Wednesday, January 11, 2012

What’s that rhyme?

Now that I have the file-count limit sorted out on the audio system in my car, it’s much better at playing songs in random order. Now I’m hearing Yes, Linda Ronstadt, Steely Dan, Toni Price, and Jackson Browne, and not just artists in the alphabetic A’s and B’s.

Thus, the other day I heard a song from Los Lobos’ great album The Neighborhood. The song that came on was the one that opens the album, Down on the Riverbed, and it struck me, as it has before, that there’s a slight oddness to the rhyme in the chorus. It goes like this (emphases mine):

Down on the riverbed,
Down on the riverbed,
Down on the riverbed,
I asked my lover for her h...

...for her h...

You want it to be head, don’t you? I certainly do. They set you up with bed thrice, and what rhymes with bed? Well, head, most assuredly.

Of course, it’s hand; Down on the riverbed, I asked my lover for her hand.

Trips my brain up every time I hear that song.

1 comment:

  1. Actually, it doesn't naturally lead me to expect the last line to rhyme, because the scansion is different.

    ReplyDelete

I use comment moderation to avoid comment-spam and nastiness, not to filter opinions. I intend to publish all reasonable comments, whether or not they agree with me. I will not publish any comment that is unduly flaming or that uses foul language, whether or not it agrees with me. You may contact me about an entry by making a comment and telling me that it is a private comment, in which case I will not publish it. If you want a response, include your email address. For privacy reasons I won’t publish a comment that contains someone’s email address.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.