Oh come on now. You’re about to lose an argument after it was already conceded to you. MY point was that one sentence ran for half the first verse.
Are lines of verse usually very short? Sure. But there’s no reason a sentence has to be one line.
Most lyrics are, but do you really think this is a grade-school reading level? “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?”
Commonplace songs have commonplace lyrics. Great songs have great lyrics. Really great songs have great lyrics that seem commonplace.
Some bonus songs.
“When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way, but now [that] these days are gone and I’m not so self assured, now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors”
“Remember, Christ our savior was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray.”
Most lyrics don’t even bother with punctuation, it’s usually only stuff that was originally written as a poem that somebody set to music that gets punctuation. So then what is a sentence if there’s no punctuation? I suppose you could argue the whole verse is a sentence.
The only thing that makes that not grade school level today is the use of words that have mostly evaporated from the language. Nobody does much “thus” and “hath” anymore. But at the time those words were common they weren’t advanced language. It’s gained grade levels with age.
Great lyrics don’t have to include fancy words. Great sentences don’t have to include fancy. Lyricism in language usually revolves around nice clean beats, clean beats are generally found in smaller words. Try working “prestidigitation” into some iambic pentameter... heck try working “iambic pentameter” into iambic pentameter. “Magic” works way better, two syllables, easy accent. “Veni, vidi, vici”, so simply a first semester Latin student can translate it, and yet one of the greatest sentences ever, even in English it’s got a great ring.