Using song lyrics to enhance your stories?

[Kantarii]

I used to reframe from doing this sort of thing, but after giving it considerable thought I have on occasion used short excerpts from songs in the stories I have recently written. I suppose it helps create additional mood in the stories I write.

So, my question is for those that write and post stories on Lit, do you incorporate song lyrics into your stories as well?

 

[R. Richard]

Check out Hell's Moonshiner, in Amazon, for a sample of what I've done. The song is an old Irish ballad. so no copyright problem.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

i dunno how copyright is affected, etc, but i used song lyrics to each scene. the photos are mine, though, so there's no problem.

https://www.literotica.com/s/the-nice-bloke

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, I have.

 

[MagicaPractica]

I did, at least once, that I can recall, to help set the scene. I kept it to three lines and gave credit.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I have occasionally. There is even a chain story based on song lyrics. I have one there about 'Ennery the Eighth.

 

[sr71plt]

I did, at least once, that I can recall, to help set the scene. I kept it to three lines and gave credit.

Yep, you shouldn't use more a couple of lines of it.

We see whole lyric sets of it here on the forum, which is dangerously in violation of copyright. Song owners are the most prone to go after violations.

 

[SamScribble]

Yes. I've also used made up lyrics - that I pretended were real.

These lyrics really are the real deal. https://www.literotica.com/s/when-i-was-21

 

[Handley_Page]

Yes. I've also used made up lyrics - that I pretended were real.

These lyrics really are the real deal. https://www.literotica.com/s/when-i-was-21

You mean this one ?

 

[YDB95]

Yes, I've done it as a dedication at the beginning of the story. I wouldn't do it if I published any of those stories on a paid site, since then I'd need permission.

 

[oggbashan]

I did it with Jeanie the Genie, ending the story with the full lyrics of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair. That song and lyrics are long out of copyright, having been written in the 1850s.

I would prefer NOT to do more than quote a phrase from a copyrighted song.

 

[beachbum1958]

Does using old song titles as story titles count? Or if the title is referenced at least once in the text?

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I don't use lyrics per se in Lit stories; I do like tucking references to obscure music and stories in some of my stuff. I use them knowing just about no one's going to get it, and the very few that do will smile because they'll see the point I was making. They are little homages, and also serve as my fingerprint on the story - not many people are going to make veiled references to The Prisoner TV series, and no one else is likely to write a chapter here that nods to Gabriel's "Red Rain".

What I like doing in my future histories is referring to fairly recent works in a way that demonstrates how the fictional culture is different from mine:

“I wish people would stop making literary allusions that go straight over my head. So you’re in?”
“Yeah. If only to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
“Ok, I got that one. Alice in Wonderland. The part where she does drugs and falls into that endless hole that symbolizes her own sexuality.”
“So you do read, at least the classics. Here’s a hint, though. That wasn’t actually the original you read.”
“Really?”
“Really. There was no sex in the original. At all. It was a child’s story.”
“No shit. That rabbit would be pretty fucked up in a child’s story.”
“Um… ok, never mind. Someday I’ll show you my ancient and secret collection of printed-era books. Your mind will explode. I bet you’d never have guessed that Peter and the White Witch didn’t have sex magic fights and Lucy and Edmund weren’t getting it on with the White Stag. Lord Fauntleroy didn’t spank his female servants, either. And we’re not even going to discuss Peter Pan.”
“Peter Pain?”
“Pan, in the original. This is a topic for another time. We’ll be doing more… modern day fantasy this Thursday, it sounds like.”
“Heh. We could read her Peter Pain. She could be Ticklehell.”
“It sounds like she has enough issues already.”

Anyone knowing Narnia, Little Lord Fauntleroy or Peter Pan will be wincing; it's a very economical way to point out that this is a culture in which the ceremony of innocence has been well and truly drowned.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I used to reframe from doing this sort of thing, but after giving it considerable thought I have on occasion used short excerpts from songs in the stories I have recently written. I suppose it helps create additional mood in the stories I write.

So, my question is for those that write and post stories on Lit, do you incorporate song lyrics into your stories as well?

I used to, but I stopped using in-copyright lyrics that way (and went back to edit them out of some of my previous work) after reading a couple of essays that persuaded me I shouldn't.

Professional musicians are in the business of creating moods for money; if I use their work to recreate that same mood, there's a moral argument that I ought to pay them for that.

