I've mentioned before that you have to be careful when quoting a song lyric in your book because the rights-holders charge for the privilege. I just read an inteview with an actor who played a character who was pretending to be in a relationship with a woman and blanked when someone asked him how they met. The only thing that came to his mind was a paraphrase of the song lyric "You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when I met you." It's from the Human League hit song, "Don't You Want Me?"
Care to guess how much it would have cost them to have the actor SAY that (not even sing it)?
Time's up....£5000 ($7500)!
They changed the joke.
PS: I'm not a lawyer but I doubt that this charge would have held up in court--surely a character quoting one line as part of a joke, and not even singing it, would be fair use?
PPS: If you care to quote lines from any of my work, get in touch. My rates start at £5.