Long words and long sentences don’t really lend themselves to song lyrics. Go ahead, try to sing some Adam Smith. I doubt most lyrical music has ever been at an advanced reading level.
Well, not great POP songs.
There are many long sentences in great songs. Often published with extra punctuation, this is one sentence: “Oh say, can you see by the dawn’s early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s first gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars were so gallantly streaming?”
And so is this one:
“Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation, blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land, praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.”
And:
“Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail and mortal life shall cease,I shall possess, within the veil a life of joy and peace.”
And:
“O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed, then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee.”
And not only ancient hymns. Let’s not forget:
“And as we wander down the road, our shadows taller than our soul, there is a lady we all know who shines white light and wants to show how everything will turn to gold.”
“Tired of lying in the sunshine [and] staying home to watch the rain, you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today and then one day you find ten years have got behind you.”
Or
“Above the planet on a wing and a prayer, my grubby halo, a vapour trail in the empty air, across the clouds I see my shadow fly out of the corner of my watering eye.”
A Tale of the Ticker--Frank Crumit
I’m In the Market for You--Charles Lawman
There’s No Depression in Love--Ben Selvin & His Orchestra