 | This is anexplanatory essay aboutWikipedia:Manual of Style/Music. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not beenthoroughly vetted by the community. |
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A Wikipedia article onlyrics orpoetry 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 areliablesecondary 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 ofnotability. In general, a song from ab-side to a minor band shouldn't be included (see alsoWikipedia:Notability (music) anddeletion policy).
First you should bear in mind some important points to avoid:
Quotations of the work within the analytical framework can fall into thefair use provisions withinUS copyright law (and to a lesser extentfair 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 theNon-free content policy. Examples ofgood articles andfeatured articles on works still under copyright that should be used as guidelines are:
The full texts of works may only be included in articles afterall of their domestic and international copyrights have expired, and the works have entered thepublic domain worldwide. Generally, a copyright has expired in all countries (exceptColombia,Guatemala,Mexico, andSamoa) once all of the following conditions are satisfied:
Consider the following:
Since it isUnited 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 offair use if modern, or copyright-expired if older. Examples include:
If you are adding a new text on Wikisource,follow the local guidelines. UseTemplate:wikisource-inline at the top of the external links section to link to works onWikisource (see thedocumentation). 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 toAnthem for Doomed Youth at Wikisource