Does It Have To Rhyme???

S

sonicpsyops

Culture Of Convenience
Well, do songs have to rhyme?

I guess if you're writing rap music the answer couldn't be more obvious but are there any artists out there who only write lyrics that don't rhyme? So do you rhyme your songs or what do you do?

I've been an instrumentalist for years but I would like to branch out into actual songwriting with lyrics and I'm having a tendency to try and rhyme my lines. Is rhyming still in vogue now or out of fashion? Does it all depend on the music you're writing?

I'm not necessarily asking for advice here I'm just taking a shot in the dark to see what kind of discussion this generates.
 
I can't imagine when a well written sets of lyrics which rhyme and which tell a good story or relay true emotion could ever be out of vouge.

I personally prefer and enjoy lyric writing which appears to follow a more traditional approach (ie: rhyming) more than a grouping of words which does not rhyme. I beleive it is much more difficult to find a way to say (whatever you want to say) with rhymes than without - and I always respect that part of the craft of songwriting.

That being said, if you feel you have something worth saying and the only way to say it is without the use of rhymes - well, that is the beauty of art - if you as the artist can make your statment and if it can in some way touch the listener, the end normally justifies the means.
 
I'd agree with Mikeh. I have a preference for rhyme. It isn't essential (maybe) but it certainly helps. But what does "rhyme" mean?

Take this song...

"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together."
"I've got some real estate here in my bag."
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And we walked off to look for America.
"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've come to look for America."

Laughing on the bus;
Playing games with the faces;
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy;
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera."

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat."
"We smoked the last one an hour ago."
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field.

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping.
"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why."
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike:
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America


Does it rhyme? Yes, it does. Or at least it has alot of rhymes in it.. words that echo the sounds of each other. Magazine, gaberdine, scenery, pies, bowtie, hitchike, turnpike...

Rhyme doesn't have to be obvious, but I do think it helps to have some sound reflections in a lyric.
 
does it have to rhyme? no, not at all. but it should have a lyrical sing-song quality to it, and you can find this matched in really good poetry and even short stories/novels. (i don't like personally hemingway, but his words sound good.)

it doesn't have to rhyme, but it does have to be interesting.

but like Freddy says, rhyme doesn't necessarily have to be at the end of a line, or even formulaic. internal rhyme is nice, and some songs (like Freddy's example) place rhymes in odd places .. it can have an odd quality of sounding more like telling a story, not sounding formulaic, but still sounding memorable, making an impression on your ears. (because making your song memorable was probably the reason that bards introduced rhyming in the first place. do you want to get your song stuck in everyone's heads? then make it rhyme. are you trying to make an artistic statement? then let that be your first goal.)

here are some more examples of different rhyming sorts...

and it's all coming together
you say "how 'bout the weather"
whether or not it's raining
you know i will go to the show
if you want me to go
there's no need to explain
how you feel;
i know how you feel, i know that it's real
you've got a certain appeal to me

rhymes: together/weather/whether, raining/explain, know/go/show/go, feel/feel/real/appeal. pretty heavy rhyme.


she wakes up and cries into the receiver, and someone downstairs answers; and i don't think she knows that everything is over.

rhymes: receiver/answers/over. rhyming is more subliminal.


in the end, think of rhyming as a tool to use in your toolkit, but don't be limited by your tools. eventually, you can develop an intuitive sense for which songs need rhyme and which songs don't.
 
I haven't read all the posts, so I might be repeating.

Janes Addiction's first two albums are classic examples of songs in which the lyrics often don't rhyme. The second album (the name escapes me) has very little rhyming.

The biggest hit off that album (which wasn't even the best song) was "Caught Stealing."


"Been caught stealin'
once when I was five.
I enjoy Steain'
It's as simple as that.

Well it's.....just a.....simple fact.
When I want somethin, man, I don't wanna pay for it.
So walk right....through the door.......walk right through the door.

Hey, alright. If I get by.
Then it's mine. Mine all mine."
 
I think the answer depends on what sort of music you're writing for, or indeed which part of the song.

I know alot of songs which have chorus's that either entirely, or at least in parts, don't rhyme at all, and still sound very pleasing. Some music makes the listener expect rhyming, such as rap, as you pointed out. However there is some rap that have verses which don't rhyme in large segments, and personally I find listening to that sort of composition a little confusing, as I'm expecting and rhyme and don't recieve it, it feels very like a pattern interrupt, on a more subtle level.
 
Mmm! Interesting

Wow! I'm really impressed with the responses to this question.

Freddy, That's one of my favorite songs. I didn't realize it had rhymes in it. Or should I say subliminal(?) rhymes. I was pondering the lyrics to "The Boxer" and I think there is some subliminal rhyming going on there as well.

Fishkarma, you are very observant. I didn't even realize that I did that. Very astute.

Thank the rest of you all for your replies.
To tell you the truth, you've opened my eyes.
Now, I don't have to live a life of lies.
I want to take off this mask and disguise.
And go on writing my little rhymes.
 
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