Hi Caitlin,

If you’re writing a kind of text that doesn’t allow for formal citations, then yes, mentioning the author’s name and the name of the song would be an appropriate way of crediting the source.

Hi Mackenzie,

MLA states that when there are no line numbers used, you should just omit the locator element. Conceivably, you could use “Verse 1” or similar, but I don’t think that’s very useful for the reader so would suggest avoiding it.

So your citation would just need to mention Dylan’s name (and the title of the song, if you quote from multiple different songs by him). This info could appear either in parentheses or just in your sentence, e.g. Dylan sings … or The lyrics … (Dylan).

What would the intext citation be for this source? I’m using song lyrics for Bob Dylan from Genius, but don’t know how to refer to specific lines of lyrics. The lines aren’t numbered, but the verses and chorus are headed.

Hi Andrea,

Yes, those numbers are timestamps from the song. If the source you’re using for the lyrics has explicitly numbered lines, you can use the line numbers, e.g. (Bush, lines 14—15). But it’s more likely that the lines won’t be numbered, in which case you should just omit line numbers, e.g. (Bush). Don’t number the lines yourself if this numbering doesn’t appear in your source.

I think in that case, the best approach would be to just treat it like citing a web page. You could still list the songwriter as the author (unless you’re citing commentary from a user on the site, in which case you’d list their name in the author position). And you could add the clarifying label “Song lyrics” at the end. So, e.g.,

Lamar, Kendrick. “Fear.” Genius, 14 Apr. 2017, genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-fear-lyrics. Song lyrics.