Strive diligently
I‘ve heard it suggested that Gilbert was poking fun at himself in Princess Ida with the lines
These things I treat the same
I quite forget their name
They turn one’s legs
To cribbage pegs
Their aid I thus disclaim
…because he couldn’t come up with a good rhyme for “greaves.”
Seasons in the Sun:
We had joy we had fun
we had seasons in the sun
but the stars we could reach
were just starfish on the beach.
First rhyme- trite but not terrible. Second rhyme earns it a place on Satan’s playlist.
The story I’ve heard is that they wanted to do different material, but the record label insisted they do a follow-up to “Happy Together” that was in the same vein. So they purposely made “Eleanor” the sappiest piece of dreck they could write. Wiki confirms this:
Howard Kaylan later said:
> Elenore was a parody of “Happy Together.” It was never intended to be a straight-forward song. It was meant as an anti-love letter to White Whale Records, who were constantly on our backs to bring them another “Happy Together.” So I gave them a very skewed version. Not only with the chords changed, but with all these bizarre words. It was my feeling that they would listen to how strange and stupid the song was and leave us alone. But they didn’t get the joke. They thought it sounded good. Truthfully, though, the production on “Elenore” WAS so damn good. Lyrically or not, the sound of the thing was so positive that it worked. It certainly surprised me.
Looks like these posts about “Elenore” have so far failed to mention that the rhyme they used for “et cetera” is “better.”
Just trying to stay with the OP’s intent…
Pronounced “betta.”
I don’t think that’s a bad rhyme at all. It doesn’t jump out; it’s not a perfect rhyme (which I prefer); and those two words are also separated by four lines of lyrics, so even if you think “et cetera” and “bettah” are for some reason qualitatively “bad,” you don’t notice it as they’re spaced out far enough.
I just re-listened to it, and I have no idea why he would have thought this. First, what “bizarre words”? “Groovy”? “Swell”? That’s about as “bizarre” as it gets. He’s right – the production on that is wonderful, if not a little too stereo separated for modern tastes. But the song itself is solid pop songwriting; it’s got a great, singable hook; there’s nothing in the lyrics I see that I even find remotely all that weird. If that’s his best effort to piss off the record company, he really ain’t trying. I mean, see Lou Reed. And it’s pop music. Who the heck cares about the lyrics as long as you can sing and tap your toes to it? (Yes, there are some who care, but many more who don’t.)
Now I have to go back for a Turtles deep dive. I’ve forgotten how good their singles were. Let’s see if the albums hold up. (Oh, I see there are mono mixes available, too.)
How about something a bit more treaclier-than-thou, like:
Goodbye my friend, it’s hard to die
With all the birdies singing in the sky
At least Greg Lake isn’t being the sightest bit pompous (or is he just being “deep”?) when going:
I’ve seen all the earth
Witnessed my birth
Cried at the sight of a man
And still I don’t know who I AM!
As someone who’s been singing along with Terry since we were nine or ten I was eleven,
When all the birds are singing in the sky
There’s a song by Blessid Union of Souls called Hey, Leonardo (She Likes Me for Me) that contains this little bit that bugs the shit out of me:
She likes me for me
Not because I hang with Leonardo
Or that guy who played in “Fargo”
I think his name is Steve
It’s not the rhyme that bothers me; it’s the “I hang with the guy from ‘Fargo’ but I’m not real sure what his name is, but I think it’s Steve.”
It’s a stupid line. You hang out with the guy, but you’re not sure what his name is?
Jerry Jeff Walker fell prey:
Picture of my face
On the window pane
Is it tears I see or is it rain?
Little Bird
Jimmy Buffett has to use the last rhyme for sailor at the end of this song:
I’m just a son of a son, son of a son
Son of a son of a sailor
The sea’s in my veins, my tradition remains
I’m just glad I don’t live in a trailer
I always wonder how many of the people in his audience do live in a trailer.
Talk about lame or lazy lyrics. Has anyone ever rhymed the word change with anything but rearrange?
Strange?
Range?
Mange?
Who? What song? It sure would be a refreshing change. 
post withdrawn
There’s one that’s grated on me for sixty years…
Back in the not-much-choice days of listening to the few radio stations we’d get in the car, I’d just shut the music off as soon as anyone rhymed walk and talk.
"We were walking,
And we were talking,
The way-ay-ayyy that lovers do-oo-ooh."
(The Fortunes)
“Everybody’s talkin’ ‘bout a new way of walkin’…”
(Lots of bands, from Jan & Dean to Dr. Hook)
"Fast-talking, slow-walking…
good-looking Mohair Sam"
(Charlie Rich)
I’ll admit I sometimes even turned off great songs like…
"I like the way you walk,
I like the way you talk,
Susie-Q!"
(Creedence)
“Walk like a man, talk like a man…”
(Frankie Valli)
"Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk…"
(Bee Gees)
“Wellll, I’ve been out walking…
I don’t do much talking…
These Days.”
(Gregg Allman arrangement of
Jackson Browne’s lazy rhyme)
"We better get walkin’,
We’re wastin’ time talkin’…"
(Todd Rundgren)
"Never was one to talk
Said it with a rebel walk."
(Ian McLagen)
“Walk that walk, talk that talk.”
(John Lee Hooker)
.
John Lennon on Elvis’s “Devil in Disguise”:
I don’t like this and I hate songs with ‘walk’ and ‘talk’ in it - you know, those lyrics. ‘She walks, she talks.’ I don’t like that… It’s awful. Poor ol’ Elvis.
Don’t forget Fats Domino:
I’m walkin’, yes indeed
And I’m talkin’ about you and me
I’m hopin’ that you’ll come back to me, yeah
Welp, there’s my earworm for the day, sparked by rearrange.
The time to rise has been engaged
You’re better best to rearrange
I’m talkin’ here to me alone
I listen to the finest worksong
My lyrics pet peeve is ‘fire’ and ‘desire.’ Giving you the sideeye, Bruce.