Bilingual Rhyme

Sometimes a poem or song uses multiple languages, and often poems or songs use words that rhyme.

This trope is the logical conclusion of both of those facts: The rhyming of words or phrases in two different languages.

Can alleviate the Least Rhymable Word in some cases, such as there is no single word that rhymes with "orange" in English for example, but there are several in French. Also with Foreign Cuss Word if Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion is not enough to get crap past the censors.

Subtrope of Bilingual Bonus and Sister trope to Gratuitous Foreign Language.

This is also called a macaronic song.

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Examples:

Films — Animated

• Beauty and the Beast: Belle starts with this rhyme in English and French:
  Little town, it's a quiet village
  Every day like the one before
  Little town, full of little people
  Waking up to say...
  Bonjour! Bonjour!
• Nutty French chef Louis from The Little Mermaid sings "Les Poissons" as he prepares stuffed crab for Prince Eric and his guests, which mixes French and English liberally. Here's the first stanza rhyming "fish" with "délice."
  Les poissons, les poissons / How I love les poissons
  Love to chop and to serve little fish
  First I cut off their heads / Then I pull out their bones
  Ah mais oui, ça c'est toujours délice.
• Oliver & Company: The chorus for "Why Should I Worry" does a rhyme in English and French.
  Why should I worry?
  Why should I care?
  I may not have it all
  But I've got street savoir faire.
• Winnie the Pooh: At one point, Eeyore sings, "Found this anchor over there. Now it's on my derriere."

Films — Live-Action

• From Mary Poppins, "The Life I Lead" gives us this rhyme in English and French:
  I'm the lord of my castle, the sovereign, the liege.
  I treat my subjects, servants, children, wife
  With a firm but gentle hand. Noblesse oblige.

Literature

• In "A Missouri Maiden's Farewell to Alabama", a composition from Prose and Poetry, by a Western Lady and cited in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, has the following last lines:
  And cold must be mine eyes, and heart, and tête^note "head" in French,
  When, dear Alabama! they turn cold on thee!
• Amphigorey: One small couplet occurs in Edward Gorey's "The Gashlycrumb Tinies," wherein 26 children meet a gruesome demise in alphabetical order.
  "M" is for Maude, who was swept out to sea;
  "N" is for Neville, who died of ennui. (French for boredom)
• The Canterbury Tales, the Pardoner's Prologue, gives us this passage in Middle English and Latin on lines 425-6:
  Therfore my theme is yet, and evere was
  Radix malorum est cupiditas.
• Don Juan has several examples, most notably in canto 1, verse 42, lines 7-8 using English and Latin:
  But Virgil's songs are pure, except that horrid one
  Beginning with "Formosum Pastor Corydon."
• The Song of Durin sung by Gimli in The Fellowship of the Ring rhymes English with Khuzdul, the native Dwarven language:
  The shadow lies upon his tomb
  In Moria, in Khazad-dûm.
• Oh No, Gotta Go! (a children's book) is mainly written in English, but with Spanish words scattered around. Most of the Spanish words are rhymed with other Spanish words, but at one point, "school" is rhymed with "azul" (blue), and a few pages later, "door" and "por favor" (please) are rhymed.

Live-Action TV

• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: "JAP Battle" is a rap between the two Jewish American Princesses Rebecca and Audra, who mix Hebrew and Yiddish phrases into their lyrics. At one point, Audra tells Rebecca, "Between your folks' divorce and that haircut on you / I'm really not sure which one's the bigger shondeh." Rebecca translates the lyric in her next line for the "goys" in the audience (it essentially means "disgrace").

