# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/81 "2006-06-12T17:14:21Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > Mony Mony! > > Has there ever in the history of the world been a girl named Mony? > > Or Sloopy? In Germany, Mony is a common short-form of Monika (which in German is pronounced mo-nee-kah). They might spell it Moni though. It was my cousin’s name (RIP); she was a sweetheart who died way too young (at age 20). ---
**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, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/82 "2006-06-12T17:57:48Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Note to Loretta Lynn: “Hard” and “tired” do not rhyme. Of course they do, when she sings them. Your pronunciation is not superior to hers. ---
**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, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/83 "2006-06-12T19:42:18Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Of course they do, when she sings them. Your pronunciation is not superior to hers. Standard pronunciation is superior. Nobody goes to a speech therapy to learn how to speak so “caint” and “paint” will rhyme. ---
**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, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/84 "2006-06-12T20:00:20Z")
Of course that would be “go to speech therapy”. Perhaps I should go to typing therapy. ---
**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, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/85 "2006-06-12T20:31:57Z")
I’m not aware of anyone who goes to speech therapy to lose a Southern accent. The kid’s parents should be screaming holy hell if that is the case. People try to lose their accent to avoid being thought of as stupid, but that’s only because ignorant people think southerners are stupid. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/86 "2006-06-12T20:32:14Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > And I keep my Christmas lights **on > On** my front porch all year long This makes sense, at least to me. The first “on” represents the fact that he leaves his lights on all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/87 "2006-06-12T20:56:03Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > My faves, **Steely Dan** have produced masterful lyrics but occassionally settle for something-less-than-brilliant at times. > > On Aja, “surely” appears on two separate songs (\*Black Cow’s \* “surely will screen out the sorrow” and then on _Home at Last_ with “danger on the rocks has surely passed”). While I have no problem with their use of “surely” as used in the two songs above, _Steely Dan’s_ music often contains feats of rhetorical legerdemain. My favorite is this line from from _Do It Again_: “Now you swear 'n kick’n beg us (pronounced ‘baig’ us) that you’re not a gambling man, then you find you’re back in Vegas with a handle in your hand.” As for _Rhiannon_, the “fine skylark” reference never bothered me because of the earlier reference that “she rules her life like a bird in flight”; the thing that _has_ always bugged the crap out of me about this song though, is that the thought expressed in the next line – “and when the sky is starless…” – is never followed up on. It just lies there like a dead fish while the chorus returns to end the song, as shown by this from _[fleetwoodmac.net](http://fleetwoodmac.net):_ \*"She is like a cat in the dark And then she is the darkness She rules her life like a fine skylark- **And when the sky is starless** - All your life you’ve never seen- A woman - taken by the wind Would you stay if she promised you heaven Will you ever win… Dreams unwind. Love’s a state of mind."\* ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/88 "2006-06-12T21:44:10Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Of course they do, when she sings them. Your pronunciation is not superior to hers. I hate to ask, but does she sing “tard” for tired, or “hired” for hard. (I hope it’s the latter). ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/89 "2006-06-12T22:03:51Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Yes, a toad. It’s known as a “similie.” :rolleyes: > > A pretty good one, too. Very evocative and if it bothers the literal-minded, that’s their problem. :rolleyes: Actually, it’s a “simile”, and it’s certainly not a good one in my opinion. The entire line doesn’t make much sense; why is his brain “squirming”? What’s it mean for a brain to squirm? And since when are toads particularly squirmy? Sure, the line is interpretable, but it’s not necessary - it’s only there to make the tune work; there would be no need to specify anything about his brain “squirming” (and seriously, toads squirm? They’re like the last thing I would think of if I was thinking about squirmy animals) except that it’s necessary for the scansion to work. The Doors work a _lot_ better if you don’t listen too closely to the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![luvtinayothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@luvtinayothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luvtinayothers)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/90 "2006-06-13T10:31:18Z")
