I could carry on and on today about how great it is to finally see the end of the Bush Presidency, and how Obama is going to save America/The World/Civilisation/Life as We Know It, but I figure there’s enough blogs doing that. Bush is gone, Obama – who not only looks good by comparison but objectively seems to be fairly smart, sane and reasonable – is in, and we can all breath a sigh of relief. Enough said.
Instead I’m going to talk about something that’s been bugging me for a while, and that’s trying to figure out the name for a particular poetic or lyrical method (I tell ya, the excitement never stops at the Wyrmlog!)
The technique in question is where the lyrics – by means of first half of an obvious rhyme – lead you to expect a particular concluding rhyme, but then fail to fulfil the expectation by using a contrasting (and almost always non-rhyming) word instead, for purposes of comedy or satire.
Some examples…
A Two Ronnie’s parody of the song “I Dream of Jeanie”
I dream of Daisy-Mae who works at the Vicar’s,
Daisy drives me crazy, without any trouble,
“Kiss Me Son of God” by They Might be Giants
Now you’re the only one left who can tell me if it’s true,
That you love me, and I love me,
A parody of “Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler?” performed many years ago during my high school days…
We won’t put on our CJs, so take good note of it!
‘Cause frankly Mrs Fox we just couldn’t give a… (wait for it!) …damn!
You get the idea.
Working from the principal that every single thing you can do with words has been given a name at some point, this method must have a title. But I just can’t seem to discover what, and it’s driving me nuts…
