The Song Fight Bulletin Board

What are some of your favorite songs with lyrics that don't rhyme?

I can't think of any English-language songs offhand like that. There's craptons of stuff from other languages though - it seems like non-English-language musicians don't care so much about rhyme structures. Maybe it's because the way that many languages conjugate their words such that a lot of them naturally have the same endings that any sort of rhyme isn't seen as a big deal?

Simon and Garfunkel, America

They Might Be Giants Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head, no question about it.


Closely followed by almost every Pixies song.

e.e. cummings is by far my favorite poet.

Michael Hedges made a song out of his poem " Carry Your Heart"
He got Crosby and Nash to sing back up (how awesome is that)

This song is the one that first comes to mind and is probably my favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PqSZzmUMHM

studio version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwczXm6 ... s-UA5nKnmx

rhymes are lame
meter and stresses and meaning is where it's at

Tom's Diner by Suzanne Vega is awesome, the more I think about this question.

Karma Police by Radiohead too.

Jerkatorium wrote:They Might Be Giants Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head, no question about it.

The folks at TMBW (the Giants' fan wiki) have a whole page dedicated to rhymes in TMBG songs (or the absence thereof): http://tmbw.net/wiki/Rhymes

Apart from Puppet Head, there are several other fan favorites listed there, such as Doctor Worm or Experimental Film. The most astonishing thing about these songs is that they are so catchy, you don't even realize there are (almost) no rhymes in there.

R.E.M. also comes to mind, their older material especially, such as a favorite of mine, Camera. Check it out if you don't know it, it's a beautiful song. Fall on Me, also. There are tons of rhymeless R.E.M. songs. Some, such as Nightswimming, make use of very little rhymes; those lines that do rhyme are particularly striking then: "September's coming soon / I'm pining for the moon / And what if there were two..." etc.

I guess I never really notice one way or another. Unless the rhymes are heavy handed, then it can be a put off. I generally rhyme when I write. Guess I feel like I'm "supposed to". I'll have to listen more closely to how other song writers handle it. I love the Pixes... so they're non-rhymers generally?

okay yeah I guess I should have noticed the TMBG and Radiohead ones. But I didn't. Rhymes: who needs them?

Also a good portion of Norwegian Wood is rhymeless or has an ever-shifting structure to the extent that what rhymes do exist almost feel like a coincidence. Same with large chunks of A Day in the Life.

It just occurred to me that the Shins' The Past and Pending, a favorite of mine, has only one single rhyme: pending / descending. Great song.