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We don't have an tag, but we do have, and continue to receive, a fair number of "what are the lyrics to [song name]?" or "what is this particular lyric in the [verse/chorus/...] of [song name]?" sorts of questions.

When identify questions became off-topic, it was questions with the tags that were involved. But lyrics, lacking such a tag, weren't discussed.

There was some discussion about it in 2015 ("what are the Lyrics" questions). The consensus at the time was to allow such questions, but with tight restrictions: must show research and only specific lyrics, not full songs (to avoid copyright issues).

So ... Lyrics Identification: Here in 2022, on topic or off?

Note: this question related only to identifying the lyrics themselves, not to interpreting their meaning.

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  • It would be better if this were (featured)...
    – user11110
    Sep 30, 2022 at 19:50

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I vote off topic.

  1. Questions regarding a few words in a specific song are not of widespread value.
  2. Questions with complete lyrics might be of more widespread value, but there are copyright issues and beyond plenty of devoted lyrics sites.
  3. As a community, we aren't good about monitoring "good" questions (show research, limiting to a few words rather than whole songs or sections of songs).
  4. Answers typically amount to best guesses, because if the question appears here, it's usually due to the lyrics being unpublished. Any "real" answer here (i.e., involving documentation) would rely on either published lyrics or emailing the author, both of which could/should have been part of the question asker's research.

These questions can be fun to answer, but add little long-term value to the site.

NOTE: questions about the meaning of lyrics are most certainly on topic and should stay that way.

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