What’s in a rhyme? Good question. Why do songs rhyme anyway? Did you ever think of that? Is it something that we just accept as “that’s the way it is?” In this article, we’re going to discuss rhyming in songs. Hopefully, by the time you’re done reading this, you’ll have a better handle on how to create rhymes in your songs.
Let’s start off with why songs rhyme. Songs rhyme for a very simple reason. They’re easier to remember and they sound better. They’re easier to remember because we group the sentences together by rhymes and they sound better because the rhyme tends to complete the thought. It’s just the way our brains process words. How this was discovered and who discovered it is unknown. My guess is, rhyme was created many centuries ago.
Is they why even important? At this stage of the evolution of songwriting, not really. It’s doubtful that this practice of rhyming songs is going to change any time soon, if ever at all. So we just accept it as standard practice and move on.
What makes a good rhyme? Now that’s where things get a little trickier. A good rhyme is different depending on the medium. For example, if you’re writing for Broadway, rhymes MUST be true.
Here’s an example of what I mean by a true rhyme.
You made me love you
Now I don’t know what to do
I feel like a fool
You used me like a tool
There you have a true rhyme. You and do and fool and tool are true rhymes.
If you’re writing for Broadway, you better stick to true rhymes or you’ll be thrown out of the business. I mean this literally. There is no room on Broadway for the other kind of rhyme which is a false rhyme.
Here is an example of a false rhyme.
I gave you all my love
But it just wasn’t enough
Love and enough kind of sound alike because of the “uh” sound, but they’re not true rhymes because love has a “v” sound at the end and enough has an “f” sound at the end.
That’s the difference between a true rhyme and a false rhyme.
You will find false rhymes a lot in popular and rock music. It’s more acceptable. Why? It just is. Then again, popular music is more forgiving about a lot of things and much more flexible than Broadway.
So when coming up with a rhyme for a lyric, you first have to be aware of what medium you’re writing for. If you try to get away with the second example for a Broadway tune, you’re going to be tossed out of the business on your ear.
Moving on.
What about rhyming structure? I’m sure you’ve noticed that if you look at a verse or chorus in a song, there are various ways that the rhymes come together within that verse or chorus.
For example.
Joy to the world
All the boys and girls now
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me
In the chorus from Three Dog Night’s “Joy To The World” lines 1 and 2 rhyme and lines 3 and 4 rhyme.
Now look at this song from Mama Cass
Make your own kind of music
Sing your own special song
Make your own kind of music
Even if nobody else sings along
In the above example from “Make Your Own Kind Of Music” lines 2 and 4 rhyme. Lines 1 and 3 don’t really rhyme even though they technically do because it’s just the same word repeated. The important lines in this chorus are 2 and 4 as far as the rhyming scheme goes.
Usually, with a song where lines 2 and 4 rhyme, lines 1 and 3 won’t rhyme to provide some contrast. If there is too much rhyming going on, sometimes it just sounds forced or unnatural. That’s why you’ll notice a lot of songs that fall into this form.
Does every verse in a song have to rhyme? No, not really. But you do want there to be some consistency in your verses. In other words, if you start out the song with a verse that doesn’t rhyme, you probably want all the verses not to rhyme. This not only builds consistency in your song but also makes the chorus stand out that much more.
Think about it. If none of your verses rhyme and your chorus has some great rhymes in it, it’s going to stand out from the rest of the song more so than if the verses did rhyme. This is one method of highlighting a particular part of your song. And in most cases, it is the chorus that you want to stand out. After all, that’s the main part of your song.
Are there songs that don’t rhyme at all? Yes, they exist. You have to be a very clever wordsmith to keep a listener’s attention with a song that doesn’t rhyme at all. If you can manage to do that, you’ve established yourself as one heck of a writer. There aren’t too many songs in pop music that don’t rhyme. A great example of a very big hit that didn’t rhyme is Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner.” But those are few and far between in this business.
Over the years, certain words to rhyme have become a no-no because they were so common at one time that people are sick of them, especially people in the industry and won’t accept a song with these rhymes unless the song is truly exceptional in spite of them. Rhymes like above and love or self and shelf. Use these at your own peril.
If you’re having trouble coming up with a rhyme for a song, use a rhyming dictionary. It is your best friend. Rhymes will usually be grouped by true and false rhymes. So all the true rhymes will come first and then all the false rhymes will follow. And the words will be listed under a type of sound like “uh” or “et.”
Hopefully, this general article on rhyming will at least get you started. It’s actually a complex subject and we’ll get into it in more depth in future articles.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim