# Songs with non-rhyming lyrics
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** music
**Created:** [June 29, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272 "2021-06-29T19:16:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/1 "2021-06-29T19:16:55Z")
Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do
The chorus rhymes, but the verses do not.
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
Some of it rhymes, most of it doesn’t, and the parts that do seem more like coincidence than intentional.
Pearl Jam - Jeremy
If memory serves, nothing in this song rhymes.
Radiohead - Karma Police
There aren’t really that many lyrics in this song as most of them are just repeated. Two of the lines kind of
rhyme ("…girl" → “…ill”), but really only because of the way they are sung.
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
The pre-chorus and chorus rhyme, but the verses are really just a spoken word story.
Ras Kass - The Nature of the Threat
Some of it rhymes, some of it doesn’t, but that fact that _any_ of it doesn’t rhyme is fairly unique in the hip-hop genre.
Others?
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/2 "2021-06-29T19:28:20Z")
Robbie Robertson - Somewhere Down the Crazy River
It’s another mostly-spoken word story (with one rhyming bit).
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/3 "2021-06-29T20:17:21Z")
[Robert Wyatt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wyatt) and [Soft Machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_Machine) stopped writing rhyming lyrics by their second album (I’m not sure about their first). Wyatt continued throughout his songwriting career to write songs without rhyming.
And, of course “Frank Mills” from _Hair._
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/4 "2021-06-29T20:31:11Z")
The first one that came to mind when I saw the thread title was ‘Tom’s Diner’ by Suzanne Vega.
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### Author:  [@ALOHA\_HATER](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ALOHA_HATER)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/5 "2021-06-29T20:45:25Z")
Tequila
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/6 "2021-06-29T20:52:04Z")
I don’t feel like going through my music list right now, but a large chunk of the music I listen to does not use end rhyme. Since you mentioned Pearl Jam, I don’t think most of their songs rhyme.
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### Author:  [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/7 "2021-06-29T21:00:24Z")
**Crazy Ex-Girlfriend** has a few: “Let’s Have Intercourse,” “I’m in a Sexy French Depression,” etc…
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### Author:  [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/8 "2021-06-29T21:17:26Z")
A whole bunch of early Genesis songs have little to no lyrics that rhyme.
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### Author:  [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/9 "2021-06-29T21:24:05Z")
“Tomorrow Never Knows” by the Beatles repeats phrases but otherwise doesn’t rhyme.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/10 "2021-06-29T22:47:50Z")
The lyrics to “America,” by Simon and Garfulnkel, don’t rhyme.
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/11 "2021-06-29T22:48:11Z")
## Nothing Rhymed - Gilbert O’Sullivan
_If I give up the seat I’ve been saving_
_To some elderly lady or man_
_Am I being a good boy?_
_Am I your pride and joy?_
_Mother please if you think say I am_
_And if while in the course of my duty_
_I perform an unfortunate take_
_Would you punish me so_
_Unbelievably so_
_Never again will I make that mistake_
_This feeling inside me could never deny me_
_The right to be wrong if I choose_
_And this pleasure I get_
_From say winning a bet_
_Is to lose_
_When I’m drinking my Bonaparte Shandy_
_Eating more than enough apple pies_
_Will I glance at my screen_
_And see real human beings_
_Starve to death right in front of my eyes_
_Nothing old, nothing new, nothing ventured_
_Nothing gained, nothing still-born or lost_
_Nothing further than proof, nothing wilder than youth_
_Nothing older than time, nothing sweeter than wine_
_Nothing physically recklessly, hopelessly blind_
_Nothing I couldn’t say_
_Nothing why 'cos today_
_Nothing rhymed_
_This feeling inside me could never deny me_
_The right to be wrong if I choose_
_And this pleasure I get_
_From say winning a bet_
_Is to lose_
_Nothing good, nothing bad, nothing ventured_
_Nothing gained, nothing still-born or lost_
_Nothing further than proof, nothing wilder than youth_
_Nothing older than time, nothing sweeter than wine_
_Nothing physically recklessly, hopelessly blind_
_Nothing I couldn’t say_
_Nothing why 'cos today_
_Nothing rhymed_
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### Author:  [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/12 "2021-06-30T06:54:18Z")
First thing that popped into my head:
_This song’s got nothin’ to say
But I’m recording it anyway
I know if I put my mind to it
I know I could find a good rhyme here_
Weird Al
**This Song Is Just Six Words Long**
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### Author:  [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/13 "2021-06-30T07:16:40Z")
Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker
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### Author:  [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/14 "2021-06-30T07:20:32Z")
Fisher-Z [“So Long”](https://www.google.com/search?q=fischer-z+so+long+lyrics&rlz=1C1GCEB_enAU913AU913&oq=Fisher-Z&aqs=chrome.5.69i57j46i10l3j0i10l2j46i10l3.11605j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)
Their intent is clear from the opening couplet:
> “When I read your letter I couldn’t believe that you’d gone
> I dialed your number but no one answered the phone.”
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### Author:  [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/15 "2021-06-30T07:36:15Z")
Amazing successive posts this morning:
[Songs with non-rhyming lyrics](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/15)
[Insect stings](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insect-stings/945294/8)
There was an Old Man of St. Bees
Who was stung in the arm by a wasp.
When asked, “Does it hurt?”
He replied, “No, it doesn’t,
But I’m so glad it wasn’t a hornet.”
_W S Gilbert_
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### Author:  [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/16 "2021-06-30T10:15:55Z")
Something to Believe In by Poison. There are a few rhymes, but mostly not.
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### Author:  [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/17 "2021-06-30T11:23:12Z")
You have a number of songs like Oscar Brand’s [A Clean Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-K-bHa3f4g), which has two rhyming lines at the very end. You are expecting a rhyme (often an unprintable word) which doesn’t happen.
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/18 "2021-06-30T12:09:00Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#):
>
> Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker
I was listening to my copy of Best of John Lee Hooker yesterday when I first opened this thread, and thought that a lot of his songs would fit. He does a lot of that half-singing, half-talking thing, and often sounds like he’s ad-libbing the lyrics. One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer is another example.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/19 "2021-06-30T12:15:12Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#):
>
> You have a number of songs like Oscar Brand’s [A Clean Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-K-bHa3f4g), which has two rhyming lines at the very end. You are expecting a rhyme (often an unprintable word) which doesn’t happen.
Benny Ball’s “Shaving Creme” is similar.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ffkDf0ol4)
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-non-rhyming-lyrics/945272/20 "2021-06-30T12:43:08Z")
“A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”, Bob Dylan.
(Plenty of Dylan songs, actually, but that’s the first one that came to mind).
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