It just occurred to me this morning that if I want to keep the song lyrics in my novel, I think I'm going to have to seek and pay for permission. I have lots of snippets of songs through my story, but there are lyrics of one song I will just DIE if I have to remove. I can handle doing away with the rest, but this particular song not only means the world to me, and brings me to tears every time I listen to it, but the lyrics have a HUGE amount of significance to what happens in the story.
What am I going to do if I have to remove them? I'm obviously going to have to make up my own, but then, if readers want to actually 'hear' what the song is (for example, on YouTube, I've embedded it below) they won't be able to, which will make me incredibly sad.
The song is, I Want You, by Elvis Costello, and I listened to it over and over as I was writing the scene it appears in. Wouldn't it be awesome if my readers could do the same thing?
My novel is in first person, and written in the present simple - so it's pretty in your face. It would be like the reader was actually living that moment. Wouldn't it? And wouldn't it make it that extra special to read?
I'm still waiting on a reply from my publisher about this. So keep your fingers crossed I can get permission to use it!!!
Have you got any song lyrics in your work that you may have to seek permission to use? How would it make you feel if you had to remove them? If you've already published a book with song lyrics you've acquired the rights to use, was it difficult?
