Because I use pop lyrics in my poems and review records for SPIN and elsewhere, people sometimes ask me whether I think of song lyrics as poetry. Looked at in certain ways, they obviously are; in ...

Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize has reignited the debate about whether song lyrics can ever be considered literature. Is it time to finally tear down these cultural barriers? Every now and then an esteemed ...

Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in literature last year, renewing an old debate: Are pop lyrics poetry? (Lex Van Lieshout/European Pressphoto Agency) Michael Lindgren is a frequent contributor to The ...

Poetry and song were originally the same art. In the ancient world, all poetry was sung or chanted. Indeed, it was often ...

Now almost 40 years old, rap burst out of the Bronx to become one of the dominant musical and cultural forces in this country. A new book, The Anthology of Rap, tracks the development of the genre -- ...

Lyrics are often compared to poetry. Are they a form of "the poetic art?" Are they less "artistic?" Poetry has a romantic aura to it, whereas lyric writing seems rather plebeian (to borrow a word from ...

Though often associated with the Lennie Tristano school, Jaxen’s artistry defies easy categorization. On “The Mirror Calls,” she leans closer to Joni Mitchell than Tristano, beginning with a lyrical ...