Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion / Music

Subverted Rhymes in music.

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• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Lyre of Orpheus"
  Orpheus looked at his instrument
  And he gave the wire a pluck
  He heard a sound so beautiful
  He gasped and said O my God
• The 1921 classic "Ain't We Got Fun" does the clean version:
  There's nothing surer
  The rich get rich and the poor get — children.
  • The second time 'round, the poor get "laid off."
• Musical humor group The Axis of Awesome uses a standard variety in their song “What Would Jesus Do?”
  And did you give your life up
  To save humans from bad luck?
  Were you born of virgin birth
  Or did your parents... have sex?
• Obscure British Art-pop band David Devant and his Spirit Wife and Mr Solo (the lead singers solo project) do this a LOT.
  • From "Pimlico":
    Sometimes London don't seem too appealing
    Maybe your lover is living in Deptford.
  • From "Slip it To me":
    And my Uncle thinks I'm barmy
    'cause I don't pack my bag and join the navy.
  • From "Black and White":
    I woke up this morning, my head was full of rocks
    I couldn't remember the night before, I'd lost a pair of shoes
  • From "Genius":
    This song doesn't make its own luck
    'cause this song doesn't give a flying family planning clinic.
  • Furthermore the lead singer sometimes changes the lyrics which actually do rhyme when performing live. For instance "Do you have plans in your head, you wish they'd all go drop dead" becomes "Do you have plans in your head, you wish they'd fuck off and die".
• Morrissey has the song "I Have Forgiven Jesus", which features this refrain:
  Monday: Humiliation
  Tuesday: Suffocation
  Wednesday: Condescension
  Thursday: Is pathetic
• "Brass Monkey" by Beastie Boys:
  We got the bottle you got the cup
  Come on everybody let's get ffffffff
  Brass Monkey
  That funky Monkey
  • "The New Style":
    MCA: I got rhymes that are rough and rhymes that are slick
    I'm not surprised you're on
    Mike D.: MIKE D.!
• From Madvillain's "Great Day"
  Spit so many verses, sometimes my jaw twitches
  One thing this party could use is more...booze
  • Then subverted as the song continues:
    Put yourself in your own shoes
    And stay away from all those pairs of busted Timbs you don't use
• From DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's "You Saw My Blinker", the only song where Will Smith curses (but not in this line, which he avoids):
  This is a story I'll never forget/About the day my new car got hit
  It caught me off-guard cause it happened so quick/When I heard the crash I got mad as... hell
• Tommy Tutone's memetic hit "Jenny (867 5309)" features this little gem
  Jenny, Jenny, you're the girl for me
  You don't know me but you make me so happy
  • Tommy Heath's awkward pause right before delivering the "happy" line really makes it.
• A double subverted lyric with different words than you'd think — Hieroglyphics' "Throw it in Ya Grill":
  A little bit of this is all I need
  Can't wait to get home and smoke some salmon
  Throw it in ya grill, then called my seed (scene?)
  And when the street lights go off, we're jammin
• From the "Weird Al" Yankovic song "I'm So Sick of You":
  You don't have an ounce of class
  You're just one big pain in the neck
  • And from Al's not-officially-released track "Still Billy Joel to Me":
    It's a big hit isn't it
    Even if it's a piece of junk
  • A touch of lampshading in the song "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long" on album Even Worse
  I know if I put my mind to it
  I know I could find a good rhyme here
  • Done subtly in "Whatever You Like"; it still rhymes, but you may have expected a two-syllable rhyme:
  Baby you should know I'm really quite a sweet guy
  When I buy you bathroom tissue I always get the two-ply
  • From the very first song Al ever sent to Dr. Demento at age 16, the adorable "Belvedere Cruisin'":
  I don't think that I could cruise in one of those small VWs
  Or zip along the highway in a classy pickup truck
  There's somethin' 'bout a Comet that makes me wanna vomit
  And those Datsuns just ain't worth a fudgesicle, no!
• From Daphne and Celeste's cover of "School's Out":
  Sitting in class
  Is a pain in the neck
• Alice Cooper:
  • "I Love America":
    I love my bar and I love my truck
    I'd do most anything to make a buck
    I love a waitress who loves to...flirt!
    They're the best kind
  • "Working Up A Sweat":
    The bandages come off today
    Really feelin' sick
    The hardest part's explainin'
    All these blisters on my...NOSE!
  • "School's Out":
  Well, we got no class...
  And we got no principals
  And we got no innocence
  We can't even think of a word that rhymes!
• The MC Lars song "Internet Relationships":
  Let me send you pics for your personal collection
  I hope they inspire you and give you a...smile
  • And his "Space Game":
  And I'm from Mars, and she's from Venus
  She has ovaries and I have a...light saber
• Stephen Lynch loves doing this in his songs.
  • "If I Were Gay":
    "And if I were gay
    We would tear down the walls
    But I'm not gay
    So won't you stop cupping my...hand!"
  • "Vanilla Ice Cream":
    "Just don't take it personally
    This is no attack
    But we will never last because
    I'm white and you are — also white..."
  • And in his El Ray Performance...
    "I thought college life was great.
    Ed couldn't count from one to two."
  • And in "Gynecologist":
    When your legs are open, I begin the gropin'
    But I fear I must be blunt
    I would just as soon not go near your balloon
    I think that I'll stick to your. . . front.
    • Double-Subverted, as it is a rhyme. Just not the one everyone thought it would be.
    • And triply-subverted in some of his Live performances (including the CD recording for Superhero), as he states that "I would never say "cunt" to an audience... ever!"
    • Also, from the same song: he "loves pu...tting womens' minds at rest".
  • "Whittlin' Man":
    Yeah, he'd whittle if it's light, he'd whittle if it's dark
    And if Noah was around, well, he'd whittle him an ark
    He'd whittle something new, and he'd whittle something old
    He'd whittle something hot, and he'd whittle something rather chilly...
• Inverted in the infamous Rebecca Black song "Friday," where almost none of the lyrics rhyme, but she managed to rhyme "bowl" with "cereal", and "Friday" with "excited" and "today."
• Benny Bell's song "Shaving Cream", made infamous by Dr. Demento; depending on the performance you witness, it has anywhere from eight to hundreds of verses all in the form:
  Our baby fell out of the window
  You'd think that her head would be split.
  But luck was with her that morning—
  She fell in a big pile of shhhhhhhhhhhhh—
  —SHAV-ing cream, be nice and clean
  Shave every day and you'll always look keen.
  • The Mora Träsk cover of this song, "Skidvalla," substitutes ski wax for the shaving cream.
• Inverted in the Dresden Dolls' "The Jeep Song"
  I guess it's just my stupid luck
  That all of Boston drives the same black fucking truck.
• Invoked and played by Voltaire during the whole song: "The Dirtiest Song That Ain't."
  Down in Carolina
  I met a girl with a nice [...]
  So I reached down between us
  And I whipped out my [...]
  Skipped right past the suckin'
  And got right down to [...]
  She turned and said: "I gotta ask,
  Would you slip it into my [...]?
• "The Assumption Song" by Vito Petroccitto Jr. is entirely based on this trope.
  There was an old farmer who lived on a rock
  He sat in the meadow shaking his
  Fist at the boys playing down by the crick
  Their feet in the water their hands on their
  Marbles and playthings...
  • However, subverted at the very end of the song..
  And then he'd spread whipped cream all over her
  Cookies that she had laid out on her shelf
  If you think this is dirty you can go f*** yourself!
  • The entire thing can be heard here
• 'Series of Dreams' by Bob Dylan has a good example. Just the opening is quoted here, but the whole song avoids the use of the expected rhyme, although several other words appear in rhyming partnership with dreams.
  I was thinking about a series of dreams
  Where nothing comes up to the top
  Everything stays down where it's wounded
  And comes to a permanent stop
  • Sneakily averted in "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream":
  I decided to flip a coin, like either heads or tails
  Would let me know if I should go back to ship or back to jail
  So I hocked my sailor's suit and I got a coin to flip
  It came up tails, that rhymes with...sails, so I made it back to ship.
  • And then there's "Man Gave Names To All The Animals", about Adam, well, naming all the animals in the garden of Eden. Each verse has a description of an animal, ending on its name. Until the final verse:
  He saw an animal as smooth as glass
  Slithering its way through the grass
  Saw him disappear in a tree by a lake—
  [End of song]
• Oscar Brand's "Clean Song" is probably familiar to devotees of Dr. Demento:
  There was a young sailor who looked through the glass
  Spied a fair mermaid with scales on her
  Island where seagulls flew over their nests
  She combed the long hair that hung over her
  Shoulders, which shook with a wriggle and twitch
  "Come on, men" I cried, "there's a beautiful
  Mermaid a-sitting out there on the rocks!"
