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

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

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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...

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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

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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!"

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.

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).

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

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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.

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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.

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

Also, see this thread:
Rhyme Time

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

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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!!!

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