# Clever (and not so clever) rhymes in songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588 "2016-08-12T18:49:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/41 "2016-08-13T17:18:44Z")
I like “implied” rhymes such as from Country Joe & The Fish’s _I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag_: “And it’s one, two, three, What are we fighting for ? … And it’s five, six, seven, Open up the pearly gates,” (Gimme an “F”!) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/42 "2016-08-13T17:36:46Z")
“From Hallifax to Orlando Run the millenium like Han, or Lando.” -Wordburglar, Rhyme O’Clock. I can’t decide between clever or not, but rhyming Orlando with or Lando is definitely something. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/43 "2016-08-13T17:51:46Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Woulda been fine if he’d switched lines two and four. Texas doesn’t quite rhyme with taxes, but it goes. And taxes rhymes with “facts is.” The rhyme scheme is fine, as is. It’s the ham-fisted “doesn’t know what the facts is” that is glaring. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/44 "2016-08-13T18:04:24Z")
Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields is a big fan of ambitious (and obnoxious) rhymes: “We’ve got so many tchotchkes we’ve practically emptied the Louvre In most of our palaces there’s hardly room to manouvre No, I can’t go to Bali today, I must stay home and Hoovre Up the gold dust…” - from “Zebra” “Before you left your garrison you had a drink, maybe two You don’t remember Paris, hon, but it remembers you!” - from “The Night You Can’t Remember” To choose two. And then there’s “The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure,” where the Swiss linguist’s name is rhymed with “so sure [a homophone],” “closure,” and - within the same verse - “composer” and “composure.” Which is, IMHO, so bad it’s great. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/45 "2016-08-13T19:54:51Z")
From “Hard Knock Life” (the one from Annie): No one cares for you a smidge When you’re in an orphanage ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/46 "2016-08-13T22:25:09Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Actually, --Lee Hazelwood > mmm I like this one from Lee Hazelwood- My eyes grew heavy and my lips they could not speak I tried to get up but I couldn’t find my feet And the theme From _That 70’s Show_ Hanging out, down the street, The same old thing, we did last week ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/47 "2016-08-13T22:43:44Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Marillion- White Russian > > Terror in Rue de St. Denis, murder on the periphery > Someone else in someone else’s pocket > Christ knows I don’t know how to stop it > Poppies at the cenotaph, the cynics can’t afford to laugh > I heard in on the telegraph there’s Uzis on a street corner Love a bunch of Marillions stuff, though, I am thinking you meant “stop it” and “pocket” as not so clever. This one from Marillion’s song Fugazi…clever Decriminalised genocide, provided door to door Belsens Pandora’s box of holocausts gracefully cruising satellite infested heavens Belsen being a concentration camp (Bergen-Belsen) and this from _Charting the Single_ Slow French kissing with the Dauphin’s daughter If I fall in love now I’ll be floating in Seine Plastered in Paris I’ve had an Eiffel Gonna make my escape on the midnight train Choo, choo to you - Choo, choo to you - Charting the single Schnapping my fingers on an alcoholiday Sniff round a Fraulein when I’m scent to Cologne All night hotel Liebling make your mark Let sugar daddy melt in his home sweet home ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/48 "2016-08-13T23:14:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The rhyme scheme is fine, as is. It’s the ham-fisted “doesn’t know what the facts is” that is glaring. “facts is” and “taxes” is a perfectly good rhyme, in american rock anyway. What you found glaring I’m almost positive he knew was a good vernacular line for his song. His dad was a Texas lawman by the way. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/49 "2016-08-14T01:46:16Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > And the theme From _That 70’s Show_ > > Hanging out, > down the street, > The same old thing, > we did last week That’s **Big Star** being covered by **Cheap Trick**. It captures that Dazed n’ Confused cruising feeling perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/50 "2016-08-14T02:19:34Z")