  The men all came running and grabbing their
  Glasses (etc. etc.)...
• Allan Sherman used this trope in one of the parodies in his medley "Shticks And Stones" on his 1963 album My Son, The Folk Singer; in this case, he detoured around what was then a borderline obscenity in Yiddish, the word "schmuck":
  Oh, I'm Melvin Rose of Texas,
  And my friends all call me Tex.
  When I lived in old New Mexico,
  They used to call me Mex.
  When I lived in old Kentucky,
  They called me Old Kentuck.
  I was born in old Shamokin,
  Which is why they call me Melvin Rose.
  • A similar use in his original song "My Son, The Vampire"
    When they see him, people scream, and they yell
    And they scream and yell 'cause they're scared as heck
• The Killers, "Mr. Brightside", although it's promptly justified as being a proper rhyme for the next line:
  Now they're going to bed,
  And my stomach is sick,
  And it's all in my head,
  But she's touching his chest, now,
  She takes off her dress, now...
  • To emphasize the subverted rhyme, the chorus melody starts on the word "chest".
• Happens in the chorus of Jonathan Coulton's "First of May", a song all about how the weather getting warmer in springtime means you can have sex outside.
  'Cause it's the first of May, first of May
  Outdoor fuckin' starts today
  So bring your favourite lady
  Or at least your favourite lay
  The water's not cold, baby, dip in your big toe
  Maybe I'll see you in flagrante delicto
  Grass below you, sky above
  Celebrate spring with a crazy little thing called...
  Fuckin' outside
• Paul and Storm, who often tour with Jonathan Coulton, have one of their own in "Cruel, Cruel Moon." You keep waiting for them to sing "...and then rip me apart." but they never do.
• Judy Pancoast wrote a children's song "Seven Words that Make Kids Laugh", that was based on this.
  There's seven words that make kids laugh, I'm not allowed to say them.
  And if I put them in my songs, the radio won't play them.
  I think that you can figure out what some of them might be.
  I'll have to tell you later 'cause now I have to—
  Oh, seven words, seven words, get the party started.
  Seven words. Hey, did you smell that. I think somebody—
• Subverted rhymes aren't always obscured obscenities. From Queen song "'39":
  And the night followed day
  And the storytellers say
  That the score brave souls inside
  For many a lonely day
  Sailed across the milky seas
  • Replace "seas" with the intended rhyme "way," and remember that Brian May's a Ph.D in astrophysics...and the song begins to make more sense.
  • On the other hand, in "Good Company"...
    Soon I grew, and happy, too
    My very good friend and me
    We'd play all day with Sally J.
    The girl from number four
• Popular cheer for cheerleaders:
  Ra! Ra! Rhee! Kick 'em in the knee!
  Ra! Ra! Rhass! Kick 'em in the other knee!
  • Ah, but don't forget the inverted version:
    Ra! Ra! Rhass! Kick 'em in the ass!
    Ra! Ra! Rhee! Kick 'em in the other ass!
  • A Refuge in Audacity extension to the above:
    Ra! Ra! Resticles! Kick 'em in the first knee again!
  • Another cheer like this:
    Rick em! Rack em! Rock em! Ruck em! Go out there and really fight em!
  • One more cheer:
    We eat Wheaties! We are fit! The other team doesn't! They eat shhh...redded wheat!
  • And another!
    Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana Split! We think your team plays like, SHIFT to the left, shift to the right...
  • Depending on your team's colours:
    We're red! We're white! We're good! You're...not.
    • Non-British tropers: The word that would rhyme with white in the above, "shite", is offensive in British English.
  • There are a lot of these:
    Two, four, six, eight, our team is really great! Three, five, seven, nine, you lead petty little lives and you live in a cultural wasteland.
  • And another...
    We will, we will, rock you down, shake you up, like a volcano, we'll erupt
    Strap on the seatbelt, step on the gas, we're gonna kick you in the — EVERYBODY! (repeats)
• Variation: In this performance of Roy Zimmerman's song "Ted Haggard Is Completely Heterosexual", there is the following couplet:
  Zimmerman: Now Ted's a little haggard, but he's thankful for the schism,
  [audience laughter]
  Zimmerman: [speaking] "You're right, but wait for it."
  [sings] And you might find it hard to swallow...the syllogism...
  • Also, in "Saddam Shame":
    Now we've learned our lesson: it's hard to conduct
    A war when the prewar intelligence sucked.
    Now some say the country is totally f...ar from anything a well-meaning superpower could ever hope to reconstruct.
  • And again in "Summer of Loving":
    Find a white dress or a tux;
    It ain't nobody's business who a person marries.
  • And a cleaner, more subtle version in "Defenders of Marriage":
    One summer evening when my woman was doing laundry
    I shared a six-pack with an old John Bircher
    And oh so wisely he imparted an ancient quandary
    To ponder: He
    Said, "It's nature versus...legislature."
  • Zimmerman really likes to do these. In "Romney Mitt, the Demon Barber of Wall Street":
    Romney will slash, Romney will sever
    Will Romney ever apologise — not really,
• From Acid Bath's "Paegan Love Song":
  You scream,
  I scream,
  Everybody scream
  For morphine
• From the Bob and Tom Song "Snailman"
  Sometimes he drives a big car,
  Sometimes he drives a truck,
  He knows you're in a hurry,
  He doesn't give a darn
• Mitch Benn loves this trope:
  • In "Apathy Song":
    I really couldn't be bothered:
    My mind was totally blank.
    So I made myself a cup of tea,
    Read the paper, had a w-alk in the park.
  • In "Boy Band":
    And we've already had a hit,
    And you're listening to it,
    And I'm sure you think it sh-ould be number one already!
  • Another one from a song he performed on The Now Show:
    You gave us digital and satellite,
    You never said they would be sh-ockingly bad!
  • And from "Tabloid Journalists":
    They'd exploit any tragedy that makes them a buck,
    And if it makes things worse they don't give a f...
    ..Or your own protection you'd better beware,
    There are tabloid journalists everywhere.
  • And again in a song about the return of amusingly deformed vegetables, and what this might mean for Esther Rantzen (who spent the 70s and 80s anchoring a show that featured them heavily):
    She knows very well she had the easiest job,
    Just holding up a parsnip that looked just like a kno .. ughty thing!
  • And again in "David Cameron Said Tw..", at the end of every verse (except the last one which just bleeps it out).
  • And yet again in "We Love Our NHS":
    We heard your stories, we're here to bring the missing bit,
    And if you're losing your own argument, could just be you're full of shanana da da da da naa
  • And once more with feeling:
    Are you having a happy Christmas?
    Just exactly how happy is it?
    On a scale of one to ten
    where one is great and ten is sh-ockingly bad
  • And his anti-English Defence League song "There Are Things Worth Rioting About":
    Now they want to ration visits to your own GP,
    It's the latest brainwave from Jeremy Hunt,
    You might want to look at your priorities,
    Or are you just a band of stupid racists cos there are things worth rioting about right now...
  • "Budget Air" is interesting because the subverted rhyme isn't obvious. In the version on the album Broken Strings, the phrase "budget air" is used to refer to the airline, but if you think about it, the internal rhymes in the line "Ain't no use in cryin' when you're flyin' budget air" would be even better if the line was "Ain't no use in cryin' when you're flyin' Ryanair". Which is what it was when the song was originally performed on The BBC consumer programme Watchdog.
  • And, of course, "Call Me During Doctor Who And I'll Kill You":
    Call me during Doctor Who and I'll kill you
    Sixteen years I've been waiting for this
    Call me during Doctor Who and I'll kill you
    Don't even think about ringing just to take the — call me during Doctor Who and I'll kill you!
  • His anti-April Fools' Day song "The Most Annoying Day of the Year":
    Vicious wind-ups and cruel elaborate stunts,
    The kind of thing that just appeals to truly humourless cretins.
• Comedy artist Worm Quartet performed "Spatula", with multiple instances of the approaching mention of male genitalia being the cue for the chorus of "Spatula, spatula, spatula..."
• They Might Be Giants' "Kiss Me, Son Of God:"
  Now you're the only one here
  Who can tell me if it's true,
  That you love me,
  And I love me.
  • This is debatable, but I think they set up "exploited working class" to rhyme with "kiss my ass", but instead used "kiss me, son of god." If you know the song title, you can see this one coming.
  • Also in "Number 3", then averted on the third line.
  A rich man once told me "Hey, life's a funny thing."
  A poor man once told me that he can't afford to speak.
  Now I'm in the middle, like a bird without a beak...
• Fred Wedlock's 'Handier Household Help' [to name but one of his comic songs to do this]
  And you can bung it down the toilet. You can spread it down your halls.
