A song is an arrangement of lyrics and music that serves as a medium for the expression of human emotion. It may be a carefully constructed masterpiece or it could simply be the weary croon of a mother singing her infant to sleep. It can be composed by a poet in the transient throes of passion and yearning or it can be an intricately constructed work that follows established rules for composition.
A key element in any song is the chorus section which usually repeats the same lyrics (but not necessarily identical) over and over again. This repetition gives it an anthemic quality that ties the different sections of the song together into a cohesive whole. In some songs, one motif can make up the entire skeleton of the piece–like the iconic opening riff on Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ or the single chord that runs through all of Pink Floyd’s albums.
Finally, a song must be commercial in the sense that it appeals to a broad audience and causes them to react–whether they cry, laugh, dance, tap their feet or buy the track on iTunes. It also needs to be memorable, which is why songwriters often record their ideas in a digital device or scribble them on a scrap of paper while they’re still fresh.
Articles about songs should generally follow the standard WikiProject template. They should be categorized in Category:Songs or Category:Singles (music) according to the notability guidelines laid out at Wikipedia:Notability (songs). Articles about cover songs should generally be addressed separately from the original song, provided they meet the notability criteria for their own articles.