Song Lyrics vs. Poetry

[SDNess]

I listen to a lot of music. And, personally, I have a very eclectic taste. While I listen to each song, I always pay attention to the lyrics. A lot of the songs I listen to have terribly written lyrics that are garbage and not worth listening to. But there are some lyrics that are wonderfully written.

My question is: are song lyrics considered poetry? If the lyrics are low-level are they not? And if they are high-level are they? Is there even a difference between the two?

In my attempts to write poetry I have sometimes come to a point where I don't know if I'm writing poetry or lyrics. I know that if I was writing words for a song they would definitely be lyrics.

Are lyrics only lyrics along with the music accompanied by them in the song? If they don't have music along with them, then are they just poetry?

All of that might have come out too complicated, but hopefully you'll get my question.

EDIT:

Another point: a lot of lyrics do not have a consistent meter or rhyme. And in a lot of cases, they don't even make sense on paper, but while sung with the music they do.

Take that as you will.

[littlemissattitude]

Well, a couple of years ago I took a college American Literature class, and included in the poetry section of the textbook were song lyrics by Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, among others. So I guess at least they are considered poets and not "just" lyricists. And I defy anyone to try to argue that a lot of Gordon Lightfoot's lyrics are not poetry.

And, actually, a lot of poetry does not have a consistent meter or rhyme, either. So, who's to say that there's any real definition of what a collection of words has to be, to be considered poetry. I've even read some prose that feels like poetry. For me, some parts of Donaldson's two Thomas Covenant trilogies were like that.

[knivesout]

I had some Bob Dylan and Paul Simon in my Poetry syllabus too, no Springsteen though. I think the distinction between lyirc and poetry is artificial and highly suspect - if a poem does not sing with an internal music, it's hardly worth calling a poem.

[RZD]

Some lyricists strive for good poetry. Don Mclean, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot. But some lyricists throw lines into a song as the metric space becomes available with no regard to poetic form, sometimes disregarding even meaning. Godsmack is a good example of this.
That said, I believe that lyics can definitely be poetry. When the poetry is well-written, the distinction depends merely on the writer's intent.

[I, Brian]

I personally fail to see a distinction - they are the same form. IMO.