In “Hurricane” he rhymed two syllables in the same word.
“We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple MUR
DUR
on him…”
My vote for worst rhyme in a popular song goes to ELP’s “Still You Turn Me On,” which had the deathless line:
Every day a little sadder
A little madder
Someone get me a ladder
Anybody want a peanut?
Just found this one, the P.T 109 song! Here’s the first verse. The rest isn’t any better.
In ‘43 they put to sea, thirteen men and Kennedy
Aboard the P.T. 109, to fight the brazen enemy
And off the isle of ol’ Lusana, in the strait beyond Nehru
A Jap deatroyer in the night cut the '109 in two
Louis Jordan’s 1940’s hit Choo Choo Ch’Boogie has about 20 lines, all of which rhyme with -ack.
Track, mack, shack, knack, pack, back…worked out the rhyming dictionary.
I’ve always loved this song and it’s amazing the sense Smokey brings to all these rhyming couplets:
Since I lost my baby. (Since I lost my baby.)
Oh, since I lost my baby. (Oh, since I lost my baby.)
Next time I’ll be kinder (Next time I’ll be kinder)
Won’t you please help me find her (Won’t you please help me find her)
Someone just remind her (Someone just remind her)
Of this love she left behind her (Of this love she left behind her)
Till I find her I’ll be trying ta (Till I find her I’ll be trying ta)
Everyday I’m more inclined ta
Find her
Inclined ta
Find her
Inclined ta find my baby
Been looking everywhere (ba–by)
Baby, I really, really care!
No mention of this yet?
*On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
…
*
Inspiring, no?
How about the first 2 lines of the theme song of The Nanny?
“She was working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens
When her boyfriend kicked her out in one of those crushing scenes”
Tom Lehrer has been mentioned a few times, but I don’t see my favorite “clever” rhyme of his:
Hard to find a rhyme for “Oedipus”. He’s to be congratulated.
On the “bad rhyme” side, there are the covers of Joni Mitchell’s 1970 song Big Yellow Taxi (“Pave Paradise, put up a parking lot”). My beef is with the lines:
Lots of people have changed the lines over the years, mostly to up the admission price on account of inflation. But a recent version* changes the last line to “…just to see them”, which ruins the museum/see 'em rhyme. Drives me nuts every time I hear it.
*(Counting Crows? I thought it was Kid Rock but I can’t find anything that says he recorded it)
Similarly, I’ve heard versions of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” that change “do ya” to “do you”, which ruins the rhyme.
shrug I actually like the softened rhyme versions of both. The “do ya?” always bugged the crap out of me in Hallelujah. I’m sure I’m in the vast minority on that one, but it always sounded corny and forced to me, instead of colloquial (which I assume is how it’s supposed to sound.)
Huh. Apparently even Leonard Cohen changed it from “do ya” to “do you” at some point.
ETA: Audio example of Cohen performing it in 2009 with “yous” instead of “yas.”. Much better. 
I don’t know who wrote it. Barry McGuire sang it. The entire song is a tortured cringeworthy rhyming mess:
Yeah, my blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’,
I’m sittin’ here, just contemplatin’,
I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation,
handful of Senators don’t pass legislation,
and marches alone can’t bring integration,
when human respect is disintegratin’,
this whole crazy world is just too frustratin’,
and you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.
My analyst told me that I was outta my head
He said I need treatment, but I’m not that easily led
He said
I’m the type that was most inclined
when out of his sight to be out of my mind
He thought I was nuts
No more if or ands or buts
“Twisted,” which I first heard during the opening of Deconstructing Harry
Mr. Miller really outdid himself later on in his career…
Abra…abracadabra
I wanna reach out and grab ya
Eve of Destruction by 1960’s songwriter P. F. Sloan.
The 2013 Tony Awards opening number, written by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, won an Emmy. And has yet to be stopped by any awards show song ever.
The fabulous Matildas awed
And nearly killed us so they got a special Tony of their own,
Which strikes at the achilles of the jaded former Billys.
They win Tonys but get fired when they’re grown.
Now here’s the kids from Christmas Story, Annie and her orphans
So many child actors high on Red Bull and endorphins.
They barely come up to your knees.
But God they’re singing like MVPs.
And they’re the reason this whole season seems to look like Chuck. E. Cheese and jeez it’s bigger.
That’s right it’s bigger.
Is there a Tony Day Care where all of you go?
You’re getting bigger.
Tonight it’s bigger.
So do your parents set aside your Broadway dough?
When I played Doogie… never mind on with the show.
Sheryl Crow, on the other hand, opens one of her songs by rhyming “RV” with “TV” before ending it by rhyming “on” with “on”. “Got my 45 on / So I can rock on.”
Another vote for Tom Lehrer:
As the judge remarked the day that he
Sentenced my aunt Hortense,
To be smut,
It must be ut-
Terly without redeeming social importance.
And no mention of Cole Porter?
In shallow shoals English soles do it
Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it
Not forgetting Noel Coward’s update:
“They’ll say ‘Aw, Topsy’ / at my auuu-topsy…”
Next time I fall in love
I’ll know better what to do
Next time I fall in love
Ooh, ooh, ooh