Songs that rhyme a word with itself

I think you should tell Lord Byron and William Shakespeare that they are clumsy for using the very same device, which has existed for centuries, not to mention Dante in The Divine Comedy.

 

Lola - The Kinks

I left home just a week before & I never ever kissed a woman before

 

And of course

"Well, I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man"

 

I didn’t mean that the structure of the verse was inherently clumsy. Obviously, it’s quite possible to gracefully combine internal rhymes and end rhymes within the lines of verse. My (mild) criticism is that Paul switched from a nicely executed combination of repetition and internal rhyme in verse 1 to the rather inelegant use of “get her” and ”better” in line 2 to achieve a different, though perhaps more traditional, poetic form. I personally like the form and rhyme scheme of verse 1 and think the song would be stronger lyrically if he’d continued in the same way. But that’s just me. The purpose of my original post was to point out that Paul was not simply trying to rhyme “better” with “better” in verse 1. Rather, he was using repetition to give emphasis to the central idea of the song—“make it better.”

 

And of course Lo-lo-lo-lo- Lola!

 

Yes, this is my #1 worst lyric of all time.

 

I think ending three consecutive lines with the same word might take the prize:

We're just knocked out
We heard about the sell-out
You've gotta get an album out

 

And then there's this memorable bit of songwriting sloth:

And when I tell you that I love you
You're gonna say you love me too
And when I ask you to be mine
You're gonna say you love me too

 

The Beatles - I've Just Seen a Face

I've just seen a face
I can't forget the time or place
Where we just met
She's just the girl for me
And I want all the world to see
We've met, mm-mm-mm-m'mm-mm

David Bowie - Kooks

We bought a lot of things to keep you warm and dry
And a funny old crib on which the paint won't dry

 

I love Bob Seger but this one in Traveling Man always bugs me: "I see the traces they've left on my soul/Those are the memories that made me a wealthy soul"

 

I always thought the double use of ‘shoulder’ seemed a bit lazy too...
“Don’t carry the world upon your shoulder” and “the movement you need is on your shoulder” (although of course, Paul doesn’t attempt to rhyme one with the other).
In fact the more I think about it, the more it’s obvious the song is never going to be a hit. You gonna tell him or shall I?

 

I am still perplexed that there are people out there who consider him a great artist. These are horrible, sophomoric lyrics, regardless of rhyming issues.

 

Was just listening to this one. The rhyme works great.

The Kinks - All Night Stand



“And forget all this chide (six)
And all the people on my back
Once I'm free from these chains
I ain't never looking back”

 

I agree, there seems to be a difference between just rhyming a word with itself, and rhyming a word that can be used in different syntactical contexts.

An example of the "just rhyming a word with itself" approach would be (from Kid Rock):

And we were trying different things
We were smoking funny things

 

I don't think this quite qualifies. The rhyme is "more step" and "door step". It'd be like saying that "measure" and "leisure" are the same word because there's ..."sure" inside both.

The poster is really looking at songs with the exact same word for the entire rhyme, such as "In the morning, I got myself outta bed. At the end of the day, I dragged myself back into bed."

The "Hey Jude" example above is more like what the OP is looking for.

 

Understood, although I don't see how rhyming "better" with "get her" is any less elegant than rhyming "better" with "letter." Is the internal rhyme of "better" and "let her" in the first stanza any better than the "get her" rhyme? I'm just curious.

 

Skynyrd

Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell

All kinds of awful.

 

Parliament: Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)
May as well post the entire thing.

Tear the roof off
We're gonna tear the roof off the mother sucker
Tear the roof off the sucker
Tear the roof off
We're gonna tear the roof off the mother sucker
Tear the roof off the sucker
Tear the roof off
We're gonna tear the roof off the mother sucker
Tear the roof off the sucker
Tear the roof off
We're gonna tear the roof off the mother sucker
Tear the roof off the sucker
You've got a real type of thing goin' down, gettin' down
There's a whole lot of rhythm goin' round
You've got a real type of thing goin' down, gettin' down
There's a whole lot of rhythm goin' round
Oww, we want the funk, give up the funk
Oww, we need the funk, we gotta have that funk
Oww, we want the funk, give up the funk
Oww, we need the funk, we gotta have that funk

 

Raconteurs "only child" rhymes "twice" with "twice"... ... ...twice!

 

Icicle Works - Hollow Horse

these two snippets:

Be careful what you dream of
It may come up and surprise you
I can't confess my life's a mess
I've come to idolise you

and

Things I chose to value
I no longer have a use for
I ridicule myself for all the things
Those symbols stood for

always stuck out to me as odd. Still a great song.

 

JAMC - "Come On" does this twice (sort of), then rhymes "fire" with "higher" just to add to the severity of their sentence..:

We've got nothing but that's alright
Nothing could be something if the feeling's right
Holding onto something doesn't make it mine
Got to get to heaven but we don't have time
So come on
Bright light city set my soul on fire
Couldn't get me worried, couldn't get me higher
Scream for me baby 'cause I'm going down
Got to get to heaven when the sun goes down
So come on

 

Van Morrison "And It Stoned Me"

"And the rain let up
And the sun came up"

It sounds perfectly lovely, but I do remember the first time wondering if I heard him correctly.

 

I didn't think Paul was trying to rhyme "let her" with "better" in verse 1. Perhaps he was, though the rhythm of that rhyme seems awkward. But in any event, I was just stating my preference for what I view as the artful repetition of the key words that end the second and fourth lines of verse 1 over the "get her" / "better" end rhyme in verse 2. But what do I know about good lyrics anyway? The Beach Boys are my favorite group. And McCartney did ok without my advice.

 

"Generals gathered in their masses..."
"Just like witches at Black Masses..."

 

Lou Reed “Walk on the Wild Side”

“Head”