Song Lyrics as Poetry?

For the poetry of a song essay, I think I will write about Jason Mraz’s song, “I’m Yours.” This song doesn’t appear to have many poetic aspects at first besides some rhyme, and common colloquial metaphors or slang phrases. However, this song’s lyrics easily become stuck in a person’s head and were pretty easy to learn quickly because it is “catchy.” I’m not sure exactly what makes this “catchy” but when you look closer at the lyrics there are many hidden metaphors, more rhyme that is first noticeable, rhythm markers, and many other poetic elements. Maybe the poetic aspect of the song raises it from being more than just words to accompany lyrics, but a clever use of language as literature. Maybe the poem was written first and the music was then written to enhance it, rather than the other way around.
I picked the song because it was stuck in my head and I generally like the song every time I hear it. Looking into the song’s lyrics as a poem rather than just something you sing along as the melody could provide insight as to how some songs are catchy and successful and others are not very well known. I think that because this song is easy to sing, that means that the language of the lyrics has been created thoughtfully, using poetic techniques, to make it that way. Many times people sing along to songs without really knowing what they are saying just because that is how the song goes, even though out of context of the song those phrases would be awkward and stand out. This makes it seem that the music is more important than the lyrics and therefore it isn’t poetry, and maybe some aren’t, but as I look into “I’m Yours,” in particular, I believe that I will find that the lyrics could stand alone as a poem.