Music

• The Beatles: The Gratuitous French in "Michelle" gets rhymed with English at the beginning of the song. The following appearances of the hook use a French translation of the English line, which also rhymes.
  Michelle, ma belle^note my beauty
  These are words that go together well
• Delinquent Habits: "Tres Delinquentes" gleefully codeswitches throughout its verses as the rappers proudly flex their Latin heritage. Most rhymes remain within the same language, but not always.
  But we freak it this way sigue siendo un rey^note continue being a king
  O.G. freaks the beat the mariachis play
• Senegalese rap duo Daara J Family's "Bayi Yoon" celebrates Pan-Africanism bilingually. Though the first verse is in French and the other parts Wolof, the Wolof verse works the French words for "Pan-Africanists," "mixed-race," and "grandson" into the mainly Wolof rhyme scheme.
  Dougnou fatte fignou joge ndakh panafricanistes delo sougnou xel demb kanamou mame gnou giss
  Dimbali jam yi biss—gnoul métisses dekkil osiris—carbone14 souliwaat gnou giss?histoire bindaat grand-père ba petit fils
• In all refrains of Ekin Cheng's "Until Heaven and Earth Disappear" (a cover of Voice's "Anata no Koe ga Kikitai") have the word "Stay", which is from the original song, rhymed with several Cantonese lines: (While "Anata no Koe ga Kikitai" has multiple foreign covers that keeps all the "Stay" in the refrain, this cover is the only one that makes a rhyme)
  Main Refrain:
  Stay!
  Wùt jèut bāt hó chān ne̋i lìng ngő sāng yȕ séi^note Living without you makes me living death
  Stay!
  Ne̋i na̋a chín siu lìng ngő hūk siu jèuk wȕimèi^note You shallow smile makes me to reminiscence in tears and smiles
  Stay!
  Dàansì jīksí só oi mùt faat hó lȁu héi^note Even if our love could not be kept
  Stay!
  Ngő ya̋a léun ne̋i, jìkji sīusāt tīn yű dèi^note I will love you until heaven and earth disappear
  Final Chrous:
  Stay!
  Wùt jèut bāt hó chān ne̋i lìng ngő sāng yȕ séi^note Living without you makes me living death
  Stay!
  Ne̋i na̋a chín siu yèung ngő fūensiu yìk sēungbèi^note You shallow smile makes me happy yet sad
  Stay!
  Dàansì jīksí só oi mùt faat hó lȁu héi^note Even if our love could not be kept
  Stay!
  Ngő ya̋a léun ne̋i, jìkji sīusāt tīn yű dèi^note I will love you until heaven and earth disappear
• Flanders and Swann's All Gall, a song about Charles De Gaulle, mixes French with English:
  Come back President, govern by decree!
  Referendum: Oui! Oui! Oui!

  This old man, sept et huit!
  "NATO give me back my fleet!"
• Hacken Lee's "One Thousand and One Nights" (which is a cover of Anzen Chitai's "Juliet") has the refrain rhyming between the word Juliet—pronounced in French like "Julié" in English—and several Cantonese lines:
  Oh, Juliet
  Yi̋ yātchīn go yè^note It's already on thousand nights
  Juliet
  Joi dáng géi go yè^note Maybe a few nights more
• The song "Je Suis Désolé" by Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits, the word "way" is rhymed with the word "désolé":
  And I will do that which I must do, love
  And now we're underway
  All that I can say to you is
  Je suis désolé
• Downplayed with The Eraserheads' "Ang Huling El Bimbo", where the singer mixes Tagalog and Tagalized Spanish as he reminisces of his long lost friend, with the last verse grimly talking about her fate:
  Pagkalipas ng maraming taon, 'di na tayo nagkita

  (The years go by, and we haven't seen each other)
  Balita ko'y may anak ka na, ngunit walang asawa

  (I heard you had a kid, without a husband)
  Tagahugas ka raw ng pinggan sa may Ermita

  (I heard that you were a dishwasher at Ermita)
  At isang gabi, nasagasaan sa isang madilim na esquinita

  (And one night, you were hit-and-run at a dark alley.)
• Five Iron Frenzy features a bit of Gratuitous French in "Oh, Canada", as a joke about the country being officially bilingual.
  Let's go to Canada
  Let's leave today!
  Canada, oh, Canada,
  I s'il vous plaît!
• Jhariah: "Whose Eye Is It Anyway???" contains the lines:
  An arm and a leg, my friend, les yeux d'la tete (French for "to cost an arm and a leg")
  I never give as much as I get
• Miki Matsubara's "Stay With Me", a song about begging her lover to stay for the night, has this Gratuitous English rhyming in Japanese:
  Stay with me
  Mayonaka no doa o tataki

  (Knocking on Midnight's door)
  Kaeranaide to naita...

