word choice - "The lyrics to the song" vs. "the lyrics of the song"

• Do you remember the lyrics to the song?


• Do you remember the lyrics of the song?

I'm more familiar with the second sentence using the "of". But what I don't know is, how would you interpret both of these sentences in the grammatical sense? Do both of these sentences express a relation between lyrics and songs?

Answer

To "remember the lyrics of a song," expresses the idea of lyrics being a characteristic, or possession:

• The lyrics of the song


• The color of the car


• The brand of the monitor


• A species of animal

As though lyrics are a characteristic of a song, and you're asking whether one knows that characteristic, or as though this particular song contains a set of lyrics, and you're asking whether one knows the lyrics the song contains, thereby asking whether one "knows the lyrics of the song."

To "remember the lyrics to the song," would express the idea of a connection, showing that with this particular song, comes a set a lyrics connected. Asking whether one remembers the lyrics to the song, would be the same idea as asking whether one knows the lyrics that comes with the song.

• "Do you know the lyrics to the song?"


• "Do you know the tune to the song?"

They'll both do you justice, but some may be more favourable than others depending on your preferences. For example, asking whether one knows "the brand to this monitor" sounds a bit odd, at least to me.

Hope this helps.