Lyric Intelligence in Popular Music: A Ten Year Analysis. The comments are interesting, too. There was criticism afterwards that the study was flawed, as it didn't take into account meaning, metaphor, and substance.
The Rock Window is a tool that can be used to analyze popular music, and classifies lyrics in one of eight categories:
A humorous posting from the Uncyclopedia describes progressive rock as more complex than other types of popular music. It appeals to smart people due to the bigger words in the lyrics, the random imagery, and a division of a piece into sections with different rhyme schemes and musical material including instrumental interludes.
Rock songs may be freer in phrase lengths, rhyme schemes, and frames of reference, and do not necessarily follow metrical patterns.
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