I'm curious as to what's considered the "right" or "wrong" way to include songs in a novel. I ask because I recently wrote a scene where the MC comes across a group of musicians, and they ask her if she has a song request. She names the only song she knows, and they perform it. Now, I am not much of a poetry or song writer, with none of the skills or training to be successful at those forms of writing. So, what I ended up doing was have a brief paragraph explain the story that the song told, and then describe the MC's reaction to hearing the song played out and sung for the first time than she was a little girl. The scene helps describe a little bit more about the MC while also world-building at the same time, since the song is about a myth/folk tale to describe two constellations that the MC observed in the second chapter of the story. Is it okay to describe the content of songs in fiction instead of writing out the lyrics? (I'm probably overthinking this, as usual.) And for those of you who do have songs in your writing, how do you like to go about integrating them?
I would think that if the lyrics to the song don't reveal anything new, then it is probably ok just just leave them out. That would leave you with the task of describing how the song and it's elements are important to your MC, and subsequently the reader. I think that in your case it would probably be fine to just describe the song and it's relevance to the MC.
I don't see why that wouldn't be okay. You might want your main character to give the musicians two lines of the song or so, so that they're all on the same page about what they're playing. That shouldn't over-tax you skills at writing lyrics. One minor caveat for those with a similar problem in another context: if you decide to use song lyrics already published by somebody else, be prepared to jump through an astonishing number of hoops to gain permission to use it.
Considering all the other things writers spend words describing? Why not. If it's good, it's good. You're making up your own songs, right? Copyright laws essentially forbid the usage of "real" song lyrics if that was what you were attempting. There's a passage in Cold Mountain where some guy is playing a harp or mandolin or something and Charles Frazier describes the keys, modes, and tonality of the notes the guy is playing. As a musician I could actually hear it coming from the page. Made my spine tingle. I wouldn't suggest trying that, though. Frazier is a pimp.
You don't have to make up your own songs. It's totally fine to reference a real song and paraphrase the lyrics or do something similar.
I found this blog entry useful: Deconstructing Bestselling Novels, One Doodle at a Time. The Top 10 Ways to Write about Music It's more about how to use music descriptions in the story, not how do you insert lyrics. If you are a songwriter, I think inserting lyrics is great. But given it isn't a talent I have practice in, lyrics I try to write tend to come out dorky without the instruments.
I used a mix of the two in in my latest novel - one of the MCs is a big rock star as well as his band's primary songwriter, so music is a big part of the book. I have original lyrics in a few different places (my publisher is an absolute no-go when it comes to copyrighted lyrics), but in several others I just describe how the songs sound and how they make the POV character feel.
Nope, sorry but you don't get out of writing song lyrics that easily. Don't you want the reader to experience what the MC experiences? Just because you've never written a song before doesn't mean that you can't write a song. Give it a go and see what comes of it. I have need of a very bawdy song for the chapter I'm currently working on. One of my MCs, a 12-year-old girl named Adeline has been sent away by her wealthy parents for her own safety to a region of France that has yet to see the excesses of the Revolution. She's aboard a small trade ship for a short voyage down the Loire River. It’s evening and the ship has dropped anchor for the night. Adeline steps on deck and for a short spell watches the men at work, then sits down and begins to play her flute. One of the men, an older fellow smoking a pipe asks if she knows any proper seafaring tunes. She knows Vivaldi, of course… “But if I catch a tune I can play it by ear,” she confidently tells the sailor. He leaves for a moment and returns with a fiddle. A sailor joins them with a hurdy-gurdy and another with a mandolin, and one more completes the quintet, a young man wearing a battered straw hat will sing a little ditty… The scene is important because Adeline looks down on these men and can't imagine she has anything in common with them. I need to forge a bond between Adeline and these sailors, as she will need them later in the story. I thought, what better way than a shared love of music? They'll play this song... that is until the crusty old woman who's chaperoning Adeline stumbles from their cabin and in shock puts a stop to it. This is the song... still very rough and needing a lot of work, but I'll get it right eventually. Let me tell ye a yarn of the deadly sea, a fable so bold and true It might be wise to listen and learn a thing or two ‘Twas the year of sixty-nine we set out on the rolling blue And I, captain of the good ship Venus, by Christ! ya shoulda seen us Our figurehead was a whore in bed sucking a dead man’s penis! So we danced with the Devil a merry hell, plundered the Spanish Main And sent many an Englishman to Paradise, their souls gone all contrariwise We rulers of the ocean, lords of seven seas, ne’er fancied our demise… You swabs and wenches and scurvy dogs, be ye a free man or a slave ‘Tis now I tell-a-tale of a haunted love, tossed to and fro upon the waves Bless me guts and warm me bones with a belly full of rum ‘Cause a mermaid will take it in her mouth, but won’t take it in her bum WOAH, she’ll slurp and suck and throw a fuck But won’t take it in the bum! Just a myth ye say, a pretty little lie, but I has the proof it’s how I lost me eye Wud’ye believe it happened one stormy night, a mighty gale a blowing When I heard the siren’s call, a more pitiful cry an angel ne’er spoke ‘Twas then I saw a most marvelous sight, a bonny lass bobbing like a cork Oh how Neptune pulled her under, down to his harem in the salty brine Well I dove right in, don’t mind sayin’ cause no one takes whats mine Slung her aboard I did, and dried her off and spared her from the sea But jolly hell, the girl had fins where her bloomin’ legs should be! Hallelujah anyway! I be taking me reward, oh she smiled and this is what she sung A mermaid will take it in her mouth, but won’t take it in her bum WOAH, she’ll slurp and suck and throw a fuck But won’t take it in the bum! I took her to my quarters, and shut and locked the doors We made love for two straight days, on the bed and walls and floors She loved me true she loved me hard until I could no longer stand But when I tried to fiddle her tail, well that’s how I lost me hand! My crew they revolted fearin’ I had doomed them all For fiddlin’ such a monster, the sea would be appalled They bade me walk the plank, me and my new lady friend But she swam just like a fish, she did, and saved me from my end Tell ye this, a lie ne’er passed me lips from now till kingdom come A mermaid will take it in her mouth, but won’t take it in her bum WOAH, she’ll slurp and suck and throw a fuck But won’t take it in the bum!
I don't think a hurdy-gurdy would be found on a ship. (How do I know? I've made a couple of them, and they aren't the most portable or versatile instruments you'd find.) You're probably thinking of something like a concertina, but that's out of your time period, since they came in around 1830 or so, IIRC.
That's in about the same time-frame (ca 1820), according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accordion#History But there may have been earlier examples of a "free-reed aerophone" (reed organ), although it's not clear whether they were in what we'd call a "squeeze-box" format. These reed organs appear to have become popular around 1800.
Normally when someone writes out made up lyrics in a story I skip them. Without melody I'm never going to feel what the author wants me to. It's usually terrible as well. I like what you said in OP. Description of why it resonates with her and what it makes her feel. I would subconsciously populate some sort of music off that and move on with the plot
Two different examples that I have seen of this, carried out very well: Tolkien: The Hobbit in particular has several songs in it, where the lyrics are actually included in the book. This fits in well with the mood that he was trying to convey I think. Some of the songs are kind of funny, while others are mysterious (such as the one that the dwarves sing when they show up at Bilbo's). He does this pretty well. Rothfus: The Name of the Wind is about a character who happens to be a musician. Some of the songs he and his parents sing are very significant to the pot. These are quoted, if I recall correctly. Some are not, though. Kvothe performs songs that are described, but without the lyrics being quoted directly. While Rothfus is not himself a musician, many musicians have described his writing as very powerful to them, in regards to how they view music themselves. So this was executed well, I'd say. We have two examples here, one that quotes lyrics and one that does not -- you're fine either way, I think. I'd recommend only quoting exact lyrics if it is significant to plot, character, or worldbuilding.
Whenever I include songs, excerpts from fictional books or letters, I always put them in quotation marks, hit itallic and centre the words on the page, to make sure they stand out as much as possible. Always seems to read pretty well.
