Lynnyrd Skynnyrd, those mavens of literacy, in their song, “Gimme Three Steps”, sing,
Wait a minute mister!
I didn't even kiss her!
The rhyme they missed was, “I never even kissed her!”
This is from a couple of pages back but I didn’t see anybody clarifying the Hathaway line in “Classic” and I was surprised to find that nobody here had apparently heard of A Song For You. Or am I being whooshed? It’s the only Hathaway song I can name and I thought it was one of his biggest hits.
Besides, it has the lyric “I’ve made some bad rhymes” which is appropriate for this thread.
Somebody already cited the one that I hate most which is Kid Rock rhyming “things” with “things” because it’s such a unique word with no possible other rhymes.
My favorite lyric of all time is from Eddie Money’s Take Me Home Tonight:
I laugh every time I hear it. Thanks for the elucidation, Eddie!
Actually I think this can be a very effective device in pop music if used appropriately. Two examples I can think of are in Maurice Williams’ “Stay” (“Won’t you press your sweet sweet lips to mi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-ine…”) and the Skyliners’ “Since I Don’t Have You” (“I,I,I-I-I,I,I-I-I don’t have anything…”).
(It’s interesting that both of those examples use nine syllables. Maybe nine is the upper allowable limit for melismatic syllables in a composition?)
This certainly fits the
“Like Hathaway
write a song for you” lyric
And you have solved it. Though Hathaway did not write the song and was one of many singers to cover it, it was probably his “signature song.” I remember some American idol contestants doing that and it being referred to as a “Donny hathaway” song.
Someone else asked what MKTO stood for.
I had never heard of them until today, but it’s obviously their initials.
The biggest revelation in this thread for me was the fact that the little kid from “Lost” is in a musical duo with hit songs.
“God Bless America”
To the oceans, white with foam…
God bless America, my home sweet home.
You can tell they were trying to come up with something that rhymes with “home”.
Then the problem with the triple rhyme.
“Eve of Destruction”
Your old enough to kill, but not for votin…
You dont believe in war, but whats that gun your totin…
Even the Jordan river has… bodies floatin…
This video about modern rhyming techniques may be helpful.
I love John Fogerty and think he’s probably one of the five or six best songwriters in American rock history, but that kind of inaccuracy is what happens when you’re from Northern California and spend a whole career writing songs about the South. :smack:
John Fogerty: the Stephen Foster of rock and roll.
That song deserves to burn in hell for all eternity already, just for being a rewrite of “Sweet Home Alabama” that accidentally steals the wrong piano hook. Seriously, listen to it and it’s the piano riff from “Werewolves of London” stuck on top of the chord progression from “Sweet Home Alabama,” which it references lyrically.
He admited it’s a mashup of “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Werewolves of London” as soon as he made it, so at least he isn’t trying to fool anybody.
I’m glad he admits it. 
Still an awful song on several levels, though. :smack:
But as mentioned earlier, John Fogerty didn’t write that song. “Cotton Fields” was written by Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, who was from Louisiana!
Consider me enlightened. I never thought there were any other lyrics besides:
“You can ring my bell. Ring my Bell. Ring a ling!”
I always thought he was addressing her as “my love.” Vis:
“It’s such a feeling that, my love, I can’t hide.”
“Kodachrome” by Simon and Garfunckel.
Ir originally was supposed to be called “Going Home” but another song had that title so they just for a joke, switched it to “Kodachrome” and barely changed the rest of the lyrics and it worked out great.
Just Simon. “Kodachrome” came out in 1973, three years after the breakup.
(A few weeks ago, the local “Oldies”* station made the same mistake. You’d think they’d know.)
*Oldies stations are supposed to play the music my mother grew up with, not the music I grew up with. Clearly their programming director needs a history lesson.