Do Songs Need to Rhyme

[NiceBlue]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Instrumentals don’t rhythm and I tend to prefer them. It seems to me that the chorus from the song Last Christmas by Wham! doesn’t Rhythm.

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special

Tom,

 

[Girl of the South]

Rhyme

Rhythm is not the same word.

 

[NiceBlue]

Girl of the South, thank you for correcting me. But the question still holds, do song lyrics have to Rhyme?
Tom,

 

[sam_gordon]

No.

 

[Girl of the South]

Your example of Last Christmas is proof they do NOT need to rhyme!

But there is something about syllables?

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart

And

This year, to save me from tears

Both have 7 syllables.

The words have to all fit in the “pattern” of the melody.

If the lyrics come first, then the melody has to match the words.

Are you writing a song?

 

[sam_gordon]

I'm going to suggest editing the title. You might get some more responses.

 

[NiceBlue]

Thank you for the information, Sam and Girl of the South and Girl of the South thank you for asking if I was writing a song. I am not, but I have some opinions about music. First, I tend to prefer music written before I was born. And I feel females sing much better than males. One possible reason is that it seems there are many more male singers than females and women must be particularly good to be successful. Also, does anyone know of more songs that have lyrics that do not rhyme?

Tom,

 

[PollyannaMom]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Instrumentals don’t rhythm and I tend to prefer them. It seems to me that the chorus from the song Last Christmas by Wham! doesn’t Rhythm.

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special

Tom,

I would say these lyrics actually have internal rhyme - day & away, year & tears.

And I do think rhyme helps to make a good song, but no, I don't think it's completely necessary.