This line from Billy Joel’s Piano Man has always bothered me: _And he’s talkin’ with Davy who’s still in the navy_ ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/91 "2006-06-13T12:53:04Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > :… (and seriously, toads squirm? They’re like the last thing I would think of if I was thinking about squirmy animals) Oh come on. Surely you remember the stage of boyhood when you were bound to pick up and manhandle every toad that came into your field of vision? When you do, they squirm like, well, toads. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/92 "2006-06-13T14:40:55Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Don’t “please” me, biffo. People have been hearing “in”, “in” and “in” since the firkin thing first came out, and commenting on it. As to “if” and “say”, they may be self-evidently necessary that way in order for the durn thing to make sense, but that’s not evidence that they _were_ written that way… like the parsecs thing. People have been hearing a lot of things since any number of songs have come out, that doesn’t mean that they heard it correctly. I loved “Live and Let Die” when it came out, I anyways heard it as If, in, livin’… ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/93 "2006-06-13T14:56:40Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Oh come on. Surely you remember the stage of boyhood when you were bound to pick up and manhandle every toad that came into your field of vision? When you do, they squirm like, well, toads. I mostly remember them peeing like toads. _There’s a killer on the road His brain is whizzing like a toad_ ---
**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 13, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/94 "2006-06-13T15:01:00Z")
Not pissing me off, but I always rather enjoyed Freddy Mercury’s last lines in One Vision. Just gimme gimme gimme gimme Fried chicken ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/95 "2006-06-13T15:04:27Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > I mostly remember them peeing like toads. > > _There’s a killer on the road > His brain is whizzing like a toad_ I hate it when I laugh out loud at work and someone asks me what I’m laughing at. I can never tell them the truth. 🙂 ---
**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 14, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/96 "2006-06-14T19:37:58Z")
They played Paul Mc’s version of “Live and Let Die” on the radio this morning, it clearly had the words ‘but **if** this …’ and not ‘but **in** this …’ I wonder if the Live and Let die soundtrack is less clearly ennunciated? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/97 "2006-06-14T19:56:06Z")
I know **The Streets** have been mentioned, but seriously, this thread was invented for them. Mike Skinner may well be a songwriting genius (ahem) but his lyrics have to be some of the clumsiest in the history of recorded music. A brief selection, if I may: From _Dry Your Eyes_ > [@](#): > > In one single moment your whole life can turn 'round > I stand there for a minute starin’ straight into the ground > Lookin’ to the left slightly, then lookin’ back down > World feels like it’s caved in – proper sorry frown > Please let me show you \*\*how it could only just be for us \*\* \<------ WTF?? > I can change and I can grow or we could adjust From _When You Wasn’t Famous_ > [@](#): > > When you’re a famous boy, it \*\*gets \*\*really easy to \*\*get \*\*girls, > it’s all so easy you **get** a bit spoilt. > But, when you try to pull a girl, who is **also famous too** , > it feels just like when you wasn’t famous. And possibly the worst of the lot, from _Fit But You Know It_: > [@](#): > > But there’s just one little thing that’s really really, > Really really annoying me about you, you see, > Yeah yeah like I said you are really fit > But my gosh don’t you just know it ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/98 "2006-06-14T19:58:12Z")
The vast majority of rap songs have multiple instances of deliberately mispronounced words, extended syllables, filer and etc. In one argument over the value of rap (I certainly accept it as music but am not a fan) a person once told me that this was “syncopating” and should be placed in the same category as jazz, but I countered then and hold now that it fits Robert Frost’s criticism of free verse poetry; “playing tennis with the net down.” As much as I like large parts of his work, mainly in the first several years, Bob Dylan has gotten away with a lot of this crapola over the decades too. The Turtles’ self-parody shouldn’t piss anyone off, they were _trying_ to write a trite lyric. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/99 "2006-06-14T20:08:21Z")
Oh, and I can’t believe no one’s mentioned > [@](#): > > I’ve got a girl named Boney Moronie > She’s as skinny as a stick of macaroni… If you say so 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-piss-you-off-by-adding-words-to-get-meter-or-using-made-up-names-to-rhyme/359901/100 "2006-06-14T20:12:12Z")
> [@](#): > > And then there’s the classic “A Horse with No Name” by America : > > 'Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain. > > “Ain’t” is fine. “Give you no pain,” sure, I’ve heard “no” replaced with “any” plenty of times in the South. But I have never, ever heard a conversation where someone used the double prepositions “for to.” I know others have mentioned that “for to” isn’t an unknown word combination, but more generally, as I believe I’ve mentioned on this board before, that line exhibits perfectly ordinary Anglo-Saxon grammar, and could have come straight from Middle English. It’s not standard English, of course, but it’s not idiocy, either. Compare Chaucer’s lines “And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes” and “The hooly blisful martir for to seke” (to pick only the first two examples from the Prologue of _The Canterbury Tales_). [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=4) [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=6)