11 Most Hilariously Awful Rhymes in Music History
Published Monday, November 17, 2008 at 12:01:00 AM
At dinner tonight, the No Doubt song "Spiderwebs" came on in the restaurant. And, reflexively, when that song comes on, people start singing along. We can't help it. That damn thing is insidiously implanted in every brain of my generation.
Whilst singing along, we encountered the lyric, "It's all your fault, I screen my phone calls." Which is such an incredibly sloppy rhyme. That got me thinking about other really sloppy rhymes... and off the top of my head, I was able to easily think of 11 incredibly, hilariously and ridiculously bad rhymes in song lyrics.
I wouldn't even begin to think this is an exhaustive list. I'm hoping that, now that I'm on the lookout (and, maybe, you're on the lookout), we'll start spotting even more of these so I can make a volume two, three, four, and more of this list.
But that's the future. For now, let's enjoy some of the worst songwriting that mankind has ever seen...
This list was published on Monday, November 17, 2008 at 12:01:00 AM under the category Music.
It currently has View Comments.
Published Monday, November 17, 2008 at 12:01:00 AM
At dinner tonight, the No Doubt song "Spiderwebs" came on in the restaurant. And, reflexively, when that song comes on, people start singing along. We can't help it. That damn thing is insidiously implanted in every brain of my generation.
Whilst singing along, we encountered the lyric, "It's all your fault, I screen my phone calls." Which is such an incredibly sloppy rhyme. That got me thinking about other really sloppy rhymes... and off the top of my head, I was able to easily think of 11 incredibly, hilariously and ridiculously bad rhymes in song lyrics.
I wouldn't even begin to think this is an exhaustive list. I'm hoping that, now that I'm on the lookout (and, maybe, you're on the lookout), we'll start spotting even more of these so I can make a volume two, three, four, and more of this list.
But that's the future. For now, let's enjoy some of the worst songwriting that mankind has ever seen...
"Africa" by Toto. I absolutely love this song in a "the '80s are awesome" way. But this lyric is just mind-boggling:
I bless the rains.The wild dogs cry out in the night,
As much as I appreciate the intricacy of a lyric like "As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti," you just can't rhyme "company" and "Serengeti." You also shouldn't have to blurt out that entire line as fast as possible in a futile effort to catch up with the rhyme scheme.
As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company.
I know that I must do what's right,
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti.
Link: "Africa" on Youtube, lyric is from 1:44 to 2:05- "Humpty Dance" by Digital Underground. "The Humpty Dance" is iconic. It's also quite sad when your lyric writing is so weak and lazy that you acknowledge the weakness and laziness in the lyrics themselves.
I get stupid,
Link: "Humpty Dance" on Youtube, lyric is from 2:15 to 2:20
I shoot an arrow like Cupid,
I use a word that don't mean nothin',
Like loopid. - "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul. This is one of my favorite moments in any song, ever. She has a rhyme that works and then hilariously messes it up. For absolutely no good reason. The line makes perfect sense without throwing in the extra word.
Are you more than hot for me?
Still makes me smile in the way that only perfect unintentional comedy can. Book!
Or am I a page in your history -- book?
Link: "Straight Up" on Youtube, lyric is from 2:44 to 2:51 - "Method Man" by Wu-Tang Clan. I've always found it strange that Method Man is the most famous of the nine Wu-Tang members, since, talent-wise, he's somewhere in the back of the pack. This is a lyric from his vanity song that was on the Wu-Tang Clan's debut album, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)".
Hey, you, get off my cloud,
To make this work, he has to half-mumble, half-mispronounce "style," making it sound something like "st-oww." And even then it's an imperfect rhyme.
You don't know me and you don't know my style.
Link: "Method Man" on Youtube, lyric is from 0:31 to 0:35 - "I Don't Wanna Wait" by Paula Cole. She pulls off something here that is the rarely-seen double whammy of lyrical tragedy. She molests and violates the English language to try to make her rhyme work... and even with the horrendous grammar, the rhyme is STILL imperfect.
So open up your morning light,
Dawson, Pacey and Joey are rolling over in their graves.
And say a little prayer for I.
