Song poems are songs with lyrics by usually non-professional writers that have been set to music by commercial companies for a fee. This practice, which has long been disparaged in the established music industry, was also known as song sharking and was conducted by several businesses throughout the 20th century in North America. Production and promotion From the early 20th century, the business of recording song poems was promoted through small display ads in popular magazines, comic books, tabloids, men's adventure journals and similar publications with a headline reading (essentially) Send in Your Poems - Songwriters Make Thousands of Dollars - Free Evaluation. The term lyrics was avoided because it was assumed potential customers would not understand what the term meant. Those who sent their poetry to one of the production companies usually received notice by mail that their work was worthy of recording by professional musicians, along with a proposal to do so in exchange for a fee. The early 20th century versions of this business involved setting the words to music and printing up sheet music from inexpensively engraved plates. In producing the recordings, musicians often recorded dozens of songs per recording session using minimal resources. Using a method called "sight-singing," they wrote the music as they read the lyrics and played along, sometimes finishing a song in just one take. Musicians would "sight-sing" Some of the companies recorded new vocals over pre-recorded music backing tracks, using the same music tracks hundreds of times. The recordings were then duplicated on 45 RPM vinyl singles or on individual cassette tapes, or they were released on compilation LPs with dozens of other songs by amateur lyric writers. Copies were sent to the customer. Promises that they would also be sent to radio stations or music industry executives were rarely if ever kept, partly because the recordings would not have been taken seriously by professionals. Many of the lyrics involve subject matter relating to the passing fads of the day, and thus provide a window into a past pop culture. Examples Noted examples of those who have used the song poem approach include: Rodd Keith (born Rodney Keith Eskelin, 1937–1974), who has been described as the "Mozart" of the song poem genre. Several compilations of his made-for-hire song poem recordings have been released on CD with comments by his son, avant-garde saxophonist Ellery Eskelin. Eskelin never really knew his father, but