I haven't been on fictionpress in a long while, but I wanted to finally post a story. The thing is it has a few lines of song lyrics in it, and I checked the story guidelines but they're pretty vague. What does "not in the public domain" cover, exactly?

I think it covers songs that other people wrote (like musicians and stuff). You probably can't use lyrics that you didn't write, yourself. I hope this helps. Good luck with your story.

Yes, it does. I'll just have to delete a few lines at the end and everything will be be fine. Thank you!

Actually, you can use songs that are not/no longer copywritten. Check the copyrights of the songs you want to use. Most folk songs don't have copyrights (although "Happy Birthday to You" does. Not kidding).

Woah, really? Wild. I don't think Tanita Tikaram counts there, though, plus I've already uploaded the story minus the lyrics. But hey, this means I can use The Yellow Rose of Texas and Streets of Lardeo in one of my works-in-progress. Thanks!

Again, check to make sure they aren't copywritten. Like I said, "Happy Birthday To You" is still copywritten, so you never know.

I'll be sure. I suppose that eliminates Streets of Laredo from the list (I believe Johnny Cash did a version of that, though I don't like the lyric version he used).