  You can buy it in pint canisters for putting on your...banisters.
  It removes the stains from carpet, the blemishes from glass,
  Keeps your radio free from static. It will fumigate your...attic. (And so on...)
• In Draco and the Malfoys' "Potions Yesterday":
  We were teamed up in duelling class/But no one else believed that I could knock you on your bum
  • Sometimes inverted in concert.
• From Deirdre Flint's "Cheerleader":
  A cheerleader might not have her GED but she's pursuing one.
  A cheerleader might not be a CEO but she'll be...dating one.
• The Arrogant Worms are often miscredited with "The Assumption Song" (see above). Although they never recorded that song, they have pulled this trope with "I Pulled My Groin":
  I pulled my groin, I pulled my groin
  It hurts me when I skate, but not when I master...hills
• The pirate-themed band The Jolly Rogers have recorded a song called "The Clean Song" (possibly NSFW) whose lyrics consist entirely of this trope, except for the very end.
  • In the same vein is a supposed "Old English Folk Song", sung here by Bob Saget.
• Bat for Lashes' version of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire":
  Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby, edgy and blunt
  And cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my...soul
• Used twice in the Bowling for Soup song "99 Biker Friends" which is insulting an un-named abusive boyfriend that titular biker friends and the band wish to beat up. The first time it was played straight:
  Such a big man
  Such a little chick
  I think it all
  Goes back to your tiny...pick up truck
  • The second time was very much subverted:
  Tell her that you're sorry
  Blame it on the beer
  Your dad was mean to you
  Your friends think you're...an asshole.
  And I do too
  Over compensating
  For your small shoe
• The profanity-ducking version is subverted by The Pogues in "The Old Main Drag":
  One evening as I was lying down by Leicester Square
  I was picked up by the coppers and kicked in the balls
• The ending of Peter Gabriel's "Big Time":
  Big time, my belly's getting bigger
  Big time, and my bank account
  Big time, look at my circumstance
  Big time, and the bulge in my big big big big big big big big big big big big big big big.
• Genesis pulled this to neat effect in "Land of Confusion". The rhyme of the first couplet in the refrain suggests exactly the opposite of the word used in the second:
  This is the world we live in
  And these are the hands we're given
  Use them and let's start trying
  To make it a place worth living in
  • They almost totally avert the trope at the end, though:
    Stand up and let's start showing
    Just where our lives are going to
• Another obscenity free example comes from "I Wish I was a Hudson" by...ummmm...the Hudsons.
  ...Where I'd quickly learn the system,
  Start giving good advice
  I'd drink a barrel of whiskey
  And I'd eat my beans and...maybe some cornbread. Maybe some cornbread!
• From the Dead Milkmen
  My Baby drives...a truck
  My Baby sure is...good luck
  My Baby has a...pet duck
  My Baby is a heck of a f...friend
• In the song "Rehab Center for Fictional Characters":
  Tony the Tiger:Every day I wake up
  And I get to work late
  My boss says "Hey whats up"
  And I say that I'm Grrrrrrrrrrrrrowing tired of this shit
  • By the same artist, "My Whole Family":
    My whole family thinks I'm gay
    I guess it's always been that way
    Maybe it's 'cause of the way I walk
    That makes them think that I like...boys
    • Also by Bo Burnham, Sunday School
      Did you know that Satan wears a cape
      Made out of a rainbow flag?
      And did you know that Jesus hates abortions
      Unless the kid was a f — Jew?
    • Untitled
      We'll love him and raise him, till he finally leaves us
      What should we name him? How about Adolf.
      Little Adooooooooolf!
• For reference, here is (one version) of "Miss Susie", which originated as a jump-rope rhyme:
  Miss Susie had a steamboat
  The steamboat had a bell
  Miss Susie went to Heaven
  The steamboat went to
  Hello operator
  Please give me number nine
  And if you disconnect me,
  I'll paddle your
  Behind the refrigerator
  There was a piece of glass
  Miss Susie sat upon it and broke her little
  Ask me no more questions
  Tell me no more lies
  The boys are in the girls' room
  Pulling down their
  flies are in the city
  bees are in the park
  Miss Susie and her boyfriend
  Are kissing in the
  D-A-R-K
  D-A-R-K
  D-A-R-K
  [fast] DARK, DARK, DARK
  Dark is like a movie
  A movie's like a show
  A show is like a TV screen
  And that is all I know
  I know I know my mother
  I know I know my pa
  I know I know my sister
  With the alligator bra!
  • A variation of the first verse runs:
    Mary had a steamboat
    The steamboat had a bell
    Mary went to Heaven
    And the steamboat went toot-toot
• A somewhat similar nursery rhyme-type song:
  Three little angels, all dressed in white
  Trying to get to heaven on the end of a kite
  The kite string broke and down they all fell
  Instead of going to heaven, they all went to
  Two little angels...(This continues on until the end of 'one little angel'.)
  Don't get excited
  Don't lose your head
  Instead of going to heaven
  They all went to bed.
• Another kids' song, to the tune of "If You're Happy And You Know It":
  His name was Nobby Hall, Nobby Hall
  His name was Nobby Hall, Nobby Hall
  His name was Nobby Hall, and he only had one...finger
  His name was Nobby Hall, Nobby Hall
  • Later verses include:
  He went to rob a bank, and he stopped to have a...sandwich
  The copper he came quick, and they caught him by his...elbow
  The judge's name was Annie, and she had a hairy...head
• Another, older one:
  Three Irishmen, three Irishmen
  Were digging in a ditch
  One called the other
  A dirty son of a
  Beehive corn syrup
  Five cents a glass
  If you don't like it
  Shove it up your
  Ask me no questions
  I'll tell you no lies
  If you get hit with a bucket of shit
  Be sure to close your eyes!
• A no-obscenity version for subtle emphasis in "Mad World" by Tears for Fears:
  All around me are familiar faces
  Worn out places, worn out faces
  Bright and early for their daily races
  Going nowhere, going nowhere
• The Magnetic Fields' "Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long" does this twice:
  You scare me out of my wits
  When you do that Shih Tzu
  • and later...
    You've just run out of luck
    I don't care what you foxhounds do...
• Also by the Magnetic Fields, "I'd Go Anywhere With Hugh":
  I love Hugh
  and Hugh loves you
  you love me
  and he does... not
• Digital Underground's "Doowutchyalike"
  Homegirls, for once, forget you got class,
  See a guy you like: just grab 'im in the biscuits!
  • From the same song:
    If you're hungry, then get yourself something to eat
    And if you're dirty, then go take a bath.
    Messed up the line? Nope — sometimes I don't rhyme.
• "The Freckle Song" contains several instances, including
  She's like my Nellie
  From her head down to her...elbow.
  • And then there's:
    She was born in Hackensack
    she made a fortune on her...career!
  • And, of course, there's:
    She drinks until she gets plastered
    She gets drunker than...my brother!
• Julie Brown's comedy song "I Like Them Big and Stupid":
  I met a guy, who drives a truck
  He can't tell time but he sure can drive
• Bowser and Blue's "Polkadot Undies" is entirely built on this trope, and it even lampshades it in the last verse.
  The moral of this story, like a jewel it is gleamin'.
  But you'll never find it in a glass of warm...
  Milk or tea, 'cause it will not fit,
  And you probably already think I am full of...
  Vague innuendos and double-meanin' rhymes.
  But I'll tell you that obscenity is all in your...
  Polka-dot undies!
• Alanis Morissette, in a show of support, altered the lyrics of her song "Ironic" to:
  It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife,
  It's like meeting the man of my dreams...and meeting his beautiful new husband.
• Lampshaded in Pink Floyd's "Cymbaline":
  The path you tread is narrow and the trumpets sheer and very high
  the ravens all are watching from a vantage point nearby
  apprehension creeping like a tube train up your spine
  will the tight rope reach the end, will the final couplet rhyme?
  • The final couplet of the song, of course, is the only one which doesn't rhyme.
• Subverted by comedian Brian Posehn's "Metal By Numbers" which sets up an obscene rhyme, only to replace it with another word, that means the same thing.
  It's metal by numbers!
  it's not arithmetic!
  John Mayer or Kelly Clarkson,
  they both can suck my...penis
• Done in one of JibJab's 'Year in Review' songs, where the lyrics cut to the same word, only in a different context.