  (Begging you not to go home...)
• Roupa Nova's "Whisky a Go Go" rhymes the name of the titular nightclub with "sonhou", which is Portuguese for "dreamed".
• Sabaton:
  • The chorus of "Hearts of Iron" contains the couplet "Nicht ein Schlacht, ein Rettungsaktion^note "It's not a battle, it's a rescue operation" / Holding their ground 'til the final platoon".
  • The second verse of "The Red Baron" rhymes "red squadron leader" with "Rote Kampfflieger"—literally "the red fighter pilot", the German-language title of Manfred von Richthofen's memoir.
• The Spanglish version of Corazon Espinado, a Love Hurts song by by Santana and Mana has this gem:
  Corazon abandonado (Abandoned Heart?)
  Nobody hears, just my shadow
• Shakira's "Waka Waka" mixes English with Spanish in the first verse after the chorus.
  Listen to your God
  This is our motto
  Your time to shine, don't wait in line
  Y vamos por todo
• Allan Sherman has several examples, the most famous of which is rhyming the title of "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" with "Camp Granada", named for a Spanish city and/or pomegranate. His song "America's A Nice Italian Name" is built upon mixing existing Italian terms into its lyrics and rhymes.
• Stromae: "Ave Cesaria" honors the late great Cape Verdean songstress Cesária Évora. In the rap verse, he rhymes the Portuguese word for "thank you" with the following French that compares her legions of fans to soldiers she recruited.
  Obrigado, tu embrigades des millions de soldats dans ta patrie^note Thank you, you enlist millions of soldiers in your homeland
• South African musical comedian Robbie Wessels. His song of praise to the Bokkies' obsessive fan Jan, Player 23, alternates lines and passages between Afrikaans and English.
  They checked each other's boerewors, to see who is the man.
  (Elton en Jan, is die siel van die span!) ^note  "boerwors" is a sort of sausage. This sets up a visual double entendre in the video. The Afrikaans line translates as "Elton and Jan are the soul of the team!"
• Every "Weird Al" Yankovic that revolves around a foreign language will find ways to rhyme its words with English in amusing ways. Prominent examples include "Lasagna", "Taco Grande", "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi" and "Genius in France".
  No gracias, yo quiero jalapeños, nada más
  You can toss away the hot sauce
• Udo Jürgens' song "Ich will, ich kann – I Can, I Will" mixes German with English.
  Mit Blick ins Märchenland
  Geh'n wir zu zweit durchs Ziel ^note Looking into fairytale land, we cross the finish line as a pair
  'Cause knowing you means I can - I will

  Ein Leben voller Sinn ^note A life full of meaning
  Together we will win

Poetry

• "Carmen Possum" is a Latin/English poem.
  The nox was lit by lux of Luna,
  And 'twas a nox most opportuna
  To catch a possum or a coona;
  For nix was scattered o'er this mundus,
  A shallow nix, et non profundus.
  On sic a nox with canis unus,
  Two boys went out to hunt for coonus.
• "The Motor Bus" is a macaronic poem using Latin and English, though using the traditional English pronunciation of Latin.
  What is this that roareth thus?
  Can it be a Motor Bus?
  Yes, the smell and hideous hum
  Indicat Motorem Bum!

Puppet Shows

• Sesame Street: In the song "I Love Words", there's one lyric "French words like 'chapeau' and 'tete', music words like 'clarinet'."

