Clever Lyricists and Examples of Clever Lyric Writing (in terms of rhymes)

[jasobres]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 4:52pm

A lot of times at a Broadway show, you'd hear some clever uses of rhyming in songs. Here are some examples:

Oscar Hammerstein II:
The internal AABCCB rhyme scheme in the beginning of "People Will Say We're in Love":
Why do they think
Up stories that link
My name with yours
Why do the neigh-
Bors say what they say
Behind their doors.
I have a way
To prove what they say
Is quite untrue
Here is a jist
A practical list
Of don't's for you.

You probably wouldn't realize that there was a rhyme scheme in anyplace but the "second line."

Stephen Schwartz also had some clever rhymes:
"Isn't it nice to know
That good'll conquer evil
The truth we'll all believe'll
By and by..."

I mean, who in the world would ever think of rhyming those words. There were also clever rhymes in Pippin:
"Every man has his daydreams
Every man has his goal
People like the way dreams
Have of sticking to the goal."

Any other clever rhymes?

[boxers7]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 5:33pm

Isn't it:
People like the ways dreams have
Of sticking to the soul?

[ByMySide25]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 5:38pm

boxers7 I'm with you. That must be a typo.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 5:49pm

haha - typo.

And talking about clever lyrics and lyricists without a mention of Sondheim or City of Angels, but quoting Steven Schwartz not once, but TWICE is virtually heresy. At least he went to Hammerstein for the third one...

[apdarcey]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 5:52pm

it's true that city of angels has some of the best lyrics ever in my opinion..


"your fertile lies don't fertilize, it needs work."

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 5:53pm

I'll tell you what ISN'T a clever lyric:

Listen, Nessa
Uh - Nessa
I've got something to confess, a
Reason why, well -
Why I asked you here tonight

Makes me want to claw my ears off. For SHAME Stephen Schwartz!!!

Right now my favorite lyric comes from Reefer Madness:

Cause there's blood upon your necktie
Your corpus is delecti

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 5:58pm

He also got the lyrics to People Will Say We're in Love wrong, I believe. And evil/believe'll is more of a forced rhyme than a clever one. But thank you for the lecture.

[EugLoven]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 5:59pm

To the tune of a conga line:
Sondheim, Sondheim, Sond-HEIM!

I mean I don't even have to name any songs or lyrics to prove my point. But feel free to mention some/any to help me out! Haha

I was always amused by Max Bialystock's long-winded lines in "King of Ol' Broadway":

There'll be gala opening nights again
You'll see my name in lights again
I'll go from dark to brights again
My spirits high as kites again
I'll never suffer slights again
I'll taste those sweet delights again
No plethora of plights again
No blossoming of blights again
No frantic fits or frights again
Fame is in my sights again
I'll take those fancy flights again
I'm gonna scale the heights again!"

[EugLoven]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:01pm

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention The Cop Song in Urinetown. I don't know, the entire things makes me beam from ear to ear. Maybe that's because I'm sucker for up-tempo, heavy orchestra, fast-rhyming ensemble numbers.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:03pm

I've never considered Schwartz a particularly clever lyricist. I've liked his lyrics well enough, but usually because they are heartfelt (Working) and sincere (Children of Eden). In fact, his attempts at interal rhymes and mashing words together ("a pal, a sis-ter" to rhyme with "dialysis", itself a rather forced lyric) are occasionally awful.

You want clever, turn to the masters. Sondheim or Larry Hart, for example, or more recently David Zippel.

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:06pm

Good God, I love Stephen Sondheim. Words really can't express. Right now, my favorite lyrics of his come from "A Little Night Music":

"Henrik... Who is Henrik?
Oh, that lawyer's son, the one who mumbles.
Short and boring,
Yes, he's hardly worth ignoring,
And who cares if he's all dammed--"
I beg your pardon--
"Up inside?"
As I've often stated,
It's intolerable being tolerated.
"Reassure Henrik, Poor Henrik. Henrik, you'll endure
Being pure, Henrik."
Though I've been born, I've never been!
How can I wait around for later?
I'll be ninety on my deathbead
And the late, or, rather, later, Henrik Egerman.
Doesn't anything begin?

[StageManager2]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:09pm

I think "Rainbow Tour" (EVITA) has some clever lyrics.

Spain has fallen to the charms of EVITA*
She can do what she likes -- it doesn't matter much
She's the new world Madonna with the golden touch
She filled a bullring -- forty-five thousand SEATER*
But if you're prettier than General Franco that's not hard

Franco's reign in spain should see out the FORTIES**
So you've just acquired an ally who
Looks as secure in his job as you
But more important current political THOUGHT IS**
Your wife's a phenomenal asset -- your trump card

Who would have thought of rhyming "Evita" with "seater" (pronounched "see-tah") or "forties" with "thought is"? It works if that segment is sang with a thick Spanish accent, as the character of Che often does. Also, I love how Tim Rice pays tribute to Alan Jay Lerner with "reign in Spain" (Rain in Spain).