But even if they give me permission to use their stuff for free... creating mood is a big part of what writing's all about. If I lean on somebody else to do that for me, it's not entirely my work any more, and it's bad for my development as a writer. (See also: Cyrano de Bergerac.) My latest story here involves a woman who writes poetry for her lover; it took me bloody ages to write those poems, and I probably could have found something better with five minutes of googling. But this way, I get a little bit better at poetry, and when somebody favourites that story I get to tell myself that I earned that fair and square.

That's not to say that I never use other people's lyrics in stories, but I try not to use it as a substitute for my own creativity.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yep, you shouldn't use more a couple of lines of it.

We see whole lyric sets of it here on the forum, which is dangerously in violation of copyright. Song owners are the most prone to go after violations.

Some more than most, hell I bet if you used a title of a Metallica song in a story they'd try to sue you blind, they're absolutely rabid.

 

[Kantarii]

Some more than most, hell I bet if you used a title of a Metallica song in a story they'd try to sue you blind, they're absolutely rabid.

Fuck METALLICA. Slayer did everything Metallica ever did better and never sold out. The best Metallica songs are sung better and covered/played by other bands.PERIOD!

 

[lovecraft68]

Fuck METALLICA. Slayer did everything Metallica ever did better and never sold out. The best Metallica songs are sung better and covered/played by other bands.PERIOD!

I agree with you to a point. Once they started getting commercial success they sold out.

But their early stuff was incredible, Kill em all for me is still the standard in that genre and Ride the Lightning is up there as well....after those Albums, I'm on your side.

Slayer's music itself is excellent, but their lyrics at one point were so over the top it was obvious they were striving for shock value. They weren't as bad as cannibal Corps when it came to that(who is really?) but I felt it was a schtick

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yep. One I have several chapters with the lead in being lyrics from songs as if playing on a radio. The first sentence in the chapter gives credit for the lyrics.

 

[sr71plt]

Some more than most, hell I bet if you used a title of a Metallica song in a story they'd try to sue you blind, they're absolutely rabid.

Except that their lawyer would point out how useless it would be to try to track down an anonymous account on Literotica with little expectation of getting more than a retraction, because the offending author didn't make any money off of it on Literotica. So, they'd be left suing the Web site, which seems to be clueless that it's equally at risk for publishing the piece.

 

[sr71plt]

I did it with Jeanie the Genie, ending the story with the full lyrics of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair. That song and lyrics are long out of copyright, having been written in the 1850s.

I would prefer NOT to do more than quote a phrase from a copyrighted song.

That's a good point. A lot of songs are no longer in copyright. If you google you can come up with sites that will tell you what songs are in the public domain. (for instance the "Happy Birthday" son just went into the public domain earlier this year).

 

[sr71plt]

Does using old song titles as story titles count? Or if the title is referenced at least once in the text?

No, song titles don't count. You can't copyright a title.

 

[sr71plt]

Yep. One I have several chapters with the lead in being lyrics from songs as if playing on a radio. The first sentence in the chapter gives credit for the lyrics.

Giving credit helps protect you from a plagiarism charge, but it does zip for you on a copyright violation--in fact less than zip, because it highlights the violation and tells lawyers you knew it belonged to someone else.

 

[Paul_Chance]

In the US the cut off year is 1923. After that, you need permission (or an exception under Fair Use). You can quote the title of the song (title's aren't subject to copyright unless specifically copyrighted separately) and name the artist, but lyrics are pretty locked up.

The publishers aren't going to worry about small not-for-profit use, but if you're writing in a for profit environment they'll come after your publisher for the violation, which is why your editor will red line it. Refer to the song or make up some lyrics on your own if you don't want to worry about it.

You could probably get away with it if you were writing full on satire.

 

[sr71plt]

You can quote the title of the song (title's aren't subject to copyright unless specifically copyrighted separately)

I think you mean trademarked. You can't copyright a title.

The horse's mouth on that:

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

 

[Paul_Chance]

I think you mean trademarked. You can't copyright a title.

The horse's mouth on that:

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

Thanks for the correction - yes, trademarked. It used to be rare but with the whole multi-channel marketing now it's becoming more and more common. They're busily locking up album titles pretty much across the board these days. Another weird thing that's going on is the whole drive to lock multiple songs across different media (e.g. locking up the movie rights to a song or song lyrics).