Perfect rhymes are a key part of great musical theatre lyrics, but what exactly makes a rhyme “perfect”? And how can you use them to make your songs shine?

In this article, we’ll explain perfect rhymes in simple terms, share examples from iconic musicals… and talk about when it’s okay to break the rules!

What is a perfect rhyme?

For a rhyme to be considered “perfect” the final stressed vowel-sound and all syllable sounds after it need to be identical, while the consonant sound right before the final stressed vowel needs to be different in each rhyming word.

A stress is when we put more emphasis, or weight, to a syllable when we speak. So for instance, in the word “station”, the first syllable is stressed.

We say, “station,” not “station.” So in “station”, “a” is the final stressed vowel. That means the consonant before the final stressed vowel is “t.