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Songs That Don't Necessarily Rhyme


Steel2Velvet

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I just posted a poem I wrote about rhyming and non-rhyming poems and realized that like poetry, not all song lyrics carry an obvious rhyming pattern. Care to share a few songs that come to mind that do not have a traditional rhyme scheme ... or ... no rhyme at all.

First song of this nature that comes to my mind is "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel

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Hmm, how about this one from Joanna Newsom. I don't know what you would call this "rhyme" sceheme", but it doesn't seem to follow any traditional structure. I shall be back with more :) Good topic!

"En Gallop"

This place is damp and ghostly

I am already gone.

And the halls were lined with the disembodied

and dustly wings, which fell from flesh

gasplessly.

And I go where the trees go,

and I walk from a higher education

(for now, for hire)

And it beats me, but I do not know.

Palaces and stormclouds

the rough, straggly sage, and the smoke

and the way it will all come together

(in quietness, in time)

And you laws of property

you free economy

you unending afterthoughts,

you could've told me before -

Never get so attached to a poem

you forget truth that lacks lyricism;

never draw so close to the heat

that you forget that you must eat.

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Maybe this is cheating but:

EIGHT LINE POEM

- Album: Hunky Dory

- Lyrics and music by David Bowie

The tactful cactus by your window

Surveys the prairie of your room

Mobile spins to its collision

Clara puts her head between her paws

They've opened shops down West side

Will all the cacti find a home

But the key to the city

Is in the sun that pins the branches to the sky

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All I Wanna Do

Sheryl Crow

Hit it!

This ain't no disco

It ain't no country club either

This is la!

All I wanna do is have a little fun before I die,

Says the man next to me out of nowhere

It's apropos

Of nothing

He says his name's William but I'm sure,

He's Bill or Billy or Mac or Buddy

And he's plain ugly to me

And I wonder if he's ever had a day of fun in his whole

Life

We are drinking beer at noon on Tuesday

In a bar that faces a giant car wash

The good people of the world are washing their cars

On their lunch break, hosing and scrubbing

As best they can in skirts in suits

They drive their shiny Datsuns and Buicks

Back to the phone company, the record store too

Well, they're nothing like Billy and me, cause

[chorus]

All I wanna do is have some fun

I got a feeling I'm not the only one

All I wanna do is have some fun

I got a feeling I'm not the only one

All I wanna do is have some fun

Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard

I like a good beer buzz early in the morning

And Billy likes to peel the labels

From his bottles of bud

He shreds them on the bar

Then he lights every match in an oversized pack

Letting each one burn down to his thick fingers

Before blowing and cursing them out

And he's watching the bottles of Bud as they spin on

The floor

And a happy couple enters the bar

Dangerously close to one another

The bartender looks up from his want ads

Chorus

Otherwise the bar is ours,

The day and the night and the car wash too

The matches and the buds and the clean and dirty

Cars

The sun and the moon but...

The chorus rhymes, but nothing else.

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The Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care" always annoys me. Roy sings:

I'm so tired of being lonely

I still have some love to give

Won't you tell me that you really care

Why didn't they use "share" instead of "give" ? This puts the Universe out of balance for me whenever I hear it. It's non symmetrical.

:doh:

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Maybe it is just me, but this one has an unusual rhyming pattern (some lines do, others don't)

Foolish games - Jewel

You took your coat off and stood in the rain

You were always crazy like that

I watched from my window

Always felt I was outside looking in on you

You were always the mysterious one with dark eyes and careless hair

You were fashionably sensitive, but too cool to care

Then you stood in my doorway, with nothing to say

Besides some comment on the weather

Well in case you failed to notice, in case you failed to see

This is my heart bleeding before you, this is me down on my knees

These foolish games are tearing me apart

Your thoughtless words are breaking my heart

You're breaking my heart

You were always brilliant in morning

Smoking your cigarettes and talking over coffee

You philosophies on art, Baroque moved you

You loved Mozart and you'd speak of your loved ones

As I clumsily strummed my guitar

You'd teach me of honest things

Things that were daring, things that were clean

Things that knew what an honest dollar did mean

So I hid my soiled hands behind my back

Somewhere along the line I must've gone off track with you

Excuse me, think I've mistaken you for somebody else

Somebody who gave a damn, somebody more like myself

These foolish games are tearing me apart

You're tearing me, tearing me, tearing me apart

Your thoughtless words are breaking my heart

You're breaking my heart

You took off your coat and stood in the rain

You were always crazy like that

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Spread your love - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Spread your love like a fever

And don't you ever come down

Spread your love like a fever

And don't you ever come down

I spread my love like a fever

I ain't ever coming down

She gave me love like a big fire

I only saw it once

She spread her love like a fever

She's bad, but not enough

(I'm so low)

Spread your love like a fever

(I'm so low)

And don't you ever come down

(I'm so low)

Spread your love like a fever

(I'm so low)

And don't you ever come down

I spread my love like a fever

I ain't ever coming down

She spread her love like a big fire

I only saw it once

She gave me love like a sister

She's bad, but not enough

(I'm so low)

Spread your love like a fever

(I'm so low)

And don't you ever come down

(I'm so low)

Spread your love like a fever

(I'm so low)

And don't you ever come down

I spread my love like a fever

I ain't ever coming down

Spread your love like a fever

And don't you ever come down

Spread your love like a fever

And don't you ever come down

Spread your love like a fever

Spread your love like a fever

Spread your love like a fever

Spread your love like a fever

Well, unless you count rhyming 'fever' with 'fever' and 'down' with 'down' in every instance :D

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SUITE: JUDY BLUE EYES

Crosby, Stills & Nash

1) It's getting to the point where I am no fun anymore, I am sorry

Sometimes it hurts so badly I must cry out loud, ‘I am lonely'

I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are, You make it hard

Remember what we've said, and done, and felt about each other, oh babe, have mercy.

Don't let the past, remind us of what we are not now. I am not dreaming.

I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are. And you make it hard

Tearing yourself away from me now, you are free, I am crying.

This does not mean I don't love you, I do, That's forever, yes and for always

I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are, You make it hard

Something inside is telling me that I've got your secret. Are you still listening?

Fear is the lock and laughter the key to your heart and I love you.

I am yours, you are mine, you are what you are. And you make it hard. And you make it hard.

Friday evening, Sunday in the afternoon. What have you got to lose?

Tuesday morning, please be gone I'm tired of you.

What have you got to lose?

Can I tell it like it is. Listen to me baby

It's my heart that's a suffering and that's what I have to lose.

I've got an answer. I'm going to fly away

What have I got to lose?

Will you come see me. Thursdays and Saturdays?

What have you got to lose.

Chestnut brown canary, ruby throated sparrow,

Sing a song, don't be long. Thrill me to the marrow.

Voices of the angels, ring around the moonlight

Asking me, said she so free, how can you catch the sparrow.

Lacy, lilting lyrics, losing love lamenting

Change by life, make it right, be my lady.

Do do do do do do .....

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