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Rhyme or Reason -- Part 1
By Mary Dawson
Rhyme! It’s one of the most powerful tools in the songwriter’s toolkit,
and there are many reasons for it.
The first and most basic reason is simply that rhyme helps us humans to
remember things, From our earliest childhood we find that it’s easier
to learn something if it rhymes. Remember little ditties like this one...?
One...two -- Buckle my shoe
Three...four -- Shut the door
Five...six -- Pick up sticks
Seven...eight -- Lay them straight
Nine..ten -- A Big Fat Hen
Or consider this amazing bit of trivia:
Police officers who test motorists suspected of DUI have reported that
when asked to recite the alphabet, intoxicated drivers have trouble
remembering the sequence of letters unless they sing the alphabet using
the familiar children’s rhyme:
ABCDEFG
HIJK -- LMNOP
QRS and TUV
WX
Y and Z
Now I’ve said my ABC’s
Next time sing along with me
Because of its amazing power to imprint words and concepts on the mind,
Rhyme is a resource that songwriters must study in depth and use wisely.
Over the next several articles we will explore the subject of Rhyme,
how it has evolved and changed over the years, and how we can use this
powerful tool to craft better songs ourselves.
Before we delve into the mystery and history of rhyme (we obsessive
compulsive rhymers can't stop even when writing prose) we need to
establish a few common denominators and definitions.
Rhymes at the Bottom Line
At its most basic level Rhyme can be defined by the following qualifications:
Two or more words which have...
- the same final accented vowel
- the same final consonant sound
- different consonants preceding the vowel
Examples: mate, plate, date
Rhymes are called Perfect Rhymes if the stressed vowel and ending consonant
are exactly the same. If the rhyming words are one-syllable words like
those above -- they are called Single or Masculine Rhymes.
When the rhyming words have two matching final syllables, they are called
Double or Feminine Rhymes. Even if the words have different numbers
of syllables, they
still qualify as Feminine Rhymes as long as the last two syllables match
exactly. For example, you might rhyme:
static with attic (both two-syllable words)
But you could also rhyme:
static (two syllables) with traumatic (three syllables)
or democratic (four syllables)
Notice that these words have differing numbers
of syllables, but the last two syllables of each word are exact matches and
are therefore Double or Feminine Rhymes.
Triple Rhymes are words which have three matching final syllables.
As with Double or Feminine Rhymes, Triple rhyming words may have varying numbers
of syllables as long as the last three syllables match exactly as in:
clarity and charity (both three-syllable words)
--or--
clarity (three syllables),
disparity (four syllables), and regularity (five syllables)
Words can also be said to rhyme perfectly if they are spelled differently but have
the same ending vowel sound like...
grew and true
fate and eight
Rhymes Evolution and Revolution
For most of the first half of the Twentieth Century, Perfect Rhymes were the
"gold standard" for songwriters. Most of the hits crafted in Tin Pan Alley
from the 1920's to the 1950's were written in the AABA or AABC song forms
for theater or films. The great lyricists of the day were consummate craftsmen
witty, clever and sophisticated and far too polished to ever allow themselves
to use anything but Perfect Rhymes! Wordsmiths like Gus Kahn, Irving Berlin,
Yip Harburg, Lorenz Hart and Ira Gershwin lifted the bar of rhyming
excellence to an all-time high and together with their musical collaborators
created songs that are still being recorded and re-recorded today. Using
single, double and triple rhymes and creative vocabularies, these rhyming
geniuses defined the meaning of creativity as they "massaged" ordinary words
into unforgettable lyrics.
Every aspiring songwriter owes it to him/herself to study these masters. Today
there are websites dedicated to lyrics of all the "greats." It's well worth
the time invested to search them out and study them in depth. It's also
invaluable to invest in recordings of these amazing writers. Become familiar
with their hits and watch for the "gems" of craftsmanship that appear again
and again. Some of my personal favorites (and perhaps a good starting place
for your study) are:
"My Heart Stood Still" – Lorenz Hart
"Putting On the Ritz" – Irving Berlin
"Embraceable You" – Ira Gershwin
"Mountain Greenery" – Lorenz Hart
"September in the Rain" – Al Dubin
"I'll See You in My Dreams" – Gus Kahn
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" – Yip Harburg
While it is never completely clear to me as to whether art imitates life or life
imitates art, one thing is certain: As the stable and peaceful 1950's gave way to
the turbulent 1960's, American society began to undergo some very radical changes.
Issues like the Civil Rights Movement, the Viet Nam War and other serious matters
began to dominate American consciousness.
Enter Bob Dylan!
Perhaps no one songwriter in any generation has had such a profound influence on music
as an art form -- or on culture as a whole -- as this scraggly, unrefined, enigmatic
folk singer/songwriter. This angry young man had far more important human issues to
address than making "perfect rhymes" and clever lines to amuse theater-goers. The
message of the song was now paramount and communication became far
more important than sophistication.
Besides, no matter how fastidious a lyricist might be, there are only so many
Perfect Rhymes to be had. After a while they become overused and clichéd. Like a
painter who only uses primary colors and never mixes his paints to create new shades,
lyricists became tired of using the same worn out options. Master songwriter, Jimmy
Webb1, summarizes the problem quite succinctly:
The consistent use of overly familiar language in line after line nudges the writer
inexorably toward cliché. Why so? Because generations of industrious rhymers have
already applied themselves to wringing out the possibilities of such standbys as
"love-dove-above" -– "heart-start apart" -– and "eyes-cries-tries." The cliché is
waiting in the tired rhyme with a Cheshire cat grin.
Bob Dylan's 1964 hit, "The Times They Are a-Changing," was not only a philosophical
observation about the state of the union, but also an artistic departure from the
clever, urbane word techniques of Tin Pan Alley. His "wake-up-America lyrics"
certainly rhymed, but they did not rhyme perfectly. Dylan allowed himself rhymes
like roam with grown -- or pen with again and spin.
His Double or Feminine Rhymes
linked the word changing (the key word in the hook/title) to other words with the
same stressed long vowel sound, but different ending consonants -- words like
saving, naming, raging. They weren't Perfect ... but they were fresh and they worked!
And, of course, Dylan's entrance set the stage for all kinds of other folk-rock
artists of the era -- artists like Janis Ian, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and many others.
Like the "flower children" of that generation, their emphasis turned from sophistication
and wittiness to naturalness, honesty and authenticity. By the time the 1960's were in
full swing, both lyricists and listeners were becoming comfortable with the use of
Near Rhymes in the songs they loved.
Today, Near Rhymes are accepted and even preferred by hit songwriters. Lyricists have
discovered that if you start "mixing the primary colors" you can create all kinds of
interesting shades of meaning and emotion. Come back next time and we'll examine
the craft of Near Rhyme and unlock some of its amazing possibilities!
Jimmy Webb, Tunesmith, p.54
**From her earliest childhood years writing simple songs
and poems with
her father, through her twelve years as an overseas
missionary, to her present,
multi-faceted
career as an author, lyricist/songwriter and conference speaker,
Mary
has always been adept at using words to communicate her heart to
others.
She is the President of
CQK Records &
Music of Dallas, Texas, a company which creates and
produces songs in a panorama of musical styles for a
variety of audiences,
She is the host of "I Write the Songs,"
a nationally syndicated radio talk show,
especially created to
inspire and instruct the more than 40 million aspiring
songwriters in the U.S.
Mary is a frequent public speaker and seminar lecturer
and teacher of songwriting in her popular Living Room Seminars.
She is a Contributing Editor for The Internet Writing Journal
®. You can visit her website at:
www.cqkmusic.com. You can reach Mary
by email.
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