sense, current since the Renaissance, often suggests a song‐like quality in the poems to which it refers. Lyric poetry is the most extensive category of verse, especially after the decline—since the 19th century in the West—of the other principal kinds: narrative and dramatic verse. Lyrics may be composed in almost any metre and on almost every subject, although the most usual emotions presented are those of love and grief. Among the common lyric forms are the sonnet, ode, elegy, haiku, and the more personal kinds of hymn. Lyricism is the emotional or song‐like quality, the lyrical property, of lyric poetry. A writer of lyric poems may be called a lyric poet, a lyricist, or a lyrist. In another sense, the lyrics of a popular song or other musical composition are the words as opposed to the music; these may not always be lyrical in the poetic sense (e.g. in a narrative song like a ballad).

A kind of poetry, generally short, characterized by a musical use of language. Lyric poetry often involves the expression of intense personal emotion. The elegy, the ode, and the sonnet are forms of the lyric poem.

1. The words to a song. 2. In a singing and melodious manner.

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• Active, Lively, Awake, or Limber

Lyrics (in singular form lyric) are a set of words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. 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.

Contents 1 Poems as lyrics 2 Copyright and royalties 3 Academic study 4 Riskiest search 5 See also 6 Notes

Poems as lyrics

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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).

Copyright and royalties

See Royalties

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]

Academic study

• Lyrics can be studied from an academic perspective. For example, some lyrics can be considered a form of social commentary. Lyrics often contain political, social and economic themes as well as aesthetic elements, and so can connote messages which are culturally significant. These messages can either be explicit or implied through metaphor or symbolism. Lyrics can also be analyzed with respect to the sense of unity (or lack of unity) it has with its supporting music. Analysis based on tonality and contrast are particular examples. Former Oxford Professor of Poetry Christopher Ricks famously published Dylan's Visions of Sin, an in-depth and characteristically Ricksian analysis of the lyrics of Bob Dylan; Ricks gives the caveat that to have studied the poetry of the lyrics^[6] in tandem with the music would have made for a much more complicated critical feat.
• Chinese lyrics (詞) are Chinese poems written in the set metrical and tonal pattern of a particular song.

Riskiest search

McAfee claims searches for phrases containing "lyrics" and "free" are the most likely to have risky results from search engines.^[7]

See also

Poetry portal

Look up lyrics or lyric in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Lyricist, a lyrics writer
• Instrumental, music without voice
• Libretto, the name used for the text of traditional music forms like opera

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2008-08-23
2. ^ "Song sites face legal crackdown" BBC News, 12 December 2005. Site accessed 7 January 2007
3. ^ "LyricFind". LyricFind. http://www.lyricfind.com. Retrieved February 16, 2011. 
4. ^ Plambeck, Joseph (May 9, 2010). "Lyrics Sites at Center of Fight Over Royalties". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/business/media/10lyrics.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=lyrics%20royalty&st=cse. Retrieved May 9, 2010. 
5. ^ "Court Orders LiveUniverse to Shutter Unlicensed Lyrics Sites". Digital Media Wire. August 11, 2010. http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2010/08/11/court-orders-liveuniverse-shutter-unlicensed-lyrics-sites. Retrieved September 5, 2010. 
6. ^ "Bob Dylan Lyrics". MetroLyrics. http://www.metrolyrics.com/bob-dylan-lyrics.html. Retrieved September 5, 2010. 
7. ^ http://us.mcafee.com/en-us/local/docs/most_dangerous_searchterm_us.pdf

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - lyrisk
n. - lyrisk digt, skønsang

Nederlands (Dutch)
lyrisch, als een lied, om gezongen te worden, uit te voeren op lier, melodisch, licht van toon (stem), lyriek, literatuur van gevoelsontroering, poëtische stijl, lyrisch gedichtje, (mv) woorden van popliedje

Français (French)
adj. - (Mus, Poésie) lyrique
n. - (Littérat) poème lyrique, paroles (d'une chanson) (npl)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Lyrik, lyrisch
adj. - Lyrik, lyrisch

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - στίχος τραγουδιού, λυρικό ποίημα ή τραγούδι
adj. - λυρικός

Italiano (Italian)
lirica, lirico

Português (Portuguese)
n. - lírica (f)
adj. - lírico

Русский (Russian)
лирическое стихотворение, лирический, восторженный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - lírico
n. - poema lírico, poesía lírica

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - lyrisk dikt, (sång)text
adj. - lyrisk

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
抒情的, 抒情诗, 歌词

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 抒情的
n. - 抒情詩, 歌詞

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 서정시의, 서정적인
n. - 서정시 , 서정시체

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 叙情詩, 歌詞
adj. - 叙情の, 叙情的な, 歌の

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) قصيدة من الشعر الغنائي, بصيغه الجمع كلمات أغنيه شعبيه (صفه) قيثاري, غنائي, صالح للغناء على أنغام القيثارة أو للتلحين والغناء, معبر عن أفكار الشاعر وعواطفه الخاصه, عاطفي أو حماسي إلى حد الإفراط‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮שיר של ביטוי-רגשות‬
n. - ‮שיר של ביטוי-רגשות, שיר לירי, ליריקה, של הלירה (כלי-נגינה)‬

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