twenty one pilots doesn’t even try with _Stressed Out_: > [@](#): > > I wish I found some better sounds no one’s ever heard > I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words > I wish I found some chords in an order that is new > I wish I didn’t have to rhyme every time I sang But they do come back with > [@](#): > > It’d be to my brother, 'cause we have the same nose > Same clothes homegrown a stone’s throw from a creek we used to roam > But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered > Out of student loans and tree-house homes we all would take the latter ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/51 "2016-08-14T03:51:19Z")
“Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis” Is both. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/52 "2016-08-14T04:02:32Z")
The pop classic: Said that love was too plebeian, Said that you were through with me, an’ ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/53 "2016-08-14T04:40:54Z")
Clever rhymes are all over Sondheim’s stuff. From the prologue to Into The Woods, re Jack’s cow: > [@](#): > > (JACK’S MOTHER) > Look at her… > There are bugs on her dugs. > There are flies in her eyes. > There’s a lump on her rump > Big enough to be a hump- > > (JACK) > But- > > (JACK’S MOTHER) > We’ve no time to sit and dither, > While her wither’s wither with her- ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/54 "2016-08-15T01:41:38Z")
The Black Eyed Peas (pre-Fergie) with Karma: _I’m the caboose of the wrong doings you produce The wild tail of the tornado running loose You tie the noose, I kick the chair I’m the cyanide that snatch your life while you gasp for air The echo of the “fuck you” that boomerangs to hurt your loved ones The thief that held your son, held by ransom The pervert that raped your wife The hand that held the knife that took your life You shot Tupac and Biggie Now I’m coming after you like v-w-x-y-z This is cause and effect, the domino effect The “what goes up, must come down” effect_ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/55 "2016-08-15T02:02:23Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > “facts is” and “taxes” is a perfectly good rhyme, in american rock anyway. What you found glaring I’m almost positive he knew was a good vernacular line for his song. I have no problem with the rhyme. (“Facts is” and “taxes” is a fine rhyme to me. ) If that’s the vernacular, then I’m fine with it; it seems a little off to me, but if it really is colloquial, I’m okay with it. It just really jumps out at me, but, hey, I’m Chicago vernacular so I’m sure others will take issue with many of our colloquial constructions. But, like I was otherwise saying, the rhyme scheme in that verse is perfectly fine. All four endings of the verses are rhymes or near-rhymes. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/56 "2016-08-15T02:12:29Z")
That is to say, I have no problem with anyone rhyming “Texas,” “taxes,” “justice,” and “facts is.” They’re not pure rhymes, but who gives a shit? Save that for nursery rhymes. I just thought the phrasing to get one to “facts is” was a bit shoehorned for the rhyme, but I’m happy to believe that it’s a vernacular turn of phrase. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/57 "2016-08-15T03:41:36Z")
Michael Flanders (of Flanders & Swann) had many clever rhymes. A sample, from _Misalliance_: > [@](#): > > Said the right-handed honeysuckle to the left-handed bindweed, > “Oh, let us get married, if our parents don’t mind, we’d > Be loving and inseparable, inextricably entwined, we’d > Live happily ever after” said the honeysuckle to the bindweed. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/58 "2016-08-15T03:53:47Z")
Love Magnetic Fields and their rhymes. “Fido” is a masterwork in silliness and jealousy: > [@](#): > > Fido, your leash is too long > I don’t know where I went wrong > You scare me out of my wits > When you do that Shih Tzu > Fido, your leash is too long > > Fido, you’ve gone far enough > I must have all of your love > You just run out of luck > I don’t care what you foxhounds > Do, but your leash is too long ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/59 "2016-08-15T03:58:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That is to say, I have no problem with anyone rhyming “Texas,” “taxes,” “justice,” and “facts is.” They’re not pure rhymes, but who gives a shit? Save that for nursery rhymes. I just thought the phrasing to get one to “facts is” was a bit shoehorned for the rhyme, but I’m happy to believe that it’s a vernacular turn of phrase. I give him the license because: it sounds rock and roll (to me), his dad was a Texas sheriff, and… Dragnet. “Just the facts…” but if it didn’t scan I wouldn’t be so forgiving. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588/60 "2016-08-15T04:23:55Z")
Gershwin does it a lot. From “Delicious” > [@](#): > > I’m so delishious > And so caprishious > I grow ambishious > To have you care for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-and-not-so-clever-rhymes-in-songs/762588.md?page=4)