Legal Question in Entertainment Law in New York

If the lyrics are minimal and you're not quoting the entire song or a subtantial part of it, you could probably make out a fair use or use protected by the First Amendment. In many respects, a book publisher will require an author to seek permission and you see it represented by something like "Lyrics from the song, X, courtesy of Y publisher and/or z writer, Not obtaining permission from a copyright owner for use of their property will immediately risk an infringemet suiit but the above defenses would very likely prevail if you were sued and you defended. The problem is that sucessful publishers/writers usually have more economic might (exceptiing people like Dan Brown) than a novelist and you definitely don't want to be in the position of publishing the novel, spend money on promoting it and then getting that cease and desist letter. The safest approach would be to send a request to quote the lyrics, describing the context (e.g., a character singing it) and offering to provide a courtesy credit. Send it to the lega department of the publisher. If you get a rejection, you can paraphrase the lyrics somewhat,take your chances and nevertheless use the lyrics (still provide credit but without the "courtesy" or change the lyrics.