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 ...

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 -- ...

Thirty years ago, during my second year of teaching humanities at the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (1985-86), I created an elective two-semester course called “Lyric” that began with ...

Dolores O’Riordan was one of the finest songwriters of the 90s, and these underrated hits from The Cranberries prove that much.

It’s that rare, beautiful week of the year when two of the nation’s best indie artistes have new albums out: Ten Stories by Shillong-based Soulmate and The Scene by Bangalore-based Thermal and a ...

From mushairas to multimedia showcases, Shaam-e-Rekhta brings fresh relevance to Urdu’s poetic legacy to resonate across ...

It had been awhile since I had opened the book — even though I hear the words contained in its pages almost daily. There was some dust on the cover, and the dust reminded me of an apt lyric from the ...

Kris Kristofferson was one of country music’s greatest songwriters, and he’ll be missed for that talent among others. To celebrate Kristofferson’s legacy, let’s take a look at just a few of his lyrics ...

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 ...