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34-413: Vocal music typically features sung words called lyrics , although there are notable examples of vocal music that are performed using non-linguistic syllables, sounds, or noises, sometimes as musical onomatopoeia , such as jazz scat singing . A short piece of vocal music with lyrics is broadly termed a song, although in different styles of music, it may be called an aria or hymn . Vocal music often has

68-445: A double-reed wind instrument . Archilochus expanded use of the form to treat other themes, such as war, travel, and homespun philosophy. Between Archilochus and other imitators, the verse form became a common poetic vehicle for conveying any strong emotion. At the end of the 7th century BCE, Mimnermus of Colophon struck on the innovation of using the verse for erotic poetry. He composed several elegies celebrating his love for

102-570: A U.S. 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. 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 communicate culturally significant messages. These messages can be explicit, or implied through metaphor or symbolism. Lyrics can also be analyzed with respect to

136-437: A circle under Tibullus' patron Messalla . Notable in this collection are the poems of Sulpicia , thought to be the only surviving work by a Classical Latin female poet. The six elegiac poems of Lygdamus in the collection are thought by some to be an anonymous early work by Ovid, though other scholars attribute them to an imitator of Ovid who may have lived in a much later period. Through these poets—and in comparison with

170-484: A close (featuring a cadence ); in German Vordersatz - Fortspinnung - Epilog . For example: In the lyrics of popular music a "shifter" is a word, often a pronoun , "where reference varies according to who is speaking, when and where", such as "I", "you", "my", "our". For example, who is the "my" of " My Generation "? As of 2021 , there are many websites featuring song lyrics. This offering, however,

204-435: A direct translation of Callimachus' Lock of Berenice . His 85th poem is famous: Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris? Nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior. I hate and I love. Why do I do this, perhaps you ask? I know not, but I feel it happen and am tormented. To read it correctly it is necessary to take account of the three elisions : Cornelius Gallus , an important statesman of this period,

238-405: A name of a song, Google can now display the lyrics directly in the search results page. When users search for a specific song's lyrics, most results show the lyrics directly through a Google search by using Google Play. Elegiac couplet#Greek origins The elegiac couplet or elegaic distich is a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than

272-416: A sequence of sustained pitches that rise and fall, creating a melody , but some vocal styles use less distinct pitches, such as chants or a rhythmic speech-like delivery, such as rapping . As well, there are extended vocal techniques that may be used, such as screaming, growling, throat singing , or yodelling. Vocal music is probably the oldest form of music, since it does not require any instrument besides

306-466: A technique called Sprechstimme in which singers are half-talk, half-sing, and only approximate pitches. Lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song , usually consisting of verses and choruses . The writer of lyrics is a lyricist . The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto " and their writer, as a " librettist ". Rap songs and grime contain rap lyrics (often with

340-461: A variation of rhyming words) that are meant to be spoken rhythmically rather than sung. 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 word lyric derives via Latin lyricus from the Greek λυρικός ( lurikós ),

374-437: A war theme, apparently for a Spartan audience. Theognis of Megara vented himself in couplets as an embittered aristocrat in a time of social change. Popular leaders were writers of elegies— Solon the lawgiver of Athens composed on political and ethical subjects—and even Plato and Aristotle dabbled with the meter. A famous example of an elegiac couplet is the epitaph composed by Simonides of Ceos which Herodotus says

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408-507: 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. Lyrics licenses could be obtained worldwide through one of

442-782: 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 does not 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 ). In Baroque music, melodies and their lyrics were prose. Rather than paired lines they consist of rhetorical sentences or paragraphs consisting of an opening gesture, an amplification (often featuring sequence ), and

476-539: Is presumed to be the oldest Greek form of epodic poetry (a form where a later verse is sung in response or comment to a previous one). Scholars, who even in the past did not know who created it, theorize the form was originally used in Ionian dirges , with the name "elegy" derived from the Greek ε, λεγε ε, λεγε —"Woe, cry woe, cry!" Hence, the form was used initially for funeral songs, typically accompanied by an aulos ,

510-416: 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

544-545: The epic . Roman poets , particularly Catullus , Propertius , Tibullus , and Ovid , adopted the same form in Latin many years later. As with the English heroic couplet , each pair of lines usually makes sense on its own, while forming part of a larger work. Each couplet consists of a dactylic hexameter verse followed by a dactylic pentameter verse. The following is a graphic representation of its scansion : The form

578-432: The human voice . All musical cultures have some variation of vocal music. Solfege , a vocalized musical scale , assigns various syllables such as "Do-Re-Mi" to each note. A variety of similar tools are found in traditional Indian music , and scat singing of jazz. Hip hop music has a very distinct form of vocal percussion known as beatboxing . It involves creating beats, rhythms, and scratching . The singer of

612-477: The 1930s, the present use of the plurale tantum "lyrics" had begun; it has been standard since the 1950s for many writers. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song by authorities such as Alec Wilder, Robert Gottlieb, and Stephen Sondheim. However, the singular form is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. The differences between poem and song may become less meaningful where verse

646-595: The Icelandic group Sigur Rós , Jón Þór Birgisson , often uses vocals without words, as does Icelandic singer/songwriter, Björk . Her album Medúlla is composed entirely of processed and acoustic vocal music, including beatboxing , choral arrangements, and throat singing . Singer Bobby McFerrin has recorded a number of albums using only his voice and body, sometimes consisting of a texted melody supported by untexted vocalizations. The Second Viennese School , especially Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg , pioneered

