Clever Lyricists and Examples of Clever Lyric Writing (in terms of rhymes)- Page 3

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 9:01am

Many of you wouldn't know these lyrics, but would be familiar with the tune. In the 70s, Jim Steinman (Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Dance of the Vampires) worked with Ray Errol Fox on a musical of The Confidence Man (the Herman Melville book). The tune for this song has since been lifted as Alfred's soaring aria "For Sarah" in Dance of the Vampires. But here it is, replete with some of the most intriguing rhymes I've ever encountered:

MILADY

Words by Ray Errol Fox
Music by Jim Steinman

With that gleam in your eye
I could fashion a diamond to array
Milady

With the silk of your sigh
I could polish a diadem of jewels
For your crown

Let me string and bedeck
Last nights stars for your necklace
Everyday
Milady

Squeeze the stormclouds for wine
And gather silver linings
For your gown

Just a smile from that face
And the world is your bracelet
If you wish
Milady

If the shade is too dull
I can borrow the colour from the
Blush of your cheeks

Take the song that you sing
And I'll serve it with springtime
On a dish
Milady

Nature's music was made
To seranade milady
When she speaks....

Take the song that you sing
And I'll serve it with springtime
on a dish
Milady

Nature's music was made
To seranade milady
When she speaks....


Actually, all of the lyrics in The Confidence Man are the finest I've encountered since, say, Edwin Drood and anything by Sondheim. I really want to see this show on "Broadway" some-day.

We're not only greeted with Fox's ingenious rhymes, but with the haunting music of Steinman. Jim has written some of the most passionate, ethereal songs in rock and roll and theatre. You all should definitely check out the CD of Confidence Man, not to mention the Steinman DREAM ENGINE cabaret at Joe's Pub in February / March

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 9:58am

Couple of gems from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (both from 'Here I am'):

"The way to be, to me, is French
The way to say "La Vie" is French"

"I mean
The air is French
That chair is French
This nice sincere sancerre is French
The skies are French
The pies are French
Those guys are French
These fries are French!"

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 10:24am

"I try not to pay too much attention to you since you're usually so unnecessarily nasty when nobody is provoking you."

But ya are, Blanche, ya are!


Jane Hudson
Hollywood, California

[jasobres]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 11:01am

Incidentally, I typed the lyrics in the first post to put the emphasis on where the rhymes were.

[bwaymyway84]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 12:28pm

I've always found this one cute from You're A Good Man Charlie Brown...
[SALLY]
My new philosophy!
[as teacher]
Miss B?
[as herself]
I'm she

Look see.
A "D?"
A "D."
Not only do you have the rhyme of "bee, she, see, dee" But it also outlines the Alphabet B, C(see), D.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 1:44pm

See Spot run. See Puff run. Run, Spot, run. Run, Puff, run.


Tilde Kooeck
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

[DiamondGirl]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 2:56pm

Aside from the obvious (sondheimsondheimsondheimsondheimsondheim), I think Howard Ashman was a wonderful lyricist. I recently got the OBC recording for Beauty and the Beast and was amazed at the complexity of the lyrics in the songs Ashman wrote compared to the songs Rice wrote. It made me wonder what Ashman could have done with a lovely song like "If I Can't Love Her."

[WildhornFanatic]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 4:36pm

Sondheim wins for best lyrics, in my opinion. Everyone else has already mentioned his great rhymes.

I do have to point out a great witty rhyme from WAITING FOR THE MOON by Jack Murphy/ Frank Wildhorn.

In the show, the Hollywood types are trying to teach F. Scott Fitzgerald how to write a movie script:

"Glamour us, Valentine.
Keep reality between the lines.
Don't get too complicated with the plot.
And Scott, archetypes feel the fun,
Keep it simple for everyone.
Run the gamut of emotion from A to B. See?

DIRECTOR: "ACTION!!!"

I love it.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 6:12pm

I agree with the great contrast between Howard Ashman and Tim Rice in Beauty and the Beast, Tim Rice is not exactly a great lyricist, some of the lyrics from Aida are a little disappointing:
"I would rather wear a barrel,
Than conservative apparel"

Posted: 1/5/06 at 6:24pm

One of my all-time favorite lyrics:

"Mourning all day and mourning all night"

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 6:50pm

One of my favorite lyrics comes from "Miss Saigon":

My father was a tattoo artist in Haiphong
But his designs on Mother didn't last too long

[sidwich]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 7:06pm

Lorenz Hart:

The sleepless nights - the daily fights
The quick toboggan - when you reach the heights
I miss the kisses - and I miss the bites
I wish I were in love again

The broken dates - the endless waits
The lovely loving - and the hateful hates
The conversation - with the flying plates
I wish I were in love again

Ira Gershwin:

Isn't it a pity
We never met before?

Imagine all the lonely years you wasted
Fishing for salmon
Losing at backgammon

What joys un-tasted
My nights were sour
Spent with Schopenhauer

Yip Harburg:

Every femme that flutters by me
Is a flame that must be fanned.
When I can't fondle the hand that I'm fond of
I fondle the hand at hand.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 7:32pm

Ah, ghostlight, as we discussed in the pm, yes, I mistook what you were showing appreciation for. It seems Hunter's signatures are the bane of my existence.

