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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41029
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41029
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

According to [this question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/q/1194/23927), you'd be in trouble if you quoted entire songs, but single lines should be okay. Making the quotes approximate would ensure you don't run into any legal issues, but would also likely prevent your readers from getting the references, which would defeat the entire purpose. So only do that as a last resort, if your publisher objects to the unedited quotes.

> What if there's a foil character who attributes the quotes?

I think this is a bad idea; not from a legal standpoint, but from a writing standpoint. The sample dialogue you provided seems very, _very_ clunky, and depending on how bad the "bad thing" is, it may also come across as very jarring and out-of-place to have the characters suddenly high-fiving each other over pop-culture references.

I must confess I'm not familiar with your example song lyric, but if I was, and I had to read six lines of dialogue explaining it, it would be a bit tedious. And if I understood _all_ your references, and you explained them _every single time_... it would get annoying.

If you really want to attribute all this character's quotes - or have some way of explaining them for those who don't recognise them - I'd take the approach recommended in [this question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/q/3334/23927) and have some kind of "Acknowledgements" section at the back of your book where you can list all the songs you referenced. That way you're still attributing the lyrics without having to stop the action every five minutes while you do so.

Original score: 3