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:15pm

Yeah, I've never considered Schwartz as a great lyricist, I'm loving Sondheim and Yazbek right now. I don't have examples right now.

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:16pm

This is off-topic, but that might be my favorite signature of all time, Marguerite.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:18pm

"Why do the neigh-
Bors say what they say
Behind their doors."

It's:
"Why do the neighbors
GOSSIP all day
behind their doors."

From City of Angels (apdarcey, you got my exact favorite lyric!):

"And come to think of it
Your writing always mirrored our relationship
With dangers cropping up
And sweet young strangers popping up like weeds
So if you wish official pardoning
You better do a little gardening
You know you needn't be so generous with your seeds
Your fertile lies don't fertilize it needs work!"

Favorite Sondheim lyric (God, there are so many, but in terms of rhyme):

"...And then out of the blue
And without any guide
You know what your decision is
Which is not to decide
You'll just leave him a clue
For example, a shoe
And then see what he'll do
Now it's he and not you
Who is stuck with the shoe
In a stew
In the goo
And you've learned something too
Something you never knew
On the steps of the palace!"

Now THAT'S rhyming!

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:25pm

Well it is, but it's oo sound rhyming, the easiest kind... that whole show is plagued with really simple rhyming, but that's because it's fairy tales. More impressive is


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...

Although De Mappaussant's and The Brontes doesn't really line up I think, but damn, that's some clever rhyming :) Particularly blue-in and ruin. I mean, there's a lyric with like five layers and a clever rhyme. Really the whole song is genius. Like:

When now I still want and/or love you,

Luvs it.

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:26pm

As much as I love Sweeney and Assasins, I have to say that "Now/Later/Soon" is probably my favorite Sondheim song. It's pure lyrical genius.

Updated On: 1/4/06 at 06:26 PM

[EugLoven]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:33pm

Wait a minute
magic beans
for a cow so old
that you had to tell a lie
in which you told
were they worthless beans
were they over-sold
oh and tell us who persuaded yo
to steal that gold

but if you haddn't gone back up again
we were needy
you were greedy
did you need that hen
oh and what about the harp in the third place

GUH! I can't type fast enough to keep up with the lyrics!!!
Hahahaha To kiss the hand of Steven Sondheim... minus the wrinkles, would be ecstacy.

[JLSatUD]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:35pm

The Nessa/Confess-a thing has always amused me. And I think that

"would it be alright by you
if I de-greenify you"

is cheating!

Back when I first heard the Rent OBC I was impressed with Larson's ability to plop these lines into a musical ...

"Yes this body provides a comfortable home
For the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome"

[Trina55]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:36pm

I second the sentiment on the "Nessa..." line. Ick!

Also, see this thread:
Rhyme Time

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:37pm

I'd do more than kiss him, wrinkles and all. It's a fact that my friends mock me for constantly.

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:42pm

Thanks for the comment in your last post Kitzarina :).

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:48pm

Isn't it

Wait a minute
magic beans
for a cow so old
that you had to tell a lie to sell it
which you told

?

Noel Coward is clever too. He's kind of the father to Yazbeck. Although he's never very precise.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 6:49pm

I'm sorry but the examples of "clever rhyme" in "No One Mourns The Wicked" are not really clever, I mean rhyming "was" with "Oz" is not exactly clever, and what about the lyrics on "Thank Goodness":
There are bridges you crossed,
You didn't know you crossed,
Until you crossed.
That's not very clever in my book, I like his music though, it's very crowd-pleasing.
Now, Sondheim is probably the best published lyricist alive, I have mini-orgasms every time I hear the lyrics to "A Little Priest," the rhymes on that song are so witty and unexpected, you don't know what he's going to come up with and that's how Sondheim gets to manipulate the audience into laughing about cannibalism.
A great lyricist that has unfortunately passed away is Frank Loesser, "Adelaide's Lament" has some of the best set of lyrics in musical theater:
The average unmarried female,
Basically insecure,
Due to some long frustrations may react.
With psychosomatic symptoms,
Difficult to endure,
Affecting the upper-respiratory tract.
(...)
You can spray her wherever you figure
The streptococci lurk,
You can give her a shot for whatever she's got
But it just won't work.
If she's tired of getting the fish-eye
From the hotel clerk,
A person can develop a cold.
PURE GENIOUS!!!

[roquat]

Posted: 1/4/06 at 7:49pm

One of the greatest sustained-rhyme phrases (yes, from our friend Sondheim again, this time in FOLLIES)

From the depths of her interior
Were fears she was inferior
And something even eerier
But no one dared to query her
Superior
Exterior.

Yes, that's showing off, but BRILLIANT showing off.