I can't believe we've thus far forgotten Yip!!!

Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime;
Once I built a tower, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging through Hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?


The man was a poet.

[GClef2]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 7:57pm

One lyric of stephen Sondheim's that always stuck out for me was...

I was perfect,
I had everything but beauty-
I had power,
and a daughter like a flower,
In a tower,
Then I went into the woods to get my wish and now Im ordinary-
lost my power and my flower
Unhappy now, unhappy hence
as well as ever after.
Had we used our common sense,
been worthy of our discontents-
we'd be happy...

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 8:01pm

Lorenz Hart was indeed an amazing lyricist:
Your looks are laughable,
Unphotographable (WOW, best rhyme ever)
Yet, you're my favorite work of art.
Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak,
When you open it to speak?
Are you smart?
Don't change a hair for me,
Not if you care for me,
Stay little Valentine,
Stay.
Each day is Valentine's Day.

I cannot get over how brilliant that song is.

[jasonf]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 9:34pm

This is a somewhat philosophical question -- would we think these lyrics were all as brilliant if we weren't SINGING them in our heads? For example, My Funny Valentine - other than the first rhyme which I agree is brilliant, the lyric itself is completely inseparable (in my mind at least) from the music. Without that, would the lyric still be as strong as we're thinking? That goes for any of the songs posted here (including the ones I did).

[justme2]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 10:19pm

an excellent point.

I was singing them in my head as I wrote them to. I think some of the older music I appreciate (the Gershwins, etc)is indeed inseperable from the arrangement. I can't think of an example yet...but I will.

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 10:39pm

That is a good point. A lot of lyrics look really stupid on paper. Stephen Sondheim in particular suffers. If there's a show of his you're not terribly familiar with, go find the lyrics to songs from it and just read them. They read awkwardly. Not always but much of the time.

It's not always the case though. Some lyrics read rather nicely. Like Yip Harburg's :)

But the thing about lyrics, and often poetry, is that they're meant to be spoken rather than read.

[Cenoern]

Posted: 1/5/06 at 10:53pm

Into the Woods in its entirety, but ESPECIALLY "Your Fault"

"Little Priest"

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 12:24am

Actually, I think it's different with poetry, I believe poetry reads very well. Sondheim has said that the difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics do not exist without the music. He uses the opening number of Oklahoma! as an example:
Oh What a beautiful morning!
Oh what a beautiful day!
Now that sounds completely stupid, but with the Rodgers music and the staging, it became one of the most famous opening numbers in the history of musical theatre.
I agree with Sondheim and with you guys in that matter, but I still believe that lyrics are quite brilliant without music.

[justme2]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 12:37am

another example of lyrics looking strange on the page, but perfect in the scene:

they both reached for the gun
the gun,the gun,the gun,the gun
the gun, the gun, the gun, the gun,
the gun, the gun, the gun, the gun,
the gun, the gun, the gun, the gun...
they both reached for....
the... guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.

[lilprima2b]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 12:46am

One of my friends loves the line "Men say it's criminal what women'll do" from Millie. (In fact, he told me that if he were a rapper, he would use it. Go figure.) There's a lot of really clever stuff in Millie... The Speed Test... and on that note, Gilbert and Sullivan. I had never really heard any of their work until recently, but it's fabulous.

Sondheim, of course.

Whoever said Beauty and the Beast is right. I think Be Our Guest is incredibly clever.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the absolute worst lyric ever is from This is the Moment from Jekyll and Hyde. "Every endeavor I have made, ever." It's an awful song anyway - lyrics-wise - but that line is just like... oh my GOD. It's a shame, because the music from that show is so beautiful, but then you listen to it and you want to beat yourself in the head.

[arykahmarye]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 1:33am

I agree Sondheim is a musical genius, but the two shows whose lyrics simply astounded me with their cleverness were Reefer Madness and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

In Reefer, you've got gems like:
There's hymnals and a rosary
But they won't keep me company
The wafers now don't taste so great
They won't transubstantiate
or
I floated down from Heaven
When i heard a lamb had strayed
Look at you here,
Your brain has turned to marmalade!

And everything in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels continues to amaze me as i listen to it again and again. David Yazbek is my hero in all things now, and an icon of what i want to accomplish. Well, him and Sondheim.

[SahDu]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 1:54am

Ok gotta admit. One of my favorites:

No one cares for you a smidge
When you're in an orphanage.

As well as:

Take off that gloomy mask or tragedy
It's not your style.
You'll look so good that you'll be glad ya de-
cided to smile.

Ha. Love that one too.


Updated On: 2/15/14 at 01:54 AM

[jimmirae]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 2:14am

All this lyric talk reminds me of when I watched the last dress rehearsal for the national company of "Into the Woods" which starred Cleo Laine as the Witch and Charlotte Rae as Jack's Mother. The funny thing was they only stopped 3 times, Two were tech, One was with Milky White not moving, On the other Cleo Laine did not hear her cue (which was funny since they let the Narrator ad-lib it again till she did) and the main one was with Jack & Red Riding Hood during "Your Fault" and that was the only major lyric/music part they went over to my memory. This was like WOW since that whole company had only 2 weeks to get ready. It was a great show.