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Explanatory essay about Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Music
A Wikipedia article on lyrics or poetry should have an analytical framework that describes the song and its cultural impact. This page discusses how they should be written. For how lyrics and poetry should be displayed, see: Wikipedia:WikiProject Poetry#Style for quoting from poems.
Foremost, copyrights should be respected. In addition, any interpretation of lyrics requires a reliable secondary source for that interpretation. Do not analyze, synthesize, interpret, or evaluate lyrics yourself; instead, refer to reliable secondary sources that do so.
To be included, works ought to fit into the framework of notability. In general, a song from a b-side to a minor band shouldn't be included (see also Wikipedia:Notability (music) and deletion policy).
First you should bear in mind some important points to avoid:
Quotations of the work within the analytical framework can fall into the fair use provisions within US copyright law (and to a lesser extent fair dealing and related concepts within other jurisdictions). Such quotations can be done through inline text, block quotes, or (in the case of a song) inclusion of an image showing part of the sheet music. However, how much of a song you can quote is open to interpretation, but you should follow the Non-free content policy. Examples of good articles and featured articles on works still under copyright that should be used as guidelines are:
The full texts of works may only be included in articles after all of their domestic and international copyrights have expired, and the works have entered the public domain worldwide. Generally, a copyright has expired in all countries (except Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Samoa) once all of the following conditions are satisfied:
Consider the following:
Since it is United States copyright law that governs the Wikimedia projects, in the case of lyrics and poems that were written and first published in the United States and are copyright-expired in their home country but not in international regions, these works may have their text posted to Wikisource instead, per "Points to avoid" above.
National anthems are generally considered to be a special case of fair use if modern, or copyright-expired if older. Examples include:
If you are adding a new text on Wikisource, follow the local guidelines. Use Template:wikisource-inline at the top of the external links section to link to works on Wikisource (see the documentation). For example, use {{wikisource-inline|Anthem for Doomed Youth}} to link to the poem "Anthem for Doomed Youth". This produces the line below: Works related to Anthem for Doomed Youth at Wikisource
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