Public Domain Lyrics Database

Free lyrics for everyone.

• 1,347 verified public domain songs - all published 1928 or earlier (US public domain)
• 2,726 CC0 original songs - free for any use, no strings attached
• 93% have source URLs - verified against Wikisource/Project Gutenberg

No accounts. No paywalls. No terms. Just songs.

Two Databases

Public Domain (1,347 songs)

• Published 1928 or earlier (US public domain)
• Source URLs linking to Wikisource/Project Gutenberg
• Artist, Year, and Category metadata
• Commercial use allowed

CC0 Original (2,726 songs)

• All original compositions (2024)
• Released under CC0 - no rights reserved
• Commercial use allowed - sell it, train AI, remix, redistribute
• No attribution required

Why Verified?

Anyone can scrape Wikisource. We did the work:

• Removed books and prose - songs only
• Removed duplicates - one entry per song
• Removed dialect - Scots/Irish Gaelic filtered
• Removed non-songs - textbooks, magazines, Latin hymns
• Removed verse numbers - clean lyrics
• Added source URLs - 93% verified

Data Format

{
  "title": "Song Title",
  "author": "Artist Name",
  "year": "1850",
  "category": "Folk songs",
  "lyrics": "Full lyrics text...",
  "source_url": "https://source.url"
}

Files

Public Domain

• lyrics_data.json - Full database in JSON
• data.php - PHP array for fast loading

CC0 Original

• cc0_lyrics_data.json - CC0 songs in JSON
• cc0_data.php - PHP array for fast loading

Web Interface

• index.php - Searchable web interface with PD/CC0 tabs

Categories

Public Domain

Hymns, Folk songs, Sea songs, Spirituals, Work songs, Patriotic songs, Love songs, Children's songs, Ballads, Christmas carols, Drinking songs

CC0 Original

Folk ballads, Gospel hymns, Sea shanties, Ragtime, Early blues, Barbershop quartets, Vaudeville, Patriotic, Children's songs, Comic songs, Work songs, Waltzes, Lullabies

Sources

Public Domain

All songs from:

• Wikisource (en.wikisource.org)
• Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org)

Verified public domain in the United States.

CC0 Original

All original compositions released under CC0 Public Domain Dedication.

Usage

Web Interface

Upload to any PHP host and visit index.php.

JSON API

fetch('lyrics_data.json')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(songs => console.log(songs));

fetch('cc0_lyrics_data.json')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(songs => console.log(songs));

License

Public Domain

Public domain in the United States. No rights reserved. Commercial use allowed.

CC0 Original

CC0 Public Domain Dedication. No rights reserved. Commercial use allowed. No attribution required.

Disclaimer

Year data is approximate (based on category). Verify before critical use. Source URLs provided when available.