| | # Lyrics annotation guidelines |
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|
| | - Based on [Apple Music](https://artists.apple.com/support/1111-lyrics-guidelines), [LyricFind](https://docs.lyricfind.com/LyricFind_LyricFormattingGuidelines.pdf), [Musixmatch](https://community.musixmatch.com/guidelines) guidelines |
| | - General rule: transcribe vocal sounds that can be clearly heard |
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|
| | ## General formatting |
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|
| | - Line breaks separate lyrical segments |
| | - `\n`: Lines |
| | - `\n\n`: Stanzas (sections) |
| | - No more than 1 blank line |
| | - *Ideally* at most 10 lines or so in each section (not a hard limit) |
| | - Section break indicators: |
| | - A defined chorus, verse, intro, bridge, or hook |
| | - Changes in the song tempo |
| | - Changes in how the artist delivers the lyrics (e.g. from singing to rapping) |
| | - No section labels (verse, chorus, refrain, …) or other non-lyrics text |
| | - Repeated lines should be repeated explicitly and for the correct number of times |
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|
| | ## Capitalization |
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| | - Capital letter at the beginning of every line |
| | - Follow traditional grammar rules: capitalize proper nouns and anything else specific to each language |
| | - Examples of expressions that must be capitalized: |
| | - Acronyms (*NASA*, *FBI*) |
| | - Brand names |
| | - Divinity and religious intricacies (*God*, *You*, *Him*, *Your* in religious songs) |
| | - Geographical location (*East Coast*, *Southside* etc.) |
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|
| | ## Grammar and spelling |
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| | - Within each line, adhere to grammar and spelling rules (commas, capitalization, …) of the language |
| | - Avoid exaggerations: *~~ohhhh~~ oh*, *~~feeeeeel~~ feel*, *~~bang!!!!~~ bang!* |
| | - Non-normative (e.g. slang or regional) spelling only if matched by clearly non-standard pronunciation: *livin'*, *'em*, *'Rari*, *'cause*, *I'ma*, *for shizzle*, but: *~~becuz~~ because* |
| | - Only use (*de facto*) standard (commonly used) spellings; do not make up new ones |
| | - Apostrophe for *contractions* (two words contracted to one) or *elisions* (part of a word omitted, usually beginning/end) |
| | - Avoid elision in the middle of a word except in common/standard cases; see language-specific rules |
| | - If unsure whether a contraction/elision is actually present, count the syllables with and without it and see which fits better rhythmically |
| | - If the artist uses a dialect, use standard spelling for that dialect if available and where pronunciation calls for it (see language-specific rules) |
| | - If not sure, use a dictionary, [Google Ngrams Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/) or even just Google search (comparing the number of results) to get an idea of which spelling is more acceptable |
| | - Explicit lyrics: |
| | - If not censored in the audio, transcribe as is: *I'm the motherfucking man* |
| | - If completely or partially censored, replace the entire word with 4 asterisks: *I'm the \*\*\*\* man* |
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|
| | ## Punctuation |
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| | - Full stop (*.*): never to end a sentence, only in acronyms, contractions (*Mr.*) |
| | - Comma (*,*): never at the end of a line |
| | - Apostrophe/single quote (*'*): only for contraction and elision (*I'm*, *livin'* – see above), never to quote |
| | - Question mark (*?*), double quote (*"*): as appropriate |
| | - Exclamation mark (*!*): sparingly |
| | - Hyphens (*-*) when appropriate |
| | - To join words, parts of words, non-word vocal sounds |
| | - When a line is (unnaturally) interrupted in the middle of a word |
| | - No dashes (*–*), colons (*:*) or semicolons (*;*) – use a comma (or a line break) instead |
| | - Parentheses: only for background vocals |
| | - Use variants appropriate for each language (*¿?*, *¡!*, «») |
| | - Punctuation should always have a syntactic function – do not use it just to indicate a pause if it doesn't make sense grammatically |
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|
| | ## Background vocals |
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| | - In parentheses at the end of the line it “belongs to” |
| | - Can be a separate line (starting with capital letter) if there is a longer pause or it would not fit on the same line; can occasionally go at the beginning or in the middle if it is unavoidable |
