Listing song lyrics per Track

[Barry]

I've been thinking about how to list song lyrics for any given track. Take for instance "I'm Not Satisfied", which appears on Freak Out!, Cruising With Ruben & The Jets, and FZ:OZ.

Here's how I ended up presenting the lyrics per album:
"I'm Not Satisfied" at the wiki

Basically I'm listing all three variations one after the other - I think it's better than creating a page for each variety; mainly because cross-referencing becomes easier (no flipping back/forth between pages).

What do you think?

[Chris]

I think that's perfect. Good show!

[emdebe]

A nice touch would be to put them side-by-side (in a table) so we can spot the differences immediately...

IMHO it makes no sense to repeat a complete lyric, if only a few words are different... There must be a more, er, intelligent way to document that...

A completely different ball game will be the French, German, Spanish, whatever translations...

[Barry]

A nice touch would be to put them side-by-side (in a table) so we can spot the differences immediately...

That's a good idea... making a table requires some knowledge of html though.

IMHO it makes no sense to repeat a complete lyric, if only a few words are different... There must be a more, er, intelligent way to document that...

You have a point there. Of course from there on, the next discussion will be: what's the definition of "a more or less the same lyric"...

A completely different ball game will be the French, German, Spanish, whatever translations...

That emdebe, he's such a kidder!

[emdebe]

A completely different ball game will be the French, German, Spanish, whatever translations...

That emdebe, he's such a kidder!

Eat this...

Mister America geh vorbei an deinen Schulen, die nichts lehren. Mister America, geh vorbei an den Köpfen, zu denen du nie durchdringen wirst. Mister America versuch mal deine innere Leere zu kaschieren wenn sich herausstellt, daß deine Lügen und all die flauen Tricks, mit denen du es versucht hast nichts ausrichten gegen die steigende Flut von hungrigen Freaks, Daddy... Sie haben nichts mehr übrig für die hochtönende Unternehmer-Philosophie, Marke mittlerer Westen, die alle abblitzen läßt die keine Angst haben ihre Meinung zu sagen; die Ausrangierten der Great Society. Mister America, geh vorbei an deinem Supermarkt-Traum. Mister America, geh vorbei an deinem Heiligtum, dem Spirituosenladen...

OR

Míster América, pasa de largo por las escuelas que no enseñan. Míster América, pasa de largo por las mentes que no se alcanzarán. Míster América, intenta ocultar el vacío que eres por dentro, una vez que comprendas que el modo en que has mentido y todos los trucos viejos que has probado no podrán evitar la creciente marea de rarezas hambrientas, papi... No volverán a ir a los grandes almacenes del medio oeste. Una filosofía que se aleja de aquellos que no tienen miedo a decir lo que hay en sus mentes (los desechos de la Gran Sociedad )... Rarezas hambrientas, papi... Míster América, pasa de largo por tu sueño de supermercado. Míster América, pasa de largo por la suprema tienda de licores. Míster América, intenta ocultar el producto de tu orgullo salvaje, las útiles mentes que ha negado, el día que te encogiste de hombros y te apartaste, viste sus ropas y luego gritaste: ESAS RAREZAS HAMBRIENTAS, PAPI... No volverán a ir a los grandes almacenes del medio oeste. Una filosofía que se aleja de aquellos que no tienen miedo a decir lo que hay en sus mentes (los desechos de la Gran Sociedad)...

Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?  

[Dunk]

I am still not convinced.  Would it not be better with a separate category for the lyrics linked to from the track details?  Why just the lyrics why not musical notation too? - I know the answer

I guess there will be many instances like Little House... which exist in many forms.  Describing the Burnt Weeny lyric free version and listing the lyrics for the Fillmore version on the same page is surely going to confuse rather than enlighten the new visitor.

Even when there are lyrically virtually identical pieces they can be different... Trouble Coming... on Freak Out is from one era and serves one purpose while More Trouble Coming... on Roxy is from another era and serves another purpose.

On the Roxy album it is linked with Son Of Orange County although that quotes the lyrics from Oh No...  etc. etc.

[emdebe]

Are there any ideas on how to add more pizazz to the lyrics section of a track? I feel we need something to make a distinction between the "ordinary" text and the actual lyrics. Do we put them on a shaded background? Do we center them on the page? What?

[Barry]

I've had a stab at two versions of the Baby Snakes track.

Regardless of the background-color (I know some don't like the pale yellow, yes, yes), have a look and tell me what you think:

Baby Snakes Lyrics at the Wiki

This way of laying it out requires some knowledge about html though...

[emdebe]

It looks UGLY... the "code" one has to produce... But the result looks GOOD though... So finally it's NOT BAD... although robin's-egg blue...  

[Barry]

Well that's html slash css for ya.

Question: do we proceed this way? Sure it looks good, but editors are going to have to know what they're doing html wise. It's not as hard as it seems, but still...

Perhaps a mini-html tutorial is in order?

[emdebe]

Perhaps a mini-html tutorial is in order?

If the Wiki thing accepts pure HTML code, we could always use a WYSIWYG HTML editor and then shove the TABLE stuff right in... HTML was initially developed as a "simple" language for ALL OF US... But manually coding is still a hassle...

OR: maybe some people could deliver the text (lyrics), while others just concentrate on making-up pages… I’m just freewheeling here…

[Barry]

OR: maybe some people could deliver the text (lyrics), while others just concentrate on making-up pages… I’m just freewheeling here…

I prefer that idea actually. Have a couple of people "style" the input made by others. That way it's easier to maintain a similar look across pages...

[emdebe]

I am still not convinced.  Would it not be better with a separate category for the lyrics linked to from the track details?  Why just the lyrics why not musical notation too? - I know the answer

This idea still holds a lot of sense. The lyrics I mean, not the musical notation...  

Most of the time, the lyrics are "in the way" (IMHO), on the way to the rest of the page.

[emdebe]

OR: maybe some people could deliver the text (lyrics), while others just concentrate on making-up pages… I’m just freewheeling here…

I prefer that idea actually. Have a couple of people "style" the input made by others. That way it's easier to maintain a similar look across pages...

This idea still holds a lot of sense...  

[emdebe]

Wouldn’t it be better to move the lyrics to a separate page (especially when there are multiple track versions, and thus different lyrics)?

Those who are in favor: Duncan, emdebe.
Those who are against: Barry, Bálint.

Since this leads us to nowhere, we need to hear more opinions!