Lazy Rhymes

Okay, today is a two-post day because Take a Walk on the Wild Side just came up on my iPod when I was shuffling songs. I do like that song, but I have always been really annoyed by the bit that goes:
'But she never lost her head
Even when she was giving head'.
Argh, the rhyme of 'head' with 'head' just slices right to my core!

Then I got thinking about other songs that do that, and realised that there are actually quite a few. The first one that springs to mind is War Pigs:
'Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses.'
Now, not only is that lazy but it's quite forced as well. At least 'even when she was giving head' kind of fits in with the rest of Take a Walk on the Wild Side- it's about the antics of a wild transvestite (I think), and giving head is something a wild transvestite would probably do. But the witches simile is just a bit weird. I know they mention sorcerers later in the verse, but I can't help thinking that they did that after thinking 'Hmm how can we follow up that weird witches simile we had to shoehorn into the first couple of lines because we are too lazy to even look the word 'masses' up in a rhyming dictionary?'. Sort it out Ozzy.

Then there's The Beatles. Even The Beatles are not above this.
'Hey Jude, don't make it bad,
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.'
Come to think of it, why did I think the Beatles would be above this? The entire chorus of Hey Jude consists of the word 'Nah'!

Oh god, and then there's that horrible HORRIBLE Kid Rock one that samples Werewolves of London and had a midi of Sweet Home Alabama as the chorus and was all over the radio a couple of years ago...
'We were trying different things
And we were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favourite songs.'
Go and die, Kid Rock. Your songs make me sick, and the mental image of you making love with anyone out by a lake makes me want to do an Oedipus and gouge my eyes out.


Last one I can think of is Light My Fire:
'Come on baby light my fire,
Try to set the night on fire.'
...I can't think of a witty comment to round this off. So...er...

Then there's The Hardest Button to Button by the White Stripes.

'It didn't last long, because I stopped it,

I grabbed a rag doll and stuck some little pins in it.'

I am kind of inclined to forgive the White Stripes because I am sure they probably put that in in a sneery kind of way. 'Our percussion is as lazy as our rhymes, we just can't be bothered to be rock stars because we are too cool'.

So what have we learnt today? That a lot of songs have lazy rhymes in them, but that sometimes it is acceptable. I am going to start collecting these and writing them down whenever I hear one.