History Main / LyricalShoehorn

* Neil Diamond: "Songs that she sang to me, songs that she ''brang'' to me". No, the verb "to bring" does ''not'' work that way...

* "My Egyptian Grammar" by Fiery Furnaces bizarrely mangles the grammar of the sentence "she let me in the car" for the sake of rhyme. However, the song is [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness from the point of view of an increasingly delusional narrator]], so it can also be read as the character getting her word order mixed up because she's agitated or in a manic state:

* The chorus of Music/{{REM}}'s "Leaving New York" has the grammatically odd line "leaving was never my proud" (probably meaning "pride", but that wouldn't slant-rhyme with "around" and "down"). Like the Carrie Underwood example, it can be read as being in [[WebOriginal/LOLCats LOLCat]] speak.

** Furthermore, [[Music/TheFragile1999 "We're in This Together"]] and [[Music/TheFragile1999 "The Great Belo'w]] feature "down the path we have chose" and "the destiny I've chose". In both cases, "chosen" would be semantically correct, but also wouldn't scan.

So you're listening to a new song, and really like it! Not only is the melody awesome, but the lyrics seem really deep and poignant. But is he talking about shoes there? You're not sure, so you go to the Internet, pull up a lyrics site, and look up to the words to the song.

* "My Egyptian Grammar" by Fiery Furnaces bizarrely mangles the grammar of the sentence "she let me in the car" for the sake of rhyme. Though the song is [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness from the point of view of an increasingly delusional narrator]], so it can also be read as the character getting her word order mixed up:

She let me the '''car in'''

* Edwin [=McCain=]'s "I'll Be" has "I'll be your crying shoulder". It's not grammatically incorrect or anything, but it sounds a little odd because the usual expression is "a shoulder to cry on". The listener might end up with the mental image of [[AmbiguousSyntax a shoulder that's crying, rather than a shoulder being used to cry on]].

* "All I Want To Do" by Music/{{Sugarland}}. The word "do" is stretched quite egregiously over [[MelismaticVocals a very long melodic run]].

* "All I Want To Do" by Music/{{Sugarland}}. The word "do" is stretched quite egregiously over [{MelismaticVocals a very long melodic run]].

* "All I Want To Do" by Music/{{Sugarland}}. The word "do" is stretched quite egregiously over a very long melodic run.

-->"What's this on my mitten?" said the troll from down below[[note]]"Troll" in this case meaning a resident of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, as they are "under" the Mackinac Bridge which connects the two halves of the state[[/note]]

* The third verse of Music/AlanJackson's "Where I Come From" is a {{Painful Rhyme}}-riddled mess of a word salad. Good luck trying to figure out what he's even trying to say:

* EdSheeran's "The A-Team" (a song about a woman addicted to drugs) has some seriously {{Painful Rhyme}}s because of this:

And her skin's the color mocha[[note]]"the color mocha" is necessary because "her skin's mocha" makes it sound like she's made of coffee, but it's still an inelegant construct for a song lyric[[/note]]

So you're listening to a new song, and really like it! Not only is the melody awesome, but the lyrics seem really deep and poignant. [[{{Mondegreen}} But is he talking about shoes there?]] You're not sure, so you go to the Internet, pull up a lyrics site, and look up to the words to the song.

That are quite [[ItIsPronouncedTropay unsing-able]]

-->And I ca-[[AccentUponTheWrongSyllable NOT]] text you with a drink in my hand, eh?

** Parodied in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj6QqCH7g0Q this YouTube video]], titled "Bad Grammar".

* After Barry [=McGuire=]'s ProtestSong "Eve of Destruction" became a #1 hit, an answer song called "The Dawn of Correction" by The Spokesmen was quickly recorded and released and became a Top 40 hit in its own right. The original had some notable Shoehorns ("My blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin' ") of its own, but "The Dawn of Correction", in trying to make a coherent comment on 1965 current events, while trying to have practically every line of its verse end with an "-ation" rhyme, came up with quite a few doozies:

Don't forget the work of the United Nations.''
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic takes pride in these in his parody songs. Where the original song uses the same lyrics for every refrain (e.g. "[[Music/MichaelJackson beat it]] / beat it / noone wants to be defeated"), he puts effort into using a different rhyme word every time the refrain comes up (e.g. "get yourself an egg and beat it", "open up your mouth and feed it", "if it's getting cold, reheat it", and so forth). This includes finding half a dozen different rhymes for (the biggest ball of twine in) Minnesota...

* The Christian folk hymn "I Wonder As I Wander":
-->I wonder as I wander out under the sky
-->How Jesus the Savior did come for to die
-->For poor ornery creatures '''like you and like I'''
-->I wonder as I wander out under the sky

-->-- '''Strong Bad's [[Recap/StrongBadEmailE133Bottom10 bottom 10]]''', ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''

* Many sea shanties and work songs have sections of rhythmic nonsense intended to help the singers co-ordinate their actions, like hauling on ropes.

* Most songs written by Benjamin Gibbard subvert this trope. He writes long, grammatically correct(Or sometimes run-on) sentences that have to squeeze themselves awkwardly into the rhythms and often don't even rhyme.