Not the same thing, though.
The Master speaks on the subject.
That’s not the one I heard.
I seem to recall watching an interview during which Phil Collins explained the word’s origin.
When the song was still in its rough stages and lyrics were still being worked out, Phil said he would sing the made-up word "Sussudio"and figured he would add in a name or word that fit the meter later down the road.
Well he never could come up with an actual name and had gotten used to singing it with the made-up word so, Su-su-sussudio it remained.
I wonder if Wang Chung had a similar experience whilst writing “Every body Wang Chung tonight.”
I don’t think this is exactly what we’re talking about, but I can’t let an “annoying words in songs” thread pass by without mentioning Eve 6’s Inside Out
“I would swallow my pride , I would choke on the rhind
**but the lack thereof ** would leave me empty inside…”
Who the hell says the lack thereof in casual conversation? I actually like this song quite a bit, but this line makes me giggle every time.
Mony Mony!
Has there ever in the history of the world been a girl named Mony?
Or Sloopy?
“Back That Ass Up”
I’m not going to bother rhyming any lines at all, I’ll just say “yeah” at the ene of every single one. WTF?
I’m sure I was not the only kid in the '60s who thought that song was about Snoopy.
Now that’s the one I heard as well, which is why I called BS on the horse name story that is on the web info pages these days.
Thank you. I’ve been trying to get Penn Jilette to acknowledge this for a while now…
Am I the only person who prefers that? Add the extra word - I want it to rhyme and scan.
There’s a song out now that people (for some reason) love that has the line of words “muster every ounce of confidence I have” crammed into a line of music where it doesn’t fit (and I don’t think it rhymes, either). And it just sounds stupid. Like he didn’t finish writing the song or couldn’t come up with any words or something.
Chop it into two lines and find a word that rhymes or don’t sing it.
Everyone can have a bad day. Take Steve Miller.
Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas
You know he knows just exactly what the facts is
He ain’t gonna let those two escape justice
He makes his livin’ off of the peoples taxes
Madonna’s Like A Prayer always annoyed me (and not because of any blasphemous overtones in the video, like everybody else got their panties in a twist over – I don’t do videos) simply because the line “Whan I call your name it’s like a little prayer” feels like the “little” is there purely for scansion.
Otherwise, the song title would have been “Like a Little Prayer”.
I know, it makes no sense. De gustibus, and all that rot…
Alanis Morisette, anyone?
I don’t think there’s a single one of her songs where she hasn’t stretched a word out to four times its normal number of syllables just to make it fit, or added a half dozen words in breathless succession, trying to squash them into the meter.
This lyric from Yes always bothered me…
*cause its time, its time in time
With your time and its news is captured
For the queen to use.
*
This line is made fun of by many people including Dave Barry in his book of bad songs. However, I absolutely love it. It’s completely acceptable to have A and C not rhyme as long as B and D go together, and the fact that “taxes” sounds similar to “texas” but is part of the non-rhyming pair of the lyrics rather than the rhyming one is actually quite clever.
That’s the one! I hate “…that’s were they ran into a great big hassel.” Did you write this on a hamburger wrapper on the way to the studio?
Also the Doors: “There’s a killer on the road. His brain is squirming like a toad.”
A TOAD?
Sheesh
It’s not the rhyming of taxes and Texas I hate, it’s “facts is.” Facts ARE! Grrr.
I will add Paula Coles “I don’t Want to Wait”
So open up your morning light,
And say a little prayer for** I**
Prayer for ME! Grrr.
The one line where I wish they’d done something to improve the scansion rather than sing breathlessly to cram all the words in the line is from Africa by Toto:
I just wince and then giggle. It’s too much.
Me too!
There’s a song I hear on the radio every now and then - I think it’s called “Love is what I Got” but I’ve no idea who sings it - and the part that grates on my last nerve is:
Love’s what I got,
Don’t start a ri-OT…
Yep, he rhymes “riot” with “got”. I might forgive him if he was making it up as he was recording it, but did no one look at the lyric sheet and say, “Um, dude, about this line…”
Billy Joel, needing to rhyme “she’s always a woman to me”, helpfully explains that “she can’t be convicted, she’s earned her degree”.
Bill, my wife has earned a couple of degrees, and it’s my understanding that she can nevertheless be convicted of all kinds of stuff. I know you’d used up “see” and “be” and “free”, and I know you were almost finished with the song, but another couple of minutes wouldn’t have killed you.