Song lyrics and verb tenses

[b.a.d.]

Hi! Is it okay for some song lyrics to describe actions that are considered to be happening at the moment using present simple? For example, Judas Priest - Love Bites:

"When you feel safe
When you feel warm
That's when I rise
That's when I crawl

Gliding on mist
Hardly a sound
Bring the kiss
Evils abound
....
Into your room
Where in deep sleep
There you lie still
To you I creep

Then I descend
Close to your lips
Across you I bend
You smile as I sip

Now you are mine
In my control
One taste of your life
And I own your soul

Softly you stir(???)
Gently you moan(???)
Lust's in the air
Wake as I groan"
...

Another thing that seems strange to me is here
Dokken - Into The Fire

"You weave your spell, your eyes they beckon me
Your lips they speak, lies and misery
I know it's wrong, but I can't turn away
The flames draw near, they're telling(???) me to stay"

'Your lips speak', but 'the flames are telling' - could anyone please clear this up?
Response from native speakers is more preferable.
Thank you

 

[Tdol]

Song lyrics can do pretty much what they want to fit the tune.

 

[b.a.d.]

Song lyrics can do pretty much what they want to fit the tune.

So in such cases present simple instead of present continious is acceptable? And what present continious would mean if used along with present simple, like in an exaple above?

 

[Tdol]

Songs are not taking grammar tests, so terms like acceptable don't apply. They can break every grammatical rule they want to, and regularly do.

One point with the present simple and continuous- we can use the present simple for short duration action as they happen, so a sports commentator may say He shoots- he scores as the person kicks the ball, so some of those like I bend in the song are fine. However, the needs of a song - the limits imposed by the tune - mean that grammar comes second, which is why they are often not a good way to study a language. Adding -ing to every verb would affect the song, so if it's easier to use the simple form to fit the tune, then that is what normally happens.

 

[b.a.d.]

Thank you very much for a clear explanation. But still I can't see the condition on which present simple and present continious used in the second example. Or is -ing added just to fit tune?

 

[Tdol]

I wouldn't bother trying to analyse them grammatically. Here's a famous example from Wings' Live and Let Die:

But in this ever-changing world in which we live in

Count the number of times he uses in there. It fits the music, which is why he did it- it doesn't really matter that it is total preposition overkill- it fits and the listener gets the message. There's no condition- there a tune and a rhythm and words can be hammered, twisted, word order chopped and changed, tenses abused, unnecessary words added, etc. It's a song first and foremost. There are no conditions, no acceptable grammar rules. If it fits and makes some sense, it goes. If you use telling, it fits. If you use tell, it doesn't. That's it. It's a song. :-D

 

[b.a.d.]

Well, that's pretty confusing )) However, it gives more freedom of creativity. Thank you, again

 

[mrang]

In general, like most commenters said, songs may not follow grammar rules. All they may need is to rhyme.