Link: "I Don't Wanna Wait" on Youtube, lyric is from 0:06 to 0:11 - "Smack That" by Akon. Akon is one of my least favorite artists ever, so, in general, I'm biased against him. But, objectively speaking, there's no way that this lyric is anything but terrible:
I feel you creeping,
Rhyming shadow with Gallardo is already borderline... but then rhyming both of those with a contrived reference to "Tae Bo"... yikes.
I can see it from my shadow.
Wanna jump up in my Lamborghini Gallardo.
Maybe go to my place and just kick it like Tae Bo.
Link: "Smack That" on Youtube, lyric is from 0:54 to 1:06 (although if you don't skip to it and watch the beginning of the video, you can see a nice, freaky Eric Roberts cameo) - "Fergalicious" by Fergie. Sometimes I wonder if Fergie is just kinda messing with people; like she's some super genius who just devised these ridiculous songs to get her sociopathic jollies out of watching people sing along to them. Anyway, here are three lyrics I want to spotlight...
Fergalicious (so delicious)
Rhyming delicious with promiscuous -- bad. Rhyming delicious and vicious with fitness -- very bad. Spelling tasty with an "e" -- unforgivable.
But I ain't promiscuous.
...
I'm Fergalicious (so delicious)
My body stay vicious,
I be up in the gym just working on my fitness.
...
T to the A, to the S T E Y,
Girl, you're tasty.
Link: "Fergalicious" on Youtube, lyrics are from 0:32 to 0:35, 1:24 to 1:31 and 2:09 to 2:13 - "Bills, Bills, Bills" by Destiny's Child. This was Destiny Child's first single. This rhyme is almost more comical than bad...
Can you pay my bills?
Actually, I guess it's a decent way to combine two words. Feels like it could've been in a Sniglets calendar. (To make a reference that 0.05 percent of my audience will get.)
Can you pay my telephone bills?
Can you pay my automo-bills?
Link: "Bills, Bills, Bills" on Youtube, lyric is from 1:14 to 1:20
"Rico Suave" by Gerardo. This song was huge when I was in middle school. For those unfamiliar, Gerardo was a completely artificially constructed artist (like a boy band or Avril Lavigne)... he was just a South American guy with a nice, muscular body who some executives thought they could market in the U.S.
Rico. Suave.
It was well known, even back then, that Gerardo was just handed a piece of paper with lyrics and he sang them. He didn't write them, he didn't have any input... he was like a shirtless, Latin Teddy Ruxpin. Which was probably the best thing for him, if he was trying to cling to any shred of artistic integrity.My only addiction has to do with the female species,
Link: "Rico Suave" on Youtube, lyrics are from 0:42 to 0:46, 2:31 to 2:35 and 2:58 to 3:02
I eat 'em raw like sushi.
...
But you kept persisting that I meet your parents,
Hah, they're going to love my appearance!
...
I'm used to good old-fashioned home-style Spanish cooking,
If I try that I'll be puking.
- "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police. Sting has always written lyrics that are borderline overly pretentious. But at least they usually rhyme. (Yes, I'm fine with him rhyming cough and Nabakov in "Don't Stand So Close to Me".)
But in "Wrapped Around Your Finger", his gratuitous literary reference doesn't rhyme. And that easily qualifies it for my list.You consider me the young apprentice,
Those two words do not rhyme. No matter how much of an accent you have.
Caught between the Scylla and Charybdis.
Link: "Wrapped Around Your Finger" on Youtube, lyric is from 0:41 to 0:53. - "Trapped in the Closet (Part 10)" by R. Kelly. Did I save the best for last?
The midget says, "Mister, the man that pay me to this would kill me if I tell!"
Tell and myself don't rhyme. Oh, and I checked with Webster's, and they aren't planning on adding "shitted" to next year's dictionaries.
He points the gun in his face, the midget say, "God, I think I just shitted on myself."
Link: "Trapped in the Closet (Part 10)" on Youtube, lyric is from 0:46 to 0:55.
This list was published on Monday, November 17, 2008 at 12:01:00 AM under the category Music.
It currently has View Comments.
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It's all written by Sam Greenspan, a Midwest-born, classically-trained journalist who now tries to make a dollar out of 15 cents in Los Angeles. (It's hard to be legit and still pay the rent.)
Read more about 11 Points and Sam here.
For information about reprinting 11 Points content, or for quotes/interviews for your newspaper, magazine, website, TV program, or radio show, contact Sam via e-mail at