680-677: The Renaissance, more skilled writers interested in the revival of Roman culture attempted to recapture the spirit of the Augustan writers. The Dutch Latinist Johannes Secundus , for example, included Catullus-inspired love elegies in his Liber Basiorum , while the English poet John Milton wrote several lengthy elegies throughout his career. This trend continued down through the Recent Latin writers, whose close study of their Augustan counterparts reflects their general attempts to apply

714-476: The adjectival form of lyre . It first appeared in English in the mid-16th century in reference to the Earl of Surrey 's translations of Petrarch and to his own sonnets . Greek lyric poetry had been defined by the manner in which it was sung accompanied by the lyre or cithara , as opposed to the chanted formal epics or the more passionate elegies accompanied by the flute . The personal nature of many of

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748-579: The earlier Catullus—it is possible to trace specific characteristics and evolutionary patterns in the Roman form of the verse: Although no classical poet wrote collections of love elegies after Ovid, the verse retained its popularity as a vehicle for popular occasional poetry . Elegiac verses appear, for example, in Petronius ' Satyricon , and Martial 's Epigrams uses it for many witty stand-alone couplets and for longer pieces. The trend continues through

782-648: The educated classes for gravestone epitaphs; many such epitaphs can be found in European cathedrals. De tribus puellis is an example of a Latin fabliau , a genre of comedy which employed elegiac couplets in imitation of Ovid. The medieval theorist John of Garland wrote that "all comedy is elegy, but the reverse is not true." Medieval Latin had a developed comedic genre known as elegiac comedy . Sometimes narrative, sometimes dramatic , it deviated from ancient practice because, as Ian Thompson writes, "no ancient drama would ever have been written in elegiacs." With

816-418: The flute girl Nanno , and though fragmentary today, his poetry was clearly influential in the later Roman development of the form. Propertius , to cite one example, notes Plus in amore valet Mimnermi versus Homero —"The verse of Mimnermus is stronger in love than Homer ". The form continued to be popular throughout the Greek period and treated a number of different themes. Tyrtaeus composed elegies on

850-488: The mid-to-late first century BCE who are most commonly associated with the distinctive Roman form of the elegiac couplet. Catullus, the first of these, is an invaluable link between the Alexandrine school and the subsequent elegies of Tibullus , Propertius and Ovid . He shows a familiarity with the usual Alexandrine style of terse epigram and a wealth of mythological learning, as in his 66th poem, Coma Berenices ,

884-481: The music would have made for a much more complicated critical feat. A 2009 report published by McAfee found that, in terms of potential exposure to malware , lyrics-related searches and searches containing the word "free" are the most likely to have risky results from search engines, both in terms of average risk of all results, and maximum risk of any result. Beginning in late 2014, Google changed its search results pages to include song lyrics. When users search for

918-557: The remainder of the empire; short elegies appear in Apuleius 's story of Cupid and Psyche and in the minor writings of Ausonius . After the fall of the empire, one writer who produced elegiac verse was Maximianus . Various Christian writers also adopted the form; Venantius Fortunatus wrote some of his hymns in the meter, while later Alcuin and the Venerable Bede dabbled in the verse. The form also remained popular among

952-408: 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 in tandem with

986-466: The singular medium for short epigrams . The founder of this school was Philitas of Cos . He was eclipsed only by the school's most admired exponent, Callimachus ; their learned character and intricate art would have a heavy influence on the Romans. Like many Greek forms, elegy was adapted by the Romans for their own literature. The fragments of Ennius contain a few couplets, but it is the elegists of

1020-456: The two aggregators: LyricFind and Musixmatch . The first company to provide licensed lyrics was Yahoo! , quickly followed by MetroLyrics . Several lyric websites are providing licensed lyrics, such as SongMeanings and LyricWiki (defunct as of 2020). Many competing lyrics web sites are still offering unlicensed content, causing challenges around the legality and accuracy of lyrics. In an attempt to crack down unlicensed lyrics web sites,

1054-560: The verses of the Nine Lyric Poets led to the present sense of " lyric poetry " but the original Greek sense of "lyric poetry"—"poetry accompanied by the lyre" i.e. "words set to music"—eventually led to its use as "lyrics", first attested in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms . Stainer and Barrett used the word as a singular substantive: " Lyric , poetry or blank verse intended to be set to music and sung". By

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1088-546: Was also regarded by the ancients as a great elegist, but, except for a few lines, his work has been lost. The form reached its zenith with the collections of Tibullus and Propertius and several collections of Ovid (the Amores , Ars Amatoria , Heroides , Tristia , and Epistulae ex Ponto ). The vogue of elegy during this time is seen in the so-called 3rd and 4th books of Tibullus. Many poems in these books were clearly not written by Tibullus but by others, perhaps part of

1122-466: Was felt by the ancients to contrast the rising action of the first verse with a falling quality in the second. The sentiment is summarized in a line from Ovid's Amores I.1.27 — Sex mihi surgat opus numeris, in quinque residat — "Let my work rise in six steps, fall back in five." The effect is illustrated by Friedrich Schiller 's couplet translated into English by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as: and by Alfred, Lord Tennyson , as: The elegiac couplet

1156-525: Was inscribed on a stone to commemorate those who died at the battle of Thermopylae in 490 BC: Cicero translates it as follows ( Tusc. Disp. 1.42.101), also using an elegiac couplet: By the Hellenistic period , the Library of Alexandria made elegy its favorite and most highly developed form. They preferred the briefer style associated with elegy in contrast to the lengthier epic forms, and made it

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