Hey Heath! Thanks for the detailed response. First off let me say I am so glad you didn’t choose
Blame It On The Rain
… as your poem title. (lol, that joke works on many levels, will leave up to the reader).
You kind of answered it right away … you were listening to the Floyd tune while thinking of the title. So in my opinion, you should have given them a shout-out in a footnote, even included a link to the mp3. Rather than “detract” from the writing, you’d have given your audience a chance for a multi-sensory experience.
To try to generalize, you suggest that the decision for attribution should be driven by the length of passage borrowed. This rule is tough to quantify and follow.
Maybe instant recognisability is the right standard, but this is problematic too. What is recognisable, and to whom? Also, this would be unfair to obscure, lesser known artists, who actually need more recognition and credit.
So I suggest an honor system. If you were directly inspired by even a short fragment of a line from a song you heard or poem you read, then mention it in your post.
Examples
I personally think that the phrase killer queen would not require attribution, but any of the following:
- crazy little thing called love
- we are the champions
- mama, just killed a man
- you make the rocking world go round
… deserve a mention of Queen or Freddie.
Phew … I’m glad I wasn’t totally off base :-) and I hope other readers chime in too
Sincerely, Joe Varadi
