The Five Best Sondheim Rhymes- Page 3

[littlegreen2]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 2:17am

"Loving you is not a choice
And not much reason to rejoice,
But it gives me purpose,
Gives me voice
to say to the world:
This is why I live
You are why I live."

I just think these lyrics are beautiful.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 10:53am

Not a lyric, but SS's response to someone's challenge, in the Times, to come up with a rhyme for "silver:"

To make a rhyme with "silver,"
Or any rhyme-less rhyme,
Takes nothing more than skill,
veracity and time.

And a simple but great one:

I like the island Manhattan.
Smoke on your pipe and put that in!

[charlesjguiteau]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 12:01pm

2 FAVORITE COUPLETS:

Perpetual sunset
Is rather an unset-
Tling Thing.

(AND LATER)
The hands on the clock turn
But don't sing a nocturne
Just yet.

FOR A CONTRARIAN LEAST FAVORITE COUPLET:
(Sporkgoddess mentions it as a favorite but she's misspelled a few words)

Meaning no offense, it
Happens they resents it,
Ladies in their sensit-
Ivities, my lord!"

HOW COULD SONDHEIM HAVE GIVEN THE LEARNED BEADLE SUCH POORLY AGREEING VERBS JUST TO GET THE TRIPLE RHYME?

[raker]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 6:36pm

Will it be birds in Spring, or hara-kiri?
Don't worry, Dearie.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 9:44pm

Re: the spelling mistakes - yeah, I copied and pasted the lyrics from a (clearly inaccurate) lyrics website.

[dramarama3]

Posted: 7/23/11 at 10:07pm

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the classic:

'It's a HERB, that's suPERB, for disTURBances at sea,'

[Brywal88]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 3:06am

"it's fop, finest in the shop, and we have some sheperd's pie peppered with actuai sheperd on top."

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 1:23pm

I'm surprised not to see A Little Priest anywhere on there.

[peerrjb]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 6:47pm

I've always loved the word-play, but I'm often more blown-away by the simplest of rhymes used in a sentence or two which ends up describing a character's opinion of and relationship to another's:

Cut from "Follies" (found on the "Scrabble"-cover benefit album)
SIMPLE LITTLE KINGDOM.
Ben describing his life with Phyllis to Sally.

"It's a simple little Kingdom,
The dominion of the Queen,
Where at any given moment ----
The ashtrays are clean!"

And, as a writer, I've always found this one a stunner,
especially with the Peters delivery of the third line
(From "Move On")

"Stop worrying if your vision is new.
Let others make that decision...
...They usually do.
YOU keep moving on."

Oh, and just about the entirety of
"What More Do I Need?" from "Saturday Night"
I mean:
"I hear a crane making street repairs.
A two-ton child running wild upstairs."

Mucho fun to perform that one!!!!

[Freedomme]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 11:52pm

I know that Sondheim is known for his dazzling wordplay but my favorite is from West Side Story:
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke, you gotta understand,
It's just our bringin' upke that gets us out of hand...

Upke? My god, it's not even a word. He just invented it. And yet it just completely fits the rhyme and the character and the scene. It's like getting a hundred dollar tip at a diner--completely unexpected and thoroughly appreciated. I smile every time I hear it.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 12:30am

I always love this one:

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.

[jasonf]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 10:48am

C'est Moi2 took the one I was going to post - from the end of "On The Steps of the Palace"

so instead another from Into the Woods:

"You mean that old bean
That your wife...oh dear,
Well, I never knew it
So I threw it
Don't look here!"

And then...

"All right mother when?
Lost the beans again
Punish me the way you did then
Give me claws and the hunch
Just away from this bunch"

[Pippin]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 7:09pm

Pacific Overtures:

It's the Day of the Rabbit, my Lord.
There's but one day remaining,
And beside the fact it's raining,
There are ships in the bay
Which are sitting there today
Just exactly where they sat
On the Day of the Rat —
Oh, and speaking of that, my Lord,
When the ships came our way
On that first disturbing day
And I gave consideration
To this letter they convey,
I decided if there weren't
Any Shogun to receive it,
It would act as a deterrant
Since they'd have no place to leave it,
And they might go away, my Lord …
Do you see what i say, my Lord?

In the tea, my Lord,
The chrysanthemum tea —
An informal variation
On the normal recipe.
Though I know my plan had merit,
It's been slow in execution.
If there's one thing you inherit,
It's your father's constitution,
And you're taking so long, my Lord …
Do you think I was wrong, my Lord? …
No, you must let me speak:
When the Shogun is weak,
Then the tea must be strong, my Lord …
My Lord — ?

[Owen22]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 7:21pm

Pippin: Yes yes YES!!!! Just reading it again now gave me gooseflesh. The almost train-on-tracks driving of the lyric mixed with the perfection of the rhyme...oh my god.

[fosca3]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 11:11am

And in the darkness when I'm blind with what I can't forget
It's always morning in my mind, my little lamb, my pet

and

Wake up Johanna, another bright red day
We'll learn Johanna to say -- goodbye

(I've always loved the 'bright red day' line)