How about The Red Hot Chili Peppers rhyming “three of these” and “Pleiades” in their song “Can’t Stop”? I usually appreciate 3 syllable rhymes, but that just seems like the most contrived rhyme ever. Clever or contrived?
How is that forced? “Sweet” and “meat” rhyme.
Cup of meat??
That’s what the recipe called for.
I remember hearing a dumb song where “beat too much” was supposed to rhyme with “cover up”.
Don’t knock it till ya try it
I can’t even think of a single song off the top of my head that uses it. I’m sure there are plenty of obvious examples, but none come to me. (Wait – School Days, by Chuck Berry just came to mind. Then … nothing.) Love as a subject comes up orders of magnitude more often in lyrics than school or rules. I agree, it’s a trite rhyme, though.
It’s a brilliant line, turning a cliche on its head and surprising the listener. One of the many reasons why Dylan’s songwriting is acclaimed.
Not everything in the world is describing a literal object.
Yes, I came here to post these, which are both terrible, but I’ll add one, from Chuck Berry, Rock and Roll Music:
You must admit they have a rockin’ band
Man, they were blowing like a hurricane
And, he pronounces hurricane like hurr-i-can. Even if that’s how hurricane were pronounced, “can” doesn’t rhyme with “band”. It’s just awful.
Oh, yeah, I gotta agree with “Abracadabra/reach out and grab ya.” Just sounds so terribly forced, and for no good reason. At least band/hurricane is unexepected and has reasonable imagery (and I like it on the page – but not sung with the forced -“can” altered pronunciation–unless it’s dialectal, or something.) For me, “can/band” is a cromulent rhyme. It’s the tortured pronunciation to make it fit that couplet that grates.
Way overused: “self” and “shelf.” No one in real life uses the expression “up on the shelf” to describe being neglected, but songwriters use it all the time because they can’t think of another word that rhymes with “self.”
Awful and forced? “Centerfold”:
Take your car, yes we will
We’ll take your car and drive it
We’ll take it to a motel room
And take 'em off in private
The first two lines are just stupid, all so they could rhyme something with “private.”
Does anyone ever feel blue outside of song lyrics?
Or, are you really true?
Walk with me / talk with me.
I walk into an empty room
and suddenly my heart goes boom.
NO !
Roses are red and violets are purple
Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple
Roger Miller/Dang Me
Man, I remember watching this on Turkey Television.
That would be Springsteen’s Born in the USA. The end of the second line is just coverin’ up, if that makes any difference.
A masters take on the subject: Harry Nilsson/ How To Write A Song
In “This Kind of Music” Jonathan Richman unleashes this classic:
“That guy’s playing drums on the card ta-bile
I left my guitar in the laundry pile.”
He rhymes “table” with “pile” but he does it so up-front and gleefully that I can’t help but give it a pass.