Songs with lyrics that rhyme the same words

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The Who - "Happy Jack"

Happy jack wasn’t old, but he was a man
He lived in the sand at the Isle of Man

jedidiah (jedidiah), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Beastie Boys - "Pass the Mic"

everybody's rapping like it's a commercial
acting like life is a big commercial

roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Black Sabbath, you know the one.

hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

'You two scousers are always talking,
We just let our feet do the talking'
(The Anfield Rap)

Jamie Fake (the pirate king), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

RFTW get double points for the opening stanza:

Oh, Sheila, love me right
Let me love you til I get it right
Why can't you let the others be
'Cuz with you is where I got to be

Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Diddy goes for three in "I'll Be Missing You":

"Watchin' us while we pray for you
Every day we pray for you"

Rich (Rich), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

How WEIRD! I was just thinking of staring this same thread after hearing War Pigs the other day.


cw28 (cw28), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Bon Jovi -- I'll be there for you, these five words I swear to you, when you breathe I wanna be the air for you, I'll be there for you

cw28 (cw28), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Joseph, i had a feeling you'd beat me to the "Oh Sheila" reference...

ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

nirvana, all apologies, i think it's "write" with "right"... probably the first indication to my adolescent mind that kurt wasn't the second coming of john lennon.

drew, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

um, pretty much any kanye west verse ever

Lazza, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 23:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Too Short to thread

tremendoid, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 23:01 (twenty-one years ago)

You're never too short to thread, dude.

EPMD has that line "I said where's my lawyer / the cop grabbed me and said "yo, there's your lawyer" or something like that.

Taxi Dancing in the Soft Prison (Ben Boyer), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 23:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Do Sleater-Kinney get away with rhyming 'Thurston Moore' with 'door' and then with 'more'? I suppose they do, actually.

Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 16 September 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Let's have The Who again - "They Are All In Love"

How do you feel goin' up hallowed halls
And the summer clothes brighten gloomy halls

mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Thursday, 16 September 2004 08:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Wiley to thread, and step on it

DJ Mencap0))), Thursday, 16 September 2004 09:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"I found that essence rare, it's what I lived for
I knew I'd get what I asked for."

They also rhyme "bikini" with "bikini" somewhere else in the song.

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 16 September 2004 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Um, what's the problem with homophones (eg. "right" and "write"; "Moore" and "more")?

Also with the Bon Jovi example the relevant rhyming section is there/air etc. This is also a common practice in rap.

Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 16 September 2004 12:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"Walk on the Wild Side":
"But she never lost her head
Even when she was givin' head"

Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 16 September 2004 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

It must get better in the long run
Has to get better in the long run
Will it get better in the long run
Will we be here in the long run

Madness - Yesterday's Men

Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 16 September 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I been thru the desert on a horse with no name
it felt good to be out of the rain.
In the desert, you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no-one for to give you no pain.

and rhyming "name" with itself is probably the LEAST dumb thing about those immortal verses.

briania (briania), Thursday, 16 September 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Never had a Cassandra complex
But I knew things would get too complex

Spielerfrau - Middlesex

maggot therapy (joseph cotten), Thursday, 16 September 2004 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Foreigner:

You don't have to read my mind
To know what I have in mind.

skreddy57 (skreddy57), Friday, 17 September 2004 05:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Not quite a fit, but I always thought this line from A Tribe Called Quest's "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo":

A gas station we passed
we got gas

was somewhat less than inspired.

The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Friday, 17 September 2004 05:17 (twenty-one years ago)

The most awkward, off-sounding thing in rap is to invert the verb and subject to make the rhyme work. I think "El Segundo" also contains a gem that goes something like, "Whatttaya know, my wallet I forgot."

briania (briania), Friday, 17 September 2004 11:23 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...
Ventura highway in the sunshine
Where the days are longer
The nights are stronger than moonshine

m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Thursday, 7 October 2004 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)


http://www.snpp.com/episodes/3F10.html

At the bowling lanes, the Pin Pals are on another roll...

All but Homer: Come on, Homer! Come on, Homer!
Pretend this is baseball and hit us a homer!
[Homer gets a strike; they cheer]
Homer: By the way, guys: rhyming "Homer" with "homer"? [kisses fingers]

wetmink (wetmink), Sunday, 10 October 2004 23:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I once rhymed ball with eyeball which felt a little pathetic really.

papa november (papa november), Monday, 11 October 2004 01:28 (twenty-one years ago)

OH NO NEW DAWN FADES OH NO

"We'll give you everything and more
The strain's too much, can't take much more
I've walked on water, run through fire
Can't seem to feel it anymore"

Except those lyrics rock.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 11 October 2004 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Bon Jovi again!

Well I walk these streets, a loaded six-string on my back
I play for keeps, 'cause I might not make it back

My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Monday, 11 October 2004 02:39 (twenty-one years ago)

twenty years pass...

Beyonce - Irreplaceable

I could have another you in a minute,
Matter fact, he’ll be here in a minute

This is obviously a super old song, but I heard it recently and it's been bugging me. I think she could have gone with something like

Matter fact, he'll be here with a picnic!

peace, man, Tuesday, 2 September 2025 15:20 (two months ago)

I told Jay I had a song with Coldplay
Next thing I know, he got a song with Coldplay

supermeerkat (Deflatormouse), Tuesday, 2 September 2025 16:30 (two months ago)

its been brought up a ton but Kid Rock's "we were drinkin' funny things and we were smokin' funny things" line irritates me not just because of this but because there are thousands of great euphemisms for alcohol and drugs and he just goes with "things", not once but twice, I think that's what puts it in contention for the worst song ever written

frogbs, Tuesday, 2 September 2025 16:42 (two months ago)

She got a light skinned friend look like Michael Jackson
Got a dark skinned friend look like Michael Jackson

The worst people in the world are the ones that do this

henry s, Tuesday, 2 September 2025 16:49 (two months ago)

Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll actually does this 3 times. The third time is the mark of genius.

o. nate, Tuesday, 2 September 2025 17:53 (two months ago)

But it's all right now, in fact it's a gas
But it's all right, I'm jumpin' jack flash
It's a gas, gas, gas

... possibly, I'm not convinced.

AI Jardine (Tom D.), Friday, 5 September 2025 13:07 (one month ago)

Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll actually does this 3 times.

The Kanye song does it enough that it qualifies as repetition tbf, even though there are interspersed near-rhymes.
it’s not strictly the kind of rhyme fail OP is getting at (I wanna fly! Very high! Inna sky! … Just like a dragonfly!), but “Coldplay” trumps whatever technicalities imo.

supermeerkat (Deflatormouse), Friday, 5 September 2025 18:18 (one month ago)

two weeks pass...

Geto Boys - My Mind is Playin Tricks on Me

He owns a black hat like I own
A black suit and a cane like my own

bbq, Thursday, 25 September 2025 23:49 (one month ago)

nirvana, all apologies, i think it's "write" with "right"... probably the first indication to my adolescent mind that kurt wasn't the second coming of john lennon.

"You may say I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the wuhuherld will live as one"

m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Friday, 26 September 2025 06:09 (one month ago)

This bit from "Raspberry Fields" is the first thing I thought of, which I actually love and think is funny:

"the sample's the flesh and the beat is the skeleton/
you got beef but there's worms in your Wellington/
I'll put a hole in your skull and extract the skeleton/
oh my god, I said a word twice"

feed me with your chips (zchyrs), Friday, 26 September 2025 11:47 (one month ago)


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