SONGS

SONGS queries the song catalog. Use it to browse, search lyrics, find songs from a particular era of writing, or count matches.

Synopsis#

SONGS [ WITH condition [AND | OR | , condition ...] ] [ WRITTEN date_or_range ] [ ORDER BY sort_spec ] [ LIMIT n ] [ AS COUNT ];

Every clause is optional — SONGS; lists every song the database knows about.

How it works#

SONGS returns one row per song with name and play counts. WITH LYRICS(...) requires that every word listed appears somewhere in the lyrics (it’s an AND, not an OR). You can also combine multiple WITH conditions using AND or commas: SONGS WITH LYRICS("sun") AND LYRICS("shine"). AS COUNT collapses the result to a single number.

Note: WRITTEN filters by the year the song was written, but requires songwriting date data to be imported before it will return results.

Clauses#

Examples#

Browse the catalog#

SONGS;
SONGS LIMIT 50;
SONGS ORDER BY NAME LIMIT 30;
SONGS ORDER BY TIMES_PLAYED DESC LIMIT 20;  -- most-played songs

Lyric search (single word)#

SONGS WITH LYRICS("train");
SONGS WITH LYRICS("rose") LIMIT 20;
SONGS WITH LYRICS("water");
SONGS WITH LYRICS("wheel");

Lyric search (multiple words — all must match)#

SONGS WITH LYRICS("train", "road");
SONGS WITH LYRICS("sun", "shine");
SONGS WITH LYRICS("river", "deep");

Separate LYRICS conditions with AND#

SONGS WITH LYRICS("sun") AND LYRICS("shine");
SONGS WITH LYRICS("train") AND LYRICS("road");

Just give me the count#

SONGS WITH LYRICS("sun") AS COUNT;
SONGS WITH LYRICS("sun", "shine") AS COUNT;  -- multiple words

Filtering by performance date#

SONGS can also be filtered by when songs were performed. These three forms are equivalent:

SONGS PLAYED FROM 1977;
SONGS PLAYED IN 1977;
SONGS FROM 1977;

Each returns songs that were played during the given year (or range/era). IN is an alias for FROM, and PLAYED is optional when the intent is clear.

Tips#

• Lyric search is whole-word, so "sun" matches the word “sun” but not “sunshine” or “Sunday”. Use shorter root words if you want broader matches.
• Not every song has lyrics in the database. Instrumentals (Drums, Space) and rare songs may return zero matches even when you expect them.
• AS COUNT is great for quick “how many?” questions — pair it with WITH LYRICS for instant lyric trivia.

Try in Sandbox · LYRICS