  Global market meltdowns,
  A bailout by the Fed
  Fanny, Freddy, AIG and Lheman crapped the
  Bedlam in Afghanistan
  The Big Three self-destruct
  Jessie Jackson threatened to cut off Obama's
  Nutjobs made a bigfoot
  And Spitzer's friend turned tricks
  Duchovny went to rehab 'coz he couldn't control his
  Dick needed a kickstart, the US needed gas
  Harry showed the world his wand and Miley showed her
  Ask me any question, I'll give it to you straight
  For your sake kid I sure do hope '09 ain't like '08
• "Flavor of the Month" by Black Sheep:
  Just a brown fellow
  Who's not afraid of Jello
  To the people of the world
  I would like to say G'day
• Tally Hall presents a pseudo-example of this for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it gag in the song "Haiku":
  I've never thought much of formulaic verse anyway
  And rhymes are not my forte. [correctly pronounced as "fort"]
• From "Backdoor Lover", the song-within-a-band-within-a-movie from Josie and the Pussycats (wherein the title is a metaphor for both secret affairs and, ah, "unorthodox" sexual relations):
  Some people use the front door
  But that's never been my way
  Just 'cause I slip in back doors,
  Well, that doesn't make me...hey!
• Multiply double-subverted in Anthrax's song "I'm the Man":
  "Drink the drinks, the drinks they drank
  I put my money in the bank
  They cut their crack, they offer joints
  We don't do drugs, do you get our..."
  "Meaning!"
  "Point! Point! Watch the beat!"
• A lovely little song titled "Sweet Violets" does this trope for the entirety of the song. A snippet:
  There once was a farmer who took a young miss
  behind the barnyard and gave her a lecture
  on gooses and chickens and eggs
  and told her she had the most beautiful manners
  that suited a girl of her charm
  a girl that he'd like to take up in his washing and ironing
  and then if she did
  then they could get married and raise lots of sweet violets!
  • The aforementioned "Assumption Song" uses the same tune but this one's much cleaner!
• The Rick Moranis song "9 More Gallons" pulls this in the first two verses (the third verse has a similar subverted intent, but manages to rhyme anyway):
  I work all day
  To pay the rent
  Before the money's earned
  It's all been allocated
  • And in the second:
    Work all night
    I'm always tired.
    Hope my boss
    Doesn't get me laid off.
• Brook Benton's "Boll Weevil Song":
  The boll weevil said to the farmer
  "Farmer, I'd like to wish you well"
  Farmer said to the boll weevil
  "Yeah, and I wish that you went...lookin' for a home..."
• Fairly common in the song "Oh, You'll Never Go To Heaven":
  Oh you'll never go to heaven on a blade of grass,
  'Cos a blade of grass will cut your leg.
  Oh you'll never go to heaven in a portaloo,
  'Cos a portaloo is full of water.
• Amateur Transplants' "Beautiful Song", to the tune of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful", tells the story of a young boy and his middle-aged best friend:
  Your name is Clive, and you're forty-five
  But you don't let that come between us
  And you make me hold your hand.
• The Pixies' "Vamos":
  They'll come and play
  Their friends will say
  Your daddy's rich
  Your mama's a pretty thing
• The Violent Femmes' "Gimme The Car", where the profane rhymes are suddenly interrupted by guitar slides:
  Come on dad, I ain't no runt
  Come on girl, gimme your- * sproing*
• Primus:
  • Every verse of "The Air Is Getting Slippery" ends on one of these, setting up the word "fuck" but having the singer demur by saying "Forgive me if I hesitate." This goes on until the last line, when the word is drowned out by a crashing sound.
  Now if you want an encore
  You might hear "Is It Luck?"
  But me, I'd rather play Residents
  'Cause I don't give a-
  Forgive me if I hesitate
  • Also from Primus; Mr Knowitall
  They call me Mr. Knowitall
  I am so eloquent.
  Perfection is my middle name
  And whatever rhymes with eloquent.
• "Please Play This Song On The Radio" by NoFX (Written as 'rhyme' but pronounced another way):
  Almost every line in sung in time
  Almost every verse ends in a rim
• Morris Minor and the Majors:
  • "Stutter Rap"
    • One example:
    And it breaks my heart that we're not on the chart
    'cause the record's nearly over when the vocals start
    And I'm down and out, and I'm down on my luck
    And I'm livin' on my own and I'm dying for a f-riend to say "You're great!"
    But I'm under the hammer
    'cause all I seem to do is s-s-s-st—
  • Another example. In this case, people expect to hear 'nineteen'
    Well no-one's ever seen what I mean
    From the age of n-n-n-n-n-n-thirteen
    • ...and yet again, misdirected 'No Sleep 'til Brooklyn' lyrics:
    NO! SLEEP! 'TIL BEDTIME!
  • The B-side of this record, "Another Boring B-Side", contained this double example, where the first averted rhyme becomes the set-up for the second:
  If the A-side makes a hit
  We don't care if this is missed
  'Cause the sooner we get finished
  The sooner we get home
  • The follow-up, the Stock Aitken Waterman parody "This is the Chorus" opens
  This is a disco hit,
  And writing four every week is our own claim to fame,
  Though they may be sh....ure to get you dancing,
  No-one seems to mind that they all sound the same.
• Tim Wilson did a comedy sketch called "Love Songs for Losers" in which he offered fake clips from love songs for people with very un-sexy names. One of them had the lyric:
  Chuck, Chuck, Chuck, Chuck
  I think she finally wants to fffffffffforget about yesterday.
• In the song "Into Your Arms" by The Maine, the first few lines go as follows:
  There was a new girl in town
  She had it all figured out.
  And I'll state something rash,
  She had the most amazing...smile.
  I bet you didn't expect that,
  But she made me change my ways...
• The Transplants actually subvert this trope with "Gangsters and Thugs":
  The world is mine, no limit I can do it
  Every drama in life I've been through it
  Even if I had it good and I blew it
  Regret nothing I move on and say fuck it
• From "L'America," by The Doors;
  ''C'mon, people, don't you look so down
  You know the rainman's comin' to town
  He'll change your weather, change your luck
  And then he'll teach you how to...find yourself!''
• Many Country Music songs subvert a rhyme to "ass": "Honky Tonk Attitude" by Joe Diffie, "You Ain't Much Fun" by Toby Keith, "Men" by The Forester Sisters, etc. Diffie uses a "well", and the other two use a "yeah". Also in Jo Dee Messina's "I'm Alright", she just doesn't say the word at all: "Been on top of the world and off on our…" When Phil Vassar (who wrote the song) did his own rendition for a Greatest Hits Album, he sang "asses."
  • Chad Brock's "Lightning Does the Work" takes it a step further:
  I've seen lightning blow a cypress tree in half
  The thunder's busy talkin', and lightning's kickin'...(thunderclap)
• Another Country Music example from Blaine Larsen's "Chillin'":
  I'm talkin' jet skis and inner tubes
  Pretty girls with big ol'...blue eyes
• And yet another, from "The Truth About Men" by Tracy Byrd:
  If you wanna know what we're all thinkin'
  It's nothin' too complex
  Just somethin' cold for drinkin'
  And a whole lotta S-E-yeah, that's the truth about men...
• Little Texas gets the most brazen award for country songs that subvert a rhyme to "ass" here...not completing the rhyme, in the chorus, and then using said non-completion as the title of their song, in "Kick a Little". (Though you might not know it because they set it up to rhyme with "last".)
• Chico Buarque, Brazilian musician, once used this in his song "Cálice". This song was a heavy protest against the military dictatorship that occupied Brazil back then. The subverted rhyme was a way to sneak in criticism of the government, making it a rare non-comedic example. It's also unusual in that the substituted part is before the part it is supposed to rhyme (he substituted the word puta, which means bitch or whore, for the word outra, other).
  De que me vale ser filho da santa
  Melhor seria ser filho da outra
  Outra realidade menos morta
  Tanta mentira, tanta força bruta
  • English translation:
  What's the worth of being son of the saint
  Would be better being son of the other
  Another reality, less dead
  So many lies, so much brute force
• Also from Brazil, but comedic: "Julieta" is a raunchy succession of those. For one easy to translate:
  I know a girl called Dorothea,
  She is very sick, she's got...a cold
• The Brazilian version of "Happy Birthday", besides being longer, also has an example of Subverted Rhyme. In this example, they use the word "inunda" (floods/inundates) they intentionate to rhyme with "bunda" (butt), but in the last second, they change it to "bolo" (cake).
  A chuva cai, a rua inunda\\Eu vou comer seu bolo^note The rain falls, the street floods\I'm going to eat your cake
• Mr. Brown by Glow:
  Yes, Mr. Brown just doesn't look as if he's rich
  Cause all the money he earns goes directly in the bank
• The Lonely Island inverts using this trope for censorship in "We Like Sportz."
  Single, double, triple, home run
  For the celebration I'll shoot my gun
  I like my friend, he's a real guy's guy
  He's not a loudmouth like that cunthole, Steve!