| | - Consider omitting them if they form a consistent “texture” (especially if made up of non-word sounds) or are not “countable” (due to extensive delay/reverb etc.) |
| | - Voices singing in unison/homophony with (near-)identical lyrics are considered as a single unit and **not** as separate vocal lines, should be transcribed only once |
| | - Do **not** use parentheses to simply identify a “secondary” vocalist, but rather for contrast within a single line/section; consider that a singer's role may change (even many times) over the course of the song |
| | - If there are two or more vocalists, but they have equal importance (equal volume, equal amount of content) such as in a duet, avoid using parentheses systematically |
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|
| | ## Non-word vocal sounds |
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| | - Mostly should be transcribed, but consider if they contribute to the content of the song (if they are part of background vocals, see above) |
| | - Language-specific! |
| | - English: *oh, ah, la, leh, mmm, ooh, doo, da, uh, whoa, wee, yo, ayy, hey, ayo, brr, ha, …* |
| | - Spanish: *oh, ah, la, ay, ey, oy, jaja, ajá, …* |
| | - French: *oh, ah, la, ouh, ouah, aïe, hey, ahah, …* |
| | - Always separate individual syllables with punctuation |
| | - Hyphens to string them together to form short phrases: *oh-oh, woah-oh-oh, la-la-la, play-ay-ay* |
| | - Commas to separate: *Oh California, ooh-ooh, ooh yeah* |
| | - Do **not** write *~~la la la~~* or *~~lalala~~*, use punctuation; however common speech phrases like *oh/ooh yeah* should be written with a space |
| | - Do **not** include sound descriptions (*car horn, clap, music, background speech*) or non-vocal sound imitations (*screech*, *whoosh, bang*) or symbols (*🎵*) |
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|
| | ## Unintelligible vocals |
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| | If something is really unintelligible and can't be understood even with a bit of research, it's better to omit it. |
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|
| | ## Language-specific guidelines |
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|
| | ### 🇩🇪 German |
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|
| | We use **neue deutsche Rechtschreibung**. |
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| | #### Apostrophes (elisions, contractions) |
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| | We follow the rules from [Duden](https://www.duden.de/sprachwissen/rechtschreibregeln/apostroph), but made a few additional rules to improve consistency: |
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| | 1. Elision of _e_ at the end of a word: we generally use apostrophes **except in the case of imperatives**. Example: _Komm her!_ but _Ich komm' her_. See rule [D13/2](https://www.duden.de/sprachwissen/rechtschreibregeln/apostroph#D13). |
| | 2. Elision of _e_ in the middle of a word: we apply the rules in many cases except for when it is harder to read: _seh'n_ but _verstehn_. See rule [D13/1](https://www.duden.de/sprachwissen/rechtschreibregeln/apostroph#D13). |
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| | ### 🇫🇷 French |
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| | Sources: [Musixmatch French insights](https://support.musixmatch.com/article/375-french-inisights), [Musixmatch French FAQ](https://support.musixmatch.com/article/300-curators-faq-french) |
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| | #### Apostrophes (elisions, contractions) |
| | - If the beginning or end of a word is cut, replace it with an apostrophe: |
| | - *'teilles* (if pronounced as such) for *bouteilles* |
| | - *j'fais*, *j't'avais*, *m'semble*, *s'capte* for *je fais*, *je t'avais*, *me semble*, *se capte* |
| | - **not** for *e* in the middle of a word: *petit, faisait, maintenant, dessus,* not *~~p'tit~~/~~ptit~~*, *~~f'sait~~*, *~~maint'nant~~*, *~~d'ssus~~* |
| | - *y a*, *y en*, not *~~y'a~~*, *~~y'en~~* |
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| | #### 1990 spelling reform |
| | Prefer pre-1990 spellings, e.g. *coût* ~~*cout*~~, *connaître* ~~*connaitre*~~, *événement* ~~*évènement*~~. |
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| | ### 🇪🇸 Spanish |
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| | #### Apostrophes (elisions, contractions), dialects |
| | - Mark elisions at word beginnings/ends as per general rules (e.g. *pa'*, *sacamo'*); in the middle of a word in common cases (e.g. *to's*). |
| | - Avoid writing fusion of syllables as a contraction, e.g. *que está* ~~*qu'está*~~. |
| | - If the song is in a dialect, use that dialect's standard spelling where the pronunciation clearly calls for it, e.g. *preparao ~~prepara'o~~* |
