# Worst lyric rhymes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 1, 2021, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876 "2021-09-01T04:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/141 "2021-09-11T19:47:40Z")
Chuck Berry, 1972 live recording of **Reeling and Rocking** (quoting this from memory) _"I looked at my watch, it was a little past six_ _Man I jumped back like a cement mixer"_ and _"I looked at my watch and it was straight up twelve_ _Man we started diggin’ like an old steam shevel"_ (“shevel” is what it sounds like to me) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/142 "2021-09-12T16:55:00Z")
To borrow from another thread…Yeah - I’m hearing that whoosh (no - not of non-comprehension) of that oversized mallet-head, swinging ominously through the air, soon to land on something. And that something would be Bob Welch’s saccharine-beyond-reason “Sentimental Lady”, featuring this perfectly normal rhyme: _Fourteen joys and a will to be merry_ _And all of the things that we say are very_ Extra pukey is that the following lyrics are not, at all, any sort of logical continuation from “very”, even. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/143 "2021-09-12T17:46:18Z")
I remember it as “with,” and the commercials I found it sounds like “with” to me. You can still find it a bad rhyme. (I think it’s fine.) ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/144 "2021-09-12T19:58:42Z")
The kid had something of a Jersey Mob accent to force the rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/145 "2021-09-12T20:07:36Z")
I can’t decide if these ones are stupid, clever, or clever because they’re stupid. Queen, I’m In Love With My Car: _When I’m holding your wheel All I hear is your gear_ and _With my hand on your grease gun Oh, it’s like a disease, son_ ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/146 "2021-09-13T21:49:43Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > As the big freighters go > it was bigger than most I don’t think Gordon Lightfoot was trying to rhyme “go” and “most”; “_As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most_” was one line in the second verse. Some lines of _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_ did have internal rhyme: “_The ship was the pride of the American side_”, “_Old Michigan steams, like a young man’s dreams_”. But not all of them. Anyway, I’m willing to give Gordon some slack, for the sake of the beautiful rhyme in the fifth verse, that punches home the tragedy: “_They might have split up, or they might have capsized They may have drove deep and took water. And all that remains, are the faces and the names Of the wives, and the sons, and the daughters_.” ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/147 "2021-09-13T22:07:58Z")
Okay, how ‘bout rhyming ‘Wisconsin’ with ‘well-seasoned’? Or ‘Cleveland’ with ‘feelin’’? ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/148 "2021-09-14T00:25:06Z")
Not sure there was intent to rhyme - much of the song seemed to me to be in free verse. The song flows, not too worried about the rest 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/149 "2021-09-14T00:46:23Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Okay, how ‘bout rhyming ‘Wisconsin’ with ‘well-seasoned’? Or ‘Cleveland’ with ‘feelin’’? Slant rhymes. Nothin’ wrong with 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/150 "2021-09-14T01:14:47Z")
Jethro Tull, _Bungle in the Jungle_: > Down by the waterhole, drunk every Friday > Eating their nuts, saving their raisins for Sunday I don’t think Friday rhymes with Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/151 "2021-09-14T01:46:20Z")
Oh, come now! It’s Arlo Guthrie. He’s being funny. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Anyway, I’m willing to give Gordon some slack, for the sake of the beautiful rhyme in the fifth verse, that punches home the tragedy: This is pretty much totally off topic, but if you enjoy the music of Gordon Lightfoot, @Slow_Moving_Vehicle watch this. Carson McKee has a great voice and it’s a nice cover but wait till the end. He plays it through twice, and the second time… well it was literal LoL for me. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DSkN8EC6EA4/maxresdefault.jpg "Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot Cover)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSkN8EC6EA4) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/152 "2021-09-14T03:46:40Z")
That was funny, yes. But the guy’s own voice is pretty good, too. Thanks for the tip, @Princhester . Joke failed a tiny bit for me, though, because the version of “Early Morning Rain” I’m most familiar with is the Peter Paul and Mary cover. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/153 "2021-09-14T03:54:08Z")
Actually I’ve barely heard Lightfoot doing Early Morning Rain myself, but his vocal style is so distinctive it translates regardless of which particular song. Carson McKee is half of The Other Favorites, the other half being a guitar prodigy by the name of Josh Turner. Basically all their stuff is great. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/154 "2021-09-14T13:17:52Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > “These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard > And there may be many others but they haven’t been discovered.” That rhymes perfectly. In Boston. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/155 "2021-09-15T01:07:44Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Examples escape me (I know some exist!) of rhymes with “do you know what I **mean-a**.” Still eluding me, but in the ball-park, there’s _And still it begins-uh_ _With needles and pins-uh_ 😐 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/156 "2021-09-15T07:40:43Z")
Except that rhymes perfectly, without the “uh” ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/157 "2021-09-15T13:49:58Z")
Meh - whatever legitmacy there may to the rhyme is brutally, horrendously, and _viley_ 😱 quashed by the “uh’s”. Egregious blasphemy, I say. ---
**Author:** ![ryan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3da27b/32.png) [@ryan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryan1)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/158 "2021-09-23T16:32:41Z")
Bob Dylan famously thought they were singing “I get high” instead of “I can’t hide,” so you can always pretend those are the lyrics! ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/159 "2021-09-23T16:38:59Z")
Ha, I think I remember that story-- when Dylan and the Beatles first met, he sparked one up, hit it and passed it to one of the Beatles, who were all “what’s this then? Eh, what? Is that one of those ‘Jazz cigarattes’?” Dylan, surprised, said he thought they already smoked the herb, because he mistook that line as “I get high”. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876/160 "2021-09-23T17:46:25Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “Actor all alone” also makes sense to me, as what good is an actor without an audience? Sorry to drag this back in, ha ha, but I hadn’t checked back into this thread. Anyway, yeah that was my take (before being corrected). It makes sense - dog without a bone, actor without an audience. > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > My apologies to Lucas\_Jackson. I was under a tremendous amount of stress yesterday and the day before, I was prickly, not quite myself, and shouldn’t have been posting online No worries my good man. It’s all good. I probably snarked back a bit myself. 😉 Appreciate your posting about the handwritten lyrics. I was able to google and find copy online. I still think “out alone” makes more sense! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-lyric-rhymes/949876.md?page=9)