Are Songs Just Poems Set to Music?

It’s a question that pops up often, and the short answer is Yes - and no.

On one hand, lyrics are often very similar to poetry. They share common tools like rhythm, imagery, metaphor, rhyme, and repetition. Many famous songs are quite literally poems set to music, such as the poems of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, or even classical art songs inspired by poets like Goethe or Yeats. Both poetry and song aim to evoke emotion, tell a story, or express something deeper than plain prose ever could.

But! It’s not that simple.

Songs bring more to the table than just words - and this is the essential difference between a poem and a song. Songs rely on melody, harmony, rhythm, and performance - elements that poetry doesn’t inherently have. These layers can completely change the emotional impact of the words.

And while some song lyrics can stand alone beautifully on the page and present as a well formed poem, others certainly don't. Strip away the music from them, and they can feel flat, clunky, or incomplete. Or just plain nonsensical. Think of shoowap songs ("shoo shoo shoowap wap wap") and other styles that are super repetitive, minimal in imagery, no deep metaphor, and absolutely no complex structure. They work as a song because they are repetitive, catchy, and sometimes just a bunch of playful nonsense syllables that aid the rhythm. An example is the contemporary song "Blue Da Ba Dee" by Eiffel 65 ("I'm blue da ba dee da ba di da ba dee da ba di ...").

Poetry is crafted to hold its own in silence. Songs are designed to come alive when heard.

So, can a song be poetic? Absolutely. Can a poem become a song? Definitely. But are they the same thing? Not quite.

Maybe the real magic is in how the two forms borrow from each other - and how both invite us to feel something we can’t always explain.