Best Rhyming lines

Lord, who made the lion and the lamb,
You decreed I should be what I am.
Would it spoil some vast eternal plan
If I were a wealthy man?

I love how Tevye comprehends the basic inequities of life, accepts his powerlessness over it all, yet dares to pose a good-natured challenge to the Omnipotent as he requests a change in his life's lot. (Interesting also that seldom does a prayer go unanswered in a musical as this one does.)

Updated On: 3/21/05 at 01:17 AM

It's fop.
Finest in the shop.
Or we have some shepherd's pie peppered
With actual shepherd
On top.
And I've just begun.
Here's the politician — so oily
It's served with a doily —
Have one.
Put it on a bun.
Well, you never know if it's going to run.

'A Little Priest' is probably one of the most clever songs ever written. I could have used other sections of the same song since all of it is great.

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Mama
Please take our advice
We aren't the Lunts
I'm not Fanny Brice
Mama
We'll buy you the rice
If only this once
You wouldn't think twice!

"If Mama Was Married"...GYPSY

My favourite lines at this moment. I know that will change when I hear another brilliant lyric.

The whole score of CHICAGO - full of brilliant lyrics and rhyming lines. Especially All That Jazz.

'Once upon a time
When I was just a kid
you never let me do
just what the older kids did'


...I don't know know why that stuck out, but it did. Oh marc and scott, good job!!

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One of my favourite examples of Sondheim's impeccable rhymes:

NOW

FREDRIK:
Now, as the sweet imbecilities
Tumble so lavishly
Onto her lap,
Now, there are two possibilities:
A, I could ravish her,
B, I could nap.
Say
It's the ravishment, then we see
The option
That follows, of course:
A,
The deployment of charm, or B,
The adoption
Of physical force.
Now, B might arouse her,
But if I assume
I trip on my trouser
Leg crossing the room...
Her hair getting tangled,
Her stays getting snapped,
My nerves would be jangled,
My energy sapped...
Removing her clothing
Would take me all day,
And her subsequent loathing
Would turn me away,
Which eliminates B
And which leaves us with A.

Now, insofar as approaching it,
What would be festive
But have its effect?
Now, there are two ways of broaching it:
A, the suggestive,
And B, the direct.
Say
That I settle on B, to wit,
A charmingly
Lecherous mood,
A,
I could put on my nightshirt or sit
Disarmingly,
B, in the nude.
That might be effective;
My body's all right--
But not in perspective
And not in the light.
I'm bound to be chilly
And feel a buffoon,
But nightshirts are silly
In mid-afternoon.
Which leaves the suggestive,
But how to proceed?
Although she gets restive,
Perhaps I could read.
In view of her penchant
For something romantic,
De Sade is to trenchant
And Dickens too frantic,
And Stendhal would ruin
The plan of attack,
As there isn't much blue in
"The Red and the Black."
De Maupassant's candour
Would cause her dismay,
The Brontes are grander
But not very gay,
Her taste is much blander,
I'm sorry to say,
But is Hans Christian Ander-
Sen ever risque?
Which eliminates A...

Now, with my mental facilities
Partially muddied
And ready to snap,
Now, though there are possibilities
Still to be studied,
I might as well nap.
Bow
Though I must
To adjust
My original plan,
How
Shall I sleep
Half as deep
As I usually can,
When now I still want and/or love you,
Now as always,
Now, Anne?

"This is late
and I fear,
well you see:
there's a famin.

Could you wait
for a year,
we'll agree
to examine it"
(Pacific Overtures - Please Hello)

Because it is all rhymed in a way, it would have been spoken. Nothing forced.

(Fredrick)"She'd strike you as unenlightened
(Desiree)No I'd strike her first!
(Fredrick)Her reticence, her apprehension
(Desiree) Her crust!
(Fredick) No!
(Desiree) Yes!
(Fredrick) No!
(Desiree) Fredrick!
(Fredrick) You must meet my wife
(Desire) Let me get my hat and my knife!
(Fredrick) What was that?
(Desiree) I must meet your wife
(Both) Yes I (you) must....."
(A Little Night Music - You must meet my Wife)

Because it is rhymed natural dialogue - perfect!

"As dumbbells go he's rather slow,
And as for being saintly, even faintly, no.
But who needs Albert Schweitzer when the lights are low!
And oh boy, oh boy, can that boy fox-trot!"
(Follies - Can that Boy foxtrott (cut song))

I just love that line.

I hope this isn't going to become a thread of simply Sondheim lyrics. We all know his stuff is fabulous. How many examples do we really need....

Alan Jay Lerner's lyrics are often astounding. Some of his best are actually from LOLITA MY LOVE which closed out of town in Boston. Anyone who really loves lyrics should try to find one of the recordings of it.

Updated On: 3/21/05 at 02:20 PM

But we're in Michigan,
Oh, We'll be rich again.

Bounce. Or Sondheim-lite... There's some great stuff though.
Lots of leitmotifs, good for spotting musical themes that run throughout.

It's a cloak.
What's a cloak?
It's a joke,
It's a stupid little cloak,
And a cloak is what you make it.
So you take it.

Things are only what you need them for,
What's important is who needs them more?

LOVE that one.

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While her withers wither with her.

How do you THINK of a line like that?

I don't know about 'best', but I thought "Nessa, uh, Nessa, I've got something to confess-a" was pretty unique. Forced, but unique.

"Manhattan," by Rogers & Hart:

Summer journeys
To Niag'ra
And to other places
Aggravate all our cares.
We'll save our fares.
I've a cozy little flat
In what is known as old Manhattan.
We'll settle down
Right here in town.

We'll have Manhattan,
The Bronx and Staten
Island too.
It's lovely going through
The zoo.
It's very fancy
On old Delancey
Street, you know.
The subway charms us so
When balmy breezes blow
To and fro.
And tell me what street
Compares with Mott Street
In July?
Sweet pushcarts gently gliding by.
The great big city's a wondrous toy
Just made for a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy.

We'll go to Greenwich,
Where modern men itch
To be free;
And Bowling Green you'll see
With me.
We'll bathe at Brighton
The fish you'll frighten
When you're in.
Your bathing suit so thin
Will make the shellfish grin
Fin to fin.
I'd like to take a
Sail on Jamaica
Bay with you.
And fair Canarsie's lake
We'll view.
The city's bustle cannot destroy
The dreams of a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy.

We'll go to Yonkers
Where true love conquers
In the wilds.
And starve together, dear,
In Childs'.
We'll go to Coney
And eat baloney
On a roll.
In Central Park we'll stroll,
Where our first kiss we stole,
Soul to soul.
Our future babies
We'll take to "Abie's
Irish Rose."
I hope they'll live to see
It close.
The city's clamor can never spoil
The dreams of a boy and goil.
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy.

We'll have Manhattan,
The Bronx and Staten
Island too.
We'll try to cross'
Fifth Avenue.
As black as onyx
We'll find the Bronnix
Park Express.
Our Flatbush flat, I guess,
Will be a great success,
More or less.
A short vacation
On Inspiration Point
We'll spend,
And in the station house we'll end,
But Civic Virtue cannot destroy
The dreams of a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy!