Rhymes
From This Might Be A Wiki
TMBG has occasionally mentioned rhyme lyrically. The Johns have also selectively avoided the device, for various reasons.
Briefly mentioned[edit]
- Drink! - "But what words rhyme with buried alive?"
- Hate The Villanelle - "With these picky rules and odd jigsaw rhymes"
- In addition, the lyrics of the song are a villanelle, a type of poem with a strict rhyme scheme.
- Rhythm Section Want Ad - "Plenty of time to turn mistakes into rhyme"
- Share A Story - "There's so much to rhyme that we don't know what to do"
- Three Might Be Duende - "Lost in his rhymes"
- Which Describes How You're Feeling - "You said I'm feeling fine, but it didn't really rhyme, it didn't rhyme, overseas ... but your lie doesn't rhyme with the word overseas"
Songs with no rhymes[edit]
On some occasions, TMBG songs contain few or very scarce rhymes. Instrumentals are not included in this list.
- Aaa - Other than one pseudo-rhyme; "guy / inside"
- All Alone
- Ant
- Apophenia - Other than a partial rhyme "got / gut"
- Asbury Park
- Bastard Wants To Hit Me
- Boat Of Car
- Brooklyn
- By The Time You Get This
- Call Connected Thru the NSA
- Diving Board
- Doctor Worm - Except for the pseudo-rhymes "drums / criticism", "it / stick", and "signal /Rabbi Vole /solo"
- Experimental Film - Contains only one near rhyme: "explain it / great it's"
- Extra Savoir-Faire
- Hearing Aid
- I Can Add
- I Don't Understand You
- Man, It's So Loud In Here
- My Other Phone Is A Boom Car
- Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head - The only construable rhymes are "things you'd known before", "pounding at the door" and "loving arms" with "words you say are", and "puppet head" with "busted in"
- Replicant
- Santa Cruz
- Taste The Fame
- The Bloodmobile
- Wearing A Raincoat
- Weep Day - Contains no "perfect" rhymes; only slant rhymes ("half / man") and repetition of unstressed syllables ("singing / addressing")
- When Tornadoes Take Over The World
- You Don't Like Me
Unexpected lack of rhymes[edit]
A few songs cut out single rhymes in key places, often emphatically.
- Counterfeit Faker - "There's no way to measure / The damage he has done / Counterfeit faker / Carries a grudge" (Expected rhyme: "gun")
- Darling, The Dose - "Make no mistake, I still need you the most / Time has the power to bind us too close / The dose is the poison we've had more than most / Darling / Darling" Based on the repeated rhymes, this seems to be leading up to the title of the song, but only the first word ("Darling") is actually sung.
- Don't I Have The Right? - The fake-out in "I would try someone new / If that someone would love me / The way you did"—where the final word "do" is expected—makes the line's past tense more poignant
- E Eats Everything - "H burns food so horrible / All I tastes is smoke / J just likes drinking juice / And K drinks only soda" intentionally avoids the brand name Coke.
- I'll Be Haunting You - "Need I remind you of the oath you swore in 1993 / Don't act like you don't act like you know why you flinch at the image of these words" The second line would be expected to end with "the image of me".
- I'll Sink Manhattan - In the line "So before I get through / I'll find your answering machine and I'll sink it first", "first" was intentionally chosen over the rhyming "sink it too".[1]
- I'm Your Boyfriend Now - "You don't have to say it / I can see it in your eyes / I can read it in your heart / I can hear it in your silence" (intentionally and abruptly avoids the rhyming cliché of "I can hear it in your sighs")
- Kiss Me, Son Of God - "Now you're the only one here who can tell me if it's true. That you love me and I love me" (Expected rhyme: "you")
- My Evil Twin - Includes multiple fake-outs:
- "That resembles a Republican president from long ago / I'd hate to see you leave" (rather than "go")
- "My evil twin / Bad-weather friend / He always wants to start / When I want to begin" (rather than "end")
- "I lay my head / On the railroad track / Stare at the sky / All painted up" (rather than "black")
- "Two years ago / Moved from my town / I was looking up / Past the city lights" (I was looking "down" might be expected here)
- When It Rains It Snows - "There's a note on the door/ and the note will say when it rains it snows" — obviously one would expect to hear when it rains it "pours".
