# Songs that piss you off by adding words to get meter or using made up names to rhyme **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901 "2006-06-08T15:47:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/61 "2006-06-09T20:58:18Z")
Ricky Martin: “She nevers drinks the water makes you order **French** champagne” As opposed to the other kinds of champagne available? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/62 "2006-06-09T21:12:45Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > With respect to the Dixie Chicks song, I’m no farmer, but if my tobacco was burly, I’d expect it was diseased. Maybe that’s why it’s gone now. As **jeffrice** correctly spelled it, the word is [burley.](http://www.burleytobacco.com/) (Yes, I realize you may have been punning, but I offer the link for the benefit of those folks unaware of this particular crop.) In a similar vein (as **xizor** suggests), true [Champagne](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_(beverage)) must come from a specific region of France, even though various sparkling wines from other areas are marketed as “champagne”. **PoorYorick** : The expression [_come for to sing_](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Come+For+to+Sing%22&btnG=Search) is fairly common. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/63 "2006-06-09T21:48:18Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > **PoorYorick** : The expression [_come for to sing_](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Come+For+to+Sing%22&btnG=Search) is fairly common. Forty-nine years and I don’t recall ever hearing it. You learn something new every day. Thanks, **Sternvogel**. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/64 "2006-06-09T22:19:01Z")
> [@America](#): > > Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain. Could this be refering to some code a “one four” or “fourteen”? Does that have any meaning in police call lingo perhapse? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/65 "2006-06-09T23:27:54Z")
I’ve heard “for to” a number of times. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/66 "2006-06-09T23:35:33Z")
Metallica: “Shining with Brightness…” What else would it be shining with? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/67 "2006-06-10T05:35:40Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > And then there’s the classic [“A Horse with No Name”](http://www.accessbackstage.com/america/song/song005.htm) by _America_ Oh come on, if we start discussing America we’ll have to list thr entire catalogue. “Alligator lizards in the air” “Singin and jingin the jango” WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/68 "2006-06-10T07:11:57Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > Mony Mony! > > Has there ever in the history of the world been a girl named Mony? > > Or Sloopy? Or Rama-lama-lama-lama-ding-dong? Or Bar-bar-bar-bar-barbera-Anne? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/69 "2006-06-10T07:18:21Z")
Or Sussudio. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/70 "2006-06-10T12:14:23Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Oh come on, if we start discussing America we’ll have to list thr entire catalogue. > > “Alligator lizards in the air” > “Singin and jingin the jango” > > WTF? According to the site I cited for “A Horse with No Name,” > [@Dewey Bunnell](#): > > I have taken a lot of poetic license in my use of grammar, and I always cringe a little bit at my use of ‘aint’s,’ like ‘ain’t no one for to give you no pain’ in “Horse.” I’ve never actually spoken that way, but I think it conveys a certain honesty when you’re not picking and choosing your words, and you use that kind of colloquialism. Sorry, I was trying to come up with a clever rejoinder, but the phrase “I think it conveys a certain honesty when you’re not picking and choosing your words” about song writing leaves me speechless (oh, the irony). ---
**Author:** ![rinni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rinni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rinni)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/71 "2006-06-10T15:38:49Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > I’m sure I was not the only kid in the '60s who thought that song was about Snoopy. When I heard it as a kid (in the 80’s, mind you), I thought it was “Hang On Stupid”. > [@ululate](#): > > (Meh. How about I pit it for rhyming “Eden” with “Bleedin”?) Oh, heck yes, please do! They played this song every day on the in-store radio at my last job. I cringed in advance for that line. He says “Bleedin’” so clearly, you can almost hear the apostrophe. _Bleedin_\*’\*\*\*. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/72 "2006-06-10T16:17:28Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Ricky Martin: > “She nevers drinks the water > makes you order **French** champagne” > > As opposed to the other kinds of champagne available? Yeah, as opposed to California champagne or New York State champagne or another of the hundred cheaper imitations that use the champagne name without having their grapes grow there. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/73 "2006-06-10T16:50:44Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > And then there’s the classic [“A Horse with No Name”](http://www.accessbackstage.com/america/song/song005.htm) by _America_ : How about the line “There were plants and birds and rocks and things”? _Things_? Well, that’s certainly all-inclusive. They couldn’t have found something else to describe? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/74 "2006-06-10T17:28:54Z")
Re: the Billy Joel song, I always thought the line was “She can’t be convicted, she’s earned her reprieve.” It has the advantage of making sense. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/75 "2006-06-10T18:17:51Z")
The entirety of **Red Neck Woman** sounds like the lyrics and the music don’t quite mesh correctly, but the lines that really grate me are: And I keep my Christmas lights **on On** my front porch all year long ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Logan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Don\_Logan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Logan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/76 "2006-06-10T19:55:46Z")
There are sparkling wines made in the US that say “champagne” on the label? I thought they all said “sparkling wine” or some such. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/77 "2006-06-12T12:18:26Z")
> [@Don Logan](#): > > There are sparkling wines made in the US that say “champagne” on the label? I thought they all said “sparkling wine” or some such. I believe some sparkling wines do have that, but not capitalized. It still is necessary in the song, unless it’s being written from the point of view of a dedicated oenophile. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/78 "2006-06-12T15:07:17Z")
How about lyrics sung in a hillbilly accent to make them rhyme? Here is an excerpt from “Hard Workin’ (no G!) Man” by Brooks and Dunn “I can ride, rope hammer and paint. Do things with my hands that most men can’t” But that doesn’t make sense, you say…that doesn’t rhyme at all! Oh yes it does. Because when Ronnie Dunn regales us with his accent, “can’t” becomes “caint”…which rhymes rather neatly with “paint”. This is one of those “I may not be educated, but I’m a manly man, dammit” songs that country artists put out as self esteem aids to their target audiences…but that’s a different subject. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/79 "2006-06-12T16:19:58Z")
System of a Down’s “Lonely Day” features the oft-repeated line “The most loneliest day of my life”, and it drives me absolutely bonkers every time I hear it. Not only does it come across as poor grammar, but to match the meter the word “most” is completely unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/80 "2006-06-12T17:02:41Z")
Note to Loretta Lynn: “Hard” and “tired” do not rhyme. And any song that rhymes “world” with “(un)furled” is annoying. The rhyme is overused and becoming a cliche. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901.md?page=5)