I don’t have a published book (yet), but I do have manuscripts that were finalists in contests. So my inner optimist does daydream about a rosier future where I have one or more books coming out. Music is a key theme in much of my fiction & poetry, so I often wonder about whether there are established rules about quoting song lyrics.
This article from Galley Cat was a help in laying out the copyright issues surrounding music in books: “Can You Include Song Lyrics in Your Book?”
It appears this is a sticky issue and that I may want to avoid quoting lyrics in future work if it’s intended to be part of a manuscript. It might just be better to reference a song title. That's sort of a bummer, but it’s just another constraint that as a writer I probably need to navigate around.
http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/can-you-include-song-lyrics-in-your-book/80482?red=as
