When did a song need to have rhyming lyrics? Oh yeah, many pop songs that young children can associate with... LOL!
There is no right or wrong. One generation might consider 'I Am The Walrus' an awesome lyric. I actually do, even though I am not really a Beatles fan.
I am he as
you are he
as you are me
And we are all together
See how they run
like pigs from a gun
See how they fly
I'm crying
Sitting on a corn flake
Waiting for the van to come
Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
Man you've been a naughty boy
You let your face grow long
I am the egg man
They are the egg men
I am the walrus
Goo goo g'joob
Mister City
policeman sitting
Pretty little
policemen in a row
See how they fly like
Lucy in the sky,
see how they run
I'm crying,
I'm crying
I'm crying, I'm crying
Yellow matter custard
Dripping from a dead dog's eye
Crabalocker fishwife,
pornographic priestess
Boy, you've been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down
I am the egg man
They are the egg men
I am the walrus
Goo goo g'joob
There is no rhyming structure there, yet the song has some meaning right? And no racial or gangsta subtleties.
There are plenty of rhymes. but he chose to go with more internal rhymes. Also, I said a musical rhyme does not have to be perfect. Frinstance:
City, sitting, pretty, little - those are imperfect rhymes but the do the job. Plus this song is the exception, I could show the rhymes to hundreds of hit songs, it isn't rocket science.
Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Suddenly.
I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Yesterday came suddenly
Why she, had to go, I don't know she wouldn't say
I said, something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Not only does this lyric rhyme like crazy, internally and at the ends of lines, but also, look at how he started and ended each verse with the same word. Lyric writing can be simple, but it is different from poetry.
Plus, also look at the syllable accents:
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
If you look at a songbook you will see that they only write the melody once but they show two or even three sets of lyrics below it. That indicates that the syllabic feel and count is (nearly) identical with each new verse - including the rhythm. Look at the rhythm of your words and see if they all count out the same way in sequential verses.
Why she had _ to _go, _ _ I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said _ something wrong, _now I long for yes-ter ___ day
1 _ 2, _ 1 __ 2 ___3 _____,1 _ 2 3 _ _1 _ 2 _ 3 - _ _ _ 1
I mean... either you want real advice or you just want to write poems and look for people who put music to them. I have tried to work with poets before, it just doesn't lend itself to great songwriting.
I like to tell aspiring lyricists the two easiest words to rhyme are "you" and "me" - and to think "songs" not poems.