Theatre

• A Chorus Line: In "Dance 10, Looks 3", Val sings about how she auditioned well but kept losing roles to dancers with more assets. After a visit to a plastic surgeon, she found that getting bigger parts was all a matter of getting bigger parts.
  Val: Tits and ass!
  Bought myself a fancy pair.
  Tightened up the derriere.
• Hamilton:
  • "Take a Break" gives us this rhyme using English and French:
    My daddy's trying to start America's bank,
    Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq!
  • Frenchman Lafayette rhymes English 'afar' with several French words in "Aaron Burr, Sir":
    I came from afar just to say "Bonsoir!"
    Tell the King "Casse toi!" Who's the best? C'est moi!
• In the Heights is a musical about a Dominican community living in Washington Heights, and thus features a lot of Spanish phrases. Some of the song lyrics rhyme English words with Spanish words. For example, the title song rhymes "café" (Spanish for "coffee") with "away":
  In the Heights, I can't survive without café (I serve café)
  'Cause tonight seems like a million years away!
• In Iolanthe, Sir William Gilbert enjoys himself far too much with this trope:
  FAIRIES: Your lordly style
  We'll quickly quench
  With base canaille!
  LORDS: That word is French!

  FAIRIES: Distinction ebbs
  Before a herd
  Of vulgar plebs!
  LORDS: A Latin word!

  FAIRIES: 'Twill fill with joy
  And madness stark
  The hoi polloi!
  LORDS: A Greek remark!
• There are a few in the musical Six. In the "Don't Lose Ur Head" number, "bonjour" is rhymed with "chore" and "everyday" is rhymed with "prêt-à-manger". The "Haus of Holbien" number rhymes "are" with "Wunderbar" and puns on fear/vier and nine/nein.

Video Games

• Billie Bust Up! has Fantoccio the puppet, who constantly peppers his Villain Song, "I've Had Enough of You", with Gratuitous French:
  But why stop there? Add a lion, a bear. What's wrong, my petite chère (French for "little dear")? Why don't you smile?

Web Video

• Music YouTuber Andrew Huang responded to a dare by releasing a rap in FIVE languages (English, French, Spanish, Swedish, and Mandarin), complete with quintilingual rhymes (and very helpful parallel subtitles).
  Je vois clairement, 你只有一个 dim fog
  let me illuminate, ge mig en trumslag
  también un micrófono, ces idiots 没有口
  他们喝太多久酒, try to succeed, they don't though
• Epic Rap Battles of History: In "Rasputin vs. Stalin," Putin boasts about his rap skills, "Blow it up like a tuba / While I'm balling in Cuba / Doing judo moves and schooling every communist CYKA," the latter word being Russian for "bitch."
• Mori Calliope from hololive is good at mixing English and Japanese together, as demonstrated in her debut song "Excuse My Rudeness But Could You Please RIP?"
  To my surprise, snatching lives toriaezu kinshi (forbidden for the time being)
  Nice try, stoppin' the motherfuckin' Da Vinci
  Of human erasure, can't stop the pace, sir
  Make sure when "standing off" my rhymes slay first
• Zero Punctuation: The last Limerick in Yahtzee's review of Wolfenstein (2009) goes as follows:
  Well, if you like starting beatups in bars,
  Or your head has been lodged up your arse,
  Wolfenstein may give
  at least some joie de vivre;
  Otherwise, don?t bother. Two stars.

Western Animation

• In The Casagrandes, the theme song rhymes "store" with "amor" (Spanish for "love").
• The Cat in the Hat: When the Cat in the Hat is singing his name in different languages, he rhymes "chapeau" with "sombrero".
• Phineas and Ferb: In "Summer Belongs to You," Isabella's song "City of Love," about how she wishes Phineas would notice her after they crash-landed in Paris, rhymes, "I wish that he would whisper ma chérie, je t'aime"^note French for "My darling, I love you" with "But all he wants to do is try to fix that plane."
• In Shrek the Halls, Puss in Boots, while singing a parody of "Feliz Navidad" called "Fleas Navidad", rhymes "Navidad" ("Christmas" in Spanish) with "sad".

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