  • Which is in fact a reference to another example in an older song, "Just 2 Guyz": ''I like playing games in the pool/Who invited Steve? That dude's a cunt!"
  • Similarly in "Natalie's Rap" (featuring Natalie Portman):
  When I was in Harvard I smoked weed every day
  I cheated every test and snorted all the yay
  I gotta def posse, you gotta bunch of dudes
  I'll sit right down on your face and take a shit!
• "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash and Shel Silverstein.
  I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
  And I called him my pa, and he called me his son
  And I came away with a different point of view
  And I think about him, now and then
  Every time I try and every time I win
  And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him... Bill! Or George! Anything but Sue! I still hate that name!
• Del Tha Funkee Homosapien's "What Is A Booty?" includes:
  On behalf of my behind
  I feel it is my duty to my booty
  To be head of the class
  When it comes to...butts
• Some of the alternate verses to "Old Time Religion" play with this, but specifically lampshaded in:
  I will worship the great god Loki,
  he's the Norse god of chaos
  that's why this verse doesn't have any meter or rhyme scheme or anything like that
  and that's good enough for me.
• "If You Can't Smoke It, Kick It to Death":
  They may tell you it's only their job,
  But they love it every bit,
  So when they say it's not their way they're talking a lot of hypocrisy
  They hate you!
• Most iterations of the chorus to A Tribe Called Quest's "Ham N' Eggs" do use the expected rhyme ("Not at all"), but towards the end of the song it's momentarily switched to:
  I don't eat no ham n' eggs
  Cuz they're high in cholesterol
  Afrika do you eat 'em? No.
  Pos, do you eat 'em?
  Hell yeah, all the time!
  • Also "Can I kick it", 'hair' is forced to rhyme with everything else, but not 'wear' or 'air'
  Make a note on the rhythm we gave ya
  Feel free, drop your pants, check your ha-ir
  Do you like the garments that we wear?
  I instruct you to be the obeyer
  A rhythm recipe that you`ll savor
  Doesn`t matter if you`re minor or major
  Yes, the tribe of the game, rhythm player
  As you inhale like a breath of fresh air
• Dream Theater's "As I Am". Might not be intentional, but it works anyway. The phrase seems like it should be "You cannot touch the way I roll"
  You're thinking too much
  Where is your soul?
  You cannot touch the way I
  Play
  Or tell me what to say
• Toy Matinee's "Turn it on Salvador" contains this. Quoted directly from the lyrics insert:
  Even tied, eggs you fried, out of luck
  What the [some 15th-century German word]
  [some 15th-century German word]
  • This may render the lyrics impossible for anyone to sing ever again, since the singer/main songwriter died, others might not remember the word, and it is incomprehensibly slurred and trailing-off; it sounds a tiny bit similar to "squawk."
• "Chippy Tea" by The Lancashire Hotpots:
  Her inspiration's Ready Steady Cook
  Am I eating it? Am I...It's Friday night, I want a chippy tea!
  • "I Met a Girl on MySpace" is even better:
    It were from a lass in Lancashire, her page had loads of hits
    I saw the pictures in her profile, she had absolutely massive too-ra-loo-ra-aye!
    and:
    She said she had no transport, so a lift she'd cadge
    And if I played my cards right, I'd get to feel her too-ra-loo-ra-aye!
• In Eric Bogle's "Introduction Song", in which the members of the band introduce themselves, the bass player gets this:
  I play electric bass,
  With an educated thumb,
  If you think my face is hairy,
  (instrumental line)
• of Montreal's "My Favorite Boxer":
  Hector Ormano is my favorite boxer.
  He goes smasho and everyone cheers.
  He turns big men into whimpering cowards.
  He's so strong and...how I adore him.
• Then there is the Emilie Autumn version of the popular "Miss Lucy" song- here's just a part of it. (The rest can be found here.
  Miss Lucy had some leeches
  Her leeches liked to suck
  And when they drank up all her blood
  She didn't give a
  Funny
• Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden with "Big Fat John" (Prescott, that is):
  He came from Hull, he was true grit.
  He was full of hope and he was full of integrity.
• Played straight in Bob Rivers' "A Visit From Saint Nicholson":
  And a stiff drink for Mommy in a nice tall glass
  She could really use something to kill that bug up her chimney
• The bridge of Rin Barton's "Favorite Tiny Cat" has this:
  Everything that happens, I know it's just bad luck
  Even when I get home to find you've managed to shit on the wall, how did you even do that, what the fff—
  —favorite tiny cat, you're my favorite tiny cat...
• Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans":
  Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise
  If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eye
  We held our fire 'til we seed their faces well
  Then we opened up our squirrel guns and really gave 'em — well...
  • Spoofed with "The Battle of Kookamunga" by Homer and Jethro. The missing word is not a profanity, though it would make the song racier.
    We kept real still and we had our eyes a-glued
    We saw how they were dressed, they were swimming in the- well now...
• Frank Zappa's "Father O'Blivion" has a rather prolonged one:
  He was looking rather bleary
  He forgot to watch the clock
  'Cause the night before behind the door
  A leprechaun had stroked, yes...
  The night before behind the door
  A leprechaun had stroked (he stroked it!)
  The night before behind the door
  A leprechaun had stroked his...
  Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh — stroked his smock!
• Harry Chapin's "W.O.L.D." serves up a mild variation of this, only with the "offending" word replaced with the thump of a drum rather than a different word:
  There's a tire around my gut
  From sittin' on my (* thump* )
• And then there's Wodega, which is an entire song built on this.
• The last verse of "The Games People Play":
  Look around tell me what you see
  What's happening to you and me?
  God grant me the serenity,
  To remember who I am.
  Cause you're giving up your sanity,
  For your pride and your vanity,
  Turn your back on humanity,
  And you don't give a da da-da da-da...
• Lady Gaga's song LoveGame:
  I can see you staring there from across the block
  With a smile on your mouth and your hand on your HUH!
  • Also the chorus:
  Let's have some fun, This beat is sick
  I wanna take a ride on your disco stick
• The song "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale" by Love uses an interesting variation of this. The last line of every stanza always trails off before a rhyme, but the word you'd expect to go there is then used as the first word of the next stanza. Thus:
  What is happening, and how have you been?
  Gotta go, but I'll see you again
  And oh, the music is so loud
  And then, I fade into the...
  Crowds of people standing everywhere
  'Cross the street I'm at the slop affair
• "Don't Forget To Remember" by TV's Kyle includes one:
  Perhaps I'll look beneath the couch
  Perhaps I'll look behind the corn
  Or in my closet in the back
  Behind the questionable periodicals
  • His song "Peppermint Coffee" has:
  For all the scourge of the earth boys and girls
  All across the scourge of the earth universe (I didn't say world)
• "Check Yes Juliet", by We The Kings, starts thus:
  Check yes Juliet, are you with me
  Rain keeps falling down on the sidewalk
• Another subverted rhyme to add emphasis to the lyrics is in Yoko Ono's "I Felt Like Smashing My Face in a Clear Glass Window"
  I never had a chance to choose my own parents
  I never know why I should be stuck with mine
  Mommy's always trying not to eat
  And daddy's always smelling like he's pickled in booze
• Done acappella with mermaids here. In the final verse, the subverted-rhyme scheme is itself subverted:
  A: And when they were done with old Triton’s fair daughter
  B: They dropped her exhausted back into the water
  A: For each man on board had had a long stay with her
  B: In which time the sailors...
  (B puts hand over A's mouth to forestall interruption)
  B: ...had all had their way with her
  A: Only because she said it was okay with her.
• Oded Gross's "Song That Doesn't Rhyme" is built on this trope:
  This is a song I wrote, it's a song that doesn't rhyme.
  'Cause I was in a hurry, and I didn't have the...patience.
• The Zambonis do it in their hockey rock song Play to Win.
  Well you and me
  We make a pretty good team
  So let's go melt some ice
  If you know what I mean
  You grab my stick
  I'll grab your puck
  Feels so good
  Baby, let's play to win
• It may actually be unintentional, but the single stanza of The Ramones' "It's A Long Way Back":
  You, by the phone
  You, all alone
  It's a long way back to Germany
  It's a long way back to Germany
  • The expected rhyme being "home".
• There's this bit from Ludo's Rotten Town:
  Heigh, heigh, yo-ho
  O're the Atlantic we go
  Drinkin' 'till we all get sick,
  And comin' up with limericks
  But we never quite remember how they end
• The rap group Insane Clown Posse never blush at spewing filthy language, so they usually don't employ this trope. But, ironically, they do use it in an unexpected way in the opening verse of "The Headless Boogie":
  It's Friday night
  Dark, scary
  Lonely walkin' through the park
  Cemetery
  And it's foggy
  Cold and smoggy
  I hear a dog
  A how-a-lin' doggy
  I'm scared
  Shoulda brought my shotgun
  Woulda, shoulda
  But I ain't got one
  So I watch my back
  Hey, what's that?
  The caretaker
  A dirty old hunchback
  I'd better run!
  Hide!
  Quick!
  Fast!
  He's comin' for my ass with a shovel (instead of "pick")!
• From Angelspit's "Kill Kitty"
  I am the fire
  You use me to light the gas.
  You are the paper
  I use you to wipe my.
• Double subverted by "Down in a Ditch" by Joe Diffie:
  I'm runnin' this shovel way down in a ditch
  When you're down in a ditch, it's a son of a gun
  Every fool knows you'll never get rich
  When you're down in a ditch in the Tennessee sun.
• Jo Dee Messina's "I'm Done" subverts the rhyme because, if the word were there, it'd throw the meter off:
  Oh, you had to scratch that itch
  You deserve what you get, yeah, you and that…
  Walkin' around, talk of the town...
• "One More Drinkin' Song" by Jerrod Niemann:
  And here's to bartenders tryin' to get paid
  While the rest of us are tryin' to get... (guitar note)
  Hey hey hey, what's so wrong
  With one more drinkin' song...
• A rather odd case in "The Cave," by Mumford and Sons.
  But I will hold on hope
  And I won't let you choke
  On the noose around your neck
• Capitol Steps, "Sound Off":
  Sergeant: Tell that mean Iraqi nut—
  Chorus" Tell that mean Iraqi nut!
  Sergeant: We will never kiss his—
  Man: (breaking rhythm): Whoa, Sarge! Never say never.
• Inverted in Warren Zevon's "Genius".
  There's a face in every window of the Songwriters' Neighborhood
  Everybody's your best friend when you're doing well...I mean good
  • Zevon's "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me" plays this trope straight.
    I met a girl in the Rainbow Bar
    She asked me if I'd beat her
    Then she took me back to the Hiatt House
    ...I don't wanna talk about it.
• "I Want Your Socks", a parody of George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" by Mark Jonathan Davis (before he became Richard Cheese), has:
  Socks are thin and socks are thick
  You can even wear one on your...hand.
• Sykotik Sinfoney's "Manic Depresso", best known for its use in B-movie Bad Channels:
  Grandma knits me a great big sweater
  My little life can't get no better
  Life's so happy and full of joy
  I'm lying, it really sucks!
• Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like A Lady" has a variation, setting up one obvious rhyme (given the subject matter) but then rhyming with a different word instead.
  Love put me wise
  To her love in disguise
  She had the body of a Venus
  Lord, imagine my surprise!
• Carcass' "Don't Believe a Word" has these verses:
  Fact and fantasy united as one
  Real power stems form the barrel of a pen
• An example from Art Brut's "Ice Hockey" where Eddie Argos sings;
  My time on Earth was a lot of fun
  But the adventure has only just started
• Dead Kennedys' cover of "I Fought the Law" does this at the outset, mostly to starkly contrast their modified version of the lyrics from the original's:
  Drinkin' beer in the hot sun
  I fought the law and I won
  I needed sex and I got mine
  I fought the law and I won
• The W.A.S.P. song "Blind In Texas" has this verse:
  Raisin' hell in Austin, just after sundown
  when the hoosegow police decided to come 'round.
  They said, "What's the matter with you?
  Whatcha tryin' to do?"
  I looked at the man, and I said...
  (Blackie's obvious response isn't censored, but simply omitted as the song moves along to the chorus.)
• From Bela Fleck's "The Message":
  Taxes for the poor, none for the rich
  People starving in America, now ain't that a bummer
• "Fish" by Craig Campbell:
  I had everything we needed in the back of my truck
  Turns out my baby loves to...
  Fish, she wants to do it all the time
  Early in the morning, in the middle of the night
  She's hooked and now she can't get enough
  Man, that girl sure loves to fish
• "Beat Up Guitar" by the Hooters [The Frankford El is an elevated train line in Philadelphia. The couplet is older than the song, being used in jumprope rhymes years before the song was released.]:
  Oh you can't get to Heaven on the Frankford El
  Cause the Frankford El goes straight to Frankford
• Inverted in "Whiskey's Gone" by the Zac Brown Band:
  Well I stumble my way into my local bar
  Where I saw the devil in my glass
  The bartender told me it was time to go
  I told him that he could lick my sack
• In the L33tStr33t Boys song, "Lady And The Trap"
  A J-pop song comes on we start to rock (wo-oh)
  She reached up my leg to grab my...hand (wo-oh)
• Eminem:
  • A joke in "Low Down, Dirty" (a song written after Eminem's style had been accused of being derivative) does an interesting variation, where the replacement word isn't what you expect, but fits the rhyme scheme... and so does the Lampshade Hanging.
    Used to let the babysitter suck my dick when I was littler
    Smoke a blunt while I'm titty fucking Bette Midler
    Sniper, waiting on your roof like the Fiddler
    ...Y'all thought I was gonna rhyme with Riddler,
    didn't ya?
    Bring your bitch, I wanna see if this dick gon' fit in her
  • Em skirts this in "Criminal":
    I got more liquor to fuck me up quicker
    Than you'd wanna fuck me up for saying the word...(left unsaid)
  • "Killshot" has this to Eminem's then-recent pledge to not use a particular slur against gay men in his songs any more.
    So just leave my dick in your mouth and
    keep my daughter out it ^note pronounced like 'at it', to form the rhyme,
    you fuuuckin' — oh.
  • In "These Demons":
    I got a question (What?)
    What rhymes with pariah?
    (I don't know) Mm, tsk, uh, LEGO?
• Combined with Rhyming with Itself in Cracker's "Ms. Santa Cruz County":
  The blue ladies rode the bikes
  And what they were, we assumed, rhymed with bikes
• Two examples from Eric Bogle:
  • "Plastic Paddy":
  "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" and "The Mountains of Mourne"
  In his search for Celtic chiché, the man has left no stone unturned
  'Til he embarks upon the harp that once through terraced halls
  Accompanying himself on the Bodhrán, which takes a lot of...courage.
  • "World Cup Fever":
  And when some stupid damn committee gave the match to Melbourne City
  Though it made us all feel quite...annoyed, we didn't cause a fuss.
• From the Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers song "Counterclockwise"
  Well the gringo boys got their dark sunglasses
  And the girls on the beach are all shaking their fingers
  'Cause no matter how dark the lenses they can see
  That the eyes and the minds of the boys are somewhere they ain't supposed to be.
• There's one from Anthony and Those Other Guys: Thormas Time
  Thormas Time
  Is in its prime
  That rhyme really sucked
  But if thou doth not sacrifice
  Then thine life will be fff-false and meaningless
• Rappy Mcrapperson's song, "Curse In your Verses", is all about how he cusses too much, yet doesn't contain a single cuss. This is as close as it gets:
  Saying swears a whole lot, not a little bit
  Cursing in my verses, cause I don't give a whaaat!
• MF Doom is fond of doing this. Just one of many examples:
  As a few good men set sights to link with your chick
  You have to find a new hen fight to drink your liq'
  Ten years later, see how Enzyte'll shrink your...wallet
• 1960s group Doug Clark & the Hot Nuts does this in their Double Entendre-loaded "Hot Nuts Theme #1"
  Well roses are red and ready for plucking
  And girls out of high school are ready for...college

The fact that it is subverted makes this possibly one of the cleanest lines in the song.

• Tom Smith's song have several instances.
  • "Quit Freaking Out Over Boobs" has:
    A couple nice girly bits
    Quit freaking out over bosoms
  • "Spoiler Alert" has:
    I finally get it, I want to stay friends
    And so I'm not telling you how this song
• Los Campesinos!' "Baby I Got the Death Rattle"
  And I chewed my only necktie from the metal frame of my bed
  Where I tied your wrists together spent all night giving oh you get the message don't you?
• And of course, there is the chorus line for "Last Kiss" by J. Franklin Wilson and the Cavaliers:
  Well, where oh where can my baby be?
  The Lord took her away from me
  She's gone to heaven, so I've got to be good
  So I can see my baby when I leave this world
• "Hot Problems" by Double Take.
  They see my blonde hair, blue eyes and class
  But they don't know I have a really big heart
• Soul Junk's "3PO Soul":
  Got kicked off the lectern at a worship song summit
  My hymns all plummet cuz church ladies still can't hum it
  But the kingdom of God, yeah I'm from it
  Man's religion gave me a fake red light so I'm a have to WOOP WOOP WOOP
• Ben Champion's "That Autocorrect Song" has a few examples, with the gag being that the lines were supposed to rhyme before his phone's autocorrect function got in the way:
  This song is one long apology, I admit...
  This phone is a fluffing piece of shut
• From "Moves Like Frogger" by Insane Ian:
  To zig zag through trucks, I'm trying my luck
  I don't give a... crap
• Dave Matthews uses this to add a little extra tragedy to "Gravedigger":
  Little Mikey Carson, 'sixty-seven to 'seventy-five
  He rode his bike like the devil until the day he died
  When he grows up he wants to be
  Mr. Vertigo on the flying trapeze
  Oh, nineteen forty to nineteen ninety... TWO!
• From the Norwegian song "ÆØÅ," aka "Size Matters":
  We got twenty-nine letters
  You only got twenty-six
  Let's see how big you are
  When you suck our fucking...vowels
• "I'm Keeping Your Shit" by Hayseed Dixie, a Bluegrass band that usually does covers.
  You thought you took everything
  but you left something behind for me.
  I scooped it out, I bottled it up,
  and now it's there on the stand on the bed to remind me
  in case I ever forget
  you're just a piece of... poop.
• "When You Wish Upon a Death Star" by the great Luke Ski has:
  Luke: I wanna be a Jedi Master,
  And get my ship out of that ditch.
  Yoda: Well, do or do not, there is no try,
  And stop being such a whiny apprentice. Hoo hoo hoo...
• The Dutch comedian André Van Duin in his song "I don't have my day today" goes through a whole list of bad stuff, including the following line that works the same in Dutch as in English:
  Did you fall through the floor,
  Is your sis playing ... mandolin.
• Huey Lewis and the News: One of their many hits, "The Heart of Rock and Roll," invokes the trope towards the end of the second verse:
  When they play their music, that hard rock music.
  They back it with a lot of flash.
  But it's still that same ol' back beat rhythm
  that really, really kicks them in the...
  (The expected rude rhyme "ass" is never sung, and the song goes to the chorus instead.)
• Ida Maria plays with it in "Cherry Red":
  I'm gonna be your girl tonight
  I'm gonna make you apple pie
  I'm gonna wear my cherry red
  I'm gonna give you lotsa
  • The line cuts off and goes straight into the next verse in the chorus which repeats the last two lines, but adds "room in bed" to the end.
  • Note that due to her accent, 'tonight' and 'pie' actually do rhyme and are not examples of this trope.
• The Poxy Boggards have a rather explicit song called "Hey Nonny Nonny" that incorporates this trope, both with one part of the group oversinging the other at a crucial word, or simply changing the expected word. The chorus, as an example of the second variety, goes:
  Be they ugly or unsightly
  or just plain make you sick.
  Every girl is pretty
  with her lips wrapped 'round your...
  Hey Nonny Nonny
  Hey Nonny Nonny
  Hey Nonny Nonny
  Hey Hey Hey
• In Taco's "Tribute to Tino," he described Valentino thus:
  He ruled the golden silent screen
  He haunted millions in their dreams
  His memory lives on till today
  Some even say that he was lonely
• "Shame" by The Avett Brothers:
  The truth be known, the truth be told
  My heart was always fairly cold
  Posing to be as warm as yours
  My way of getting in your world
• "The Tale of King Arthur as Told by a Redneck" by Danny Birt has:
  Well, Arthur Pendragon was a good ol' boy
  He roamed the wild woods on the island of Britain.
  He killed boars and deers with bows and arrows.
  He'd wipe his butt with grass when he was done shi — you know, takin' a dump.
• Flash and the Pan, "The Opera Singers" (complete with rhetorical pause):
  You think you're sitting pretty, your fingers on the brass
  And you stand there looking silly with your finger in your...glass
• Gratuitous German example by Hubert Kah:
  Hier spricht Captain Kemmler
  aus jedem deutschen Sender
  mit seinem Riesen...JAGAGAGAGAGAGA! ^note Ständer. (=boner)
• "Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates!" by The Aquabats!:
  Now seven weeks into the trip
  And Jim was sick to the death
  Of being sick
  Some kind of action he wanted
  As he searched the seas
  For every day was the same old... stuff
  
  The night he felt like jumping ship
  But then he heard a crash
  Hit the starboard side of the ship
  And dumped him out of his bunk
  Onto his bottom
• The Cure's "Doing The Unstuck" — though there is a rhyme in this stanza, it's not on the word you might expect:
  It's a perfect day for doing the unstuck
  For dancing like you can't hear the beat
  And you don't give a further thought
  To things like feet
• Kacey Musgraves, "Follow Your Arrow":
  If you save yourself for marriage, you're a bore
  If you don't save yourself for marriage, you're a whore-able person
• Musical comedian Stephen Lynch does this in his song about how much he loves black women:
  Just don't take it personally, this is no attack
  But we will never last because I am white, and you are...also white
• Trout Fishing in America does this in their song "Why I Pack My Lunch," which is about exaggeratedly terrible cafeteria food:
  Good food's rare as Halley's comet
  This stuff makes me want to... Leave the table
• From the Travis Shredd song "Smoove Flava":
  Looky merfdog, back behind the keys
  Growlin' like a demon, bring ya to your knees
  He plays the purty piano parts and drives a big ol' truck
  Plus he really likes to... frolic
• From the Katy Perry song "Dark Horse" Featuring Jucy J:
  Cause once you're mine
  There's no goin' back!
• Subverted and then inverted by Cherry Ghost in the song "Bad Crowd"
  Her brother's in the National Front
  Thinks Martin Luther King is a c...ondescending, stupid old son-of-a-bitch
• From the Throwing Toasters song "The R.A. Song":
  It was a shock to this poor fellow,
  When the students went and filled his room up with red Jello.
  And as if that didn't royally suck,
  He then walked in on two students who were just starting to f...ffffeed their dog.
• Barnes & Barnes has these lyrics in the song "I Hope She Dies".
  My girlfriend left me a month ago.
  I hope she gets hit by a truck.
  She split and hurt my big ego.
  Now there's no one to kiss.
• The Dutch band Doe Maar has a very famous one in the song "Pa" from 4US (Album), where they sing Ik doe de dingen die ik doe/ met mijn ogen dicht, which translates as I do the things that I do/ with my eyes closed. Because of the word doe everyone expects the line to be met mijn ogen toe , but instead they use a synonym dicht.
• Meghan Trainor's "Dear Future Husband" has one it lampshades:
  I'll be sleeping on the left side of the bed
  Open doors for me and you might get some... kisses
  Don't have a dirty mind, just be a classy guy
• Bitter:Sweet's song "Dirty Laundry" contains the following couplet:
  I'll light a candle for good luck
  Come on, baby — Let's... [heavy breathing] Oooooh...
• From the The Edlos song "Garbage Man":
  Filthy refuse, I love it
  Dirty diapers, full of... (Beat) poo-poo
• "Goethe war gut" by Rudi Carrell does this on absolutely every occasion in the verses to drive the point home that the narrator can't rhyme nearly as good as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe whom he worships.
• The Saxonian group Sachsendreier loved to do this many times on their album Sachsenlieder with quite bulky synomyms.
  • Last four lines in "Straßenbahn fahr'n", repeating the verse:
    Straßenbahn fahr'n ist schön,
    Ich könnte immer wieder Straßenbahn fahr'n geh'n.
    Straßenbahn fahr'n ist heiß,
    Das eenzsche, was mich stört, das ist das Personenbeförderungsentgelt.
  • "Cowboy":
    Er kaut an einem Stückchen Wurst,
    Da überkommt ihn großer Flüssigkeitsbedarf.
• Danny Kaye's "D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song" about a game between the Dodgers and the Giants:
  At the bag he beats the tag,
  That mighty little waif.
  And umpire Conlan cries, “You’re out!”
• From Brentalfloss' "3DS Streetpass With Lyrics":
  And to whoever's next, I'll write up some text
  To my heart's content
  But since there's only sixteen letters, it says:
  "Hi, my name is B"
  • The first lines of "Final Fantasy VII With Lyrics".
  Disc One spins and a tale begins
  About a punky dude who's emo just a bit?
  His memory's shit, but he's real tight-knit
  With a childhood friend who has enormous... eyes!
• Victoria Justice and Elizabeth Gillies' "Take a Hint":
  Liz: I don't want to be a priss, I'm just try'na be polite
  But it always seems to bite me in the–
  Victoria: Ask me for my number, yeah, you put me on the spot...
  
  Get your hands off my hips, 'fore I'll punch you in the lips
  Stop your staring at my... Hey!
  Take a hint, take a hint!
• Every verse in the song "The Bumblebee Invaded a Nudist Colony" is about the bumblebee stinging one of the nudists, but it cuts to the refrain before stating which body part the bumblebee stung.
  Big Fat Bill was naked as he could be
  He was happy to be living in the colony
  Then he got tired and laid in the grass
  And the bumblebee stung him on his big fat—
• Frankie Ballard's "It All Started with a Beer" is an unusual variant, in that the subverted word comes first:
  You weren’t shooting whiskey, just shooting the shhh…
  I paid the tab, we walked out the door, and I remember thinking "this was it"
• Lampshaded in Twenty One Pilots' "Stressed Out":
  I wish I found some better sounds no one's ever heard
  I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words
  I wish I found some chords in an order that is new
  I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang
• "Walkin' Blues," made famous by Fluffy Hunter and the Jesse Powell Orchestra, is nothing but this trope. From 1951.
  I got a man who likes to hunt the buck
  I got a man who likes to hunt the buck
  When he comes home in the morning all he wants to do is — walk right in, walk right out...
• From Flight of the Conchords' "Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous"
  They call me the Hiphopopotamus
  Flows that glow like phosphorous
  Poppin' off the top o' this esophagus
  Rockin' this metropolis
  I'm not a large water-dwelling mammal
  Where did you get that preposterous hypothesis?
  Did Steve tell you that, perchance?
  Hmph... Steve...
• Herbert Grönemeyer in "Currywurst": "Auf dem Hemd, auf der Jacke, Mensch das ist doch ne...^note Kacke (shit)...alles voll Currywurst!"
• Marius Müller-Westernhagen in "Mit Pfefferminz bin ich dein Prinz": "An der Macht da sind die Weißen, darauf reimt sich schschsch..." ^note scheißen (to shit)
• Gebrüder Blattschuss in "Kreuzberger Nächte": "Das ist so krank wie meine Leber, sag ich barsch –- Die zwölf Semester war'n doch nicht so ganz...umsonst!" ^note im Arsch (in the ass; means: in vain)
• Flanders and Swann: "Satellite Moon" ends with one, because the original, rhyming ending ("And the girl in my arms... is a boy") was judged too controversial at the time.
• Dave McCarn's "Cotton Mill Colic":
  We can't make it; we never will,
  As long as we stay at a lousy mill.
  The poor are gettin' poorer; the rich are gettin' rich.
  If I don't starve, I'm a son of a gun.
• German punk(?!?) band Rocket Freudental has a headscratcher in "Das Reine und das Gute".
  Im Wald hat es geschneit, dort können wir uns verstecken,
  das ist der beste Platz denn wir sind...(weiss mit schwarzen Flecken)

In the first rounds of the verse the bracketed part is replaced by a beat, and in any case one expects "Schnecken". But snails are not the least bawdy...^note In the forest it has snowed, we can hide there, this is the best place because we are white with black spots

• Juanes' hit song "La Camisa Negra" has a rather blunt one:
  Tengo la camisa negra^note I'm wearing a black shirt
  Ya tu amor no me interesa^note I'm not interested in your love anymore
  Lo que ayer me supo a gloria^note What tasted like glory to me yesterday
  Hoy me sabe a pura...^note Now tastes like pure...
  Miércoles por la tarde y tú que no llegas^note Wednesday afternoon and you still aren't here
  • In place of miércoles (Wednesday) in the last line, the listener expects to hear mierda (shit), especially since the line sounds like it's about to end.
• "Prayers For The Damned" by Sixx:A.M. just doesn't deliver the rhyme:
  Everything is crumbling in my head
  Sometimes I wish I was...
• "All Things Considered" by Yankee Grey:
  Well, my car broke down again right before it ran out of gas
  Yeah, my boss is still ringing in my head: 'One more time and your out on your...yeah'
• Benny Hill's "In My Garden of Love": the original version has
  Oh there's a beetroot for the day that you said that you'd beetroo' to me,
  A sweet pea for the sweet way you always smiled at me
  • A later version was a bit more daring, distorting the meter and leading the listener a bit further:
  A sweet pea for the sweet way you always used to smile at me
• "E Eats Everything" by They Might Be Giants does this to avoid trademark issues:
  H burns food so horrible
  All I tastes is smoke
  J just likes drinking juice
  And K drinks only soda
• Songdrops:
  • In "For Dad", the protagonist says that sometimes he acts like an angel from Heaven and sometimes like a rebel from... then, he trails off.
  • Subverted in "There's a Cow in My Soup", where the chorus goes, "There's a cow, there's a cow, in my soup, in my soup. That might be why, that might be why, it smells like... it smells like cow." However, they later rhyme "cow" with "Please re-moo-ve it now."
  • In "I Don't Like Tomatoes", every line ends on a word that rhymes with "fart", but then is followed by "I don't like tomatoes, they always make me far... too unhappy."
  • Subverted in "If Our Love was an Outhouse", which has the chorus end in "If our love was a camel it never would spit. If our love was an outhouse it would smell like... a barbecue pit."
  • In "Before I Could Rhyme", every sentence ends in a subverted rhyme, such as "I know it sounds funny. How am I supposed to buy things without any... time?", because the protagonist hasn't learnt to rhyme yet.
• "Let's Kill The Trendy" by Sloppy Seconds actually subverts this. It's played straight in every verse except the last, which drops the expected S-bomb.
• Both singers do it in "Let's Go Home Together" by Ella Henderson and Tom Grennam (the first one works better in Henderson's Lincolnshire accent):
  Ella: I'd never have given you a second look,
  But I like the way you don't give a ... damn.
  ...
  Tom: Even though you talk way too fast,
  I can't stop looking at your ... eyes.
• Thomas B Wild Esq. does this repeatedly in I'm Just Here For The Swearing with a MidwordRhyme of the words struck, admit and punt. The song contains no actual swearing.
• The opening for Dan Bull's "Rap Roast" on Jacksfilms goes as such:
  Ladies and gentleman, give it up for Jack Douglass!
  What a lovely chap, goodness
  Oozes from his pores like a cup of that... bubbly stuff
• The Chalkeaters' song "COUNT TO THREE", which teases Valve's apparent inability to release a game with "3" in its name, has Gabe Newell singing this at one point:
  I had it all but tried new things, true
  It didn't get us very far
  Between controllers and machines, you
  Still picked a rusty old crowbar
  Nobody sees beyond my charming self
  A soul that's never truly free
  So just for once, forget the summer sale
  And give it up for Half-Life... Alyx
• Used in The Stupendium's Animal Crossing: New Horizons fan song "Nook, Line and Sinker", to censor out what would otherwise be the only cussword in the entire song.
  Overworked, underpaid, that poor little Shih Tzu
  Managing a bunch of animals, I guess it really is a — I guess you see the pun there...
• One version of the Weezer outtake "Charlie Brown" — the expected rhyme would either be "attitude" or a callback to the title of their album Raditude:
  I don't wanna deal with tasteless food
  It's the '90s so we oughta have some ratatouille (yep)
• "Wicked Witch" by Demons And Wizards, near the beginning: "We all know the rules/Water will be shed/The wicked witch is—" and then it just stops short, and the well-known line "The wicked witch is dead" isn't explicitly said until the end of the song.
• "Super Hoe", by the Boogie Down Productions:
  If you claim to have a little problem
  Well, Scott La Rock knows just how to solve 'em
  If you're a guy, a nine'll do the trick
  But if you're a girl, you need some... flowers
• Oscar Brand's Marines-oriented version of "Gee But I Wanna Go Home":
  The uniform they give us they say is sure to fit
  We walk along the highway, we look like a sack of grit
• The Wolfe Tones' song "Janey Mac, I'm Nearly 40" contains the following lines:
  So all you knockers and begrudgers, you will admit we have that touch of class
  If not, we'll send you our new record and you can stick it up your jumper.
• Little Charlie & the Nightcats' "Run Me Down"
  The little bitty chicken
  Told the great big duck
  You know, you're kinda ugly
  But you sure know how to ... swim
• Leeandlie's English cover of "Idol" by YOASOBI unexpectedly switches to a different set of rhymes during the B-Komachi members' verse:
  Yeah, yeah, we all know she is a special girl
  We're the extras in her movie as she runs the world
  Yeah, she's such a star, we are the bottom feeders, she's the pearl
  She's our leading little lady, shit I think I'm gonna be sick!
  Screw this chick!
  Would you be fine with her shoes to lick?
• "Your Love", by James Brown:
  I can't stand no walkin', but baby, I can't stand no squawkin'
  I can't stand no trippin', and I can't take no lip and
  I don't want no cussin', and I better not get no fussin'
  I can't stand no hit, huh, I don't take no...sugar
  
• Charlie Robison's "Good Times"
  Well sit on the table
  Sit on the floor
  Act like a virgin
  Act like a sore
  Winner or loser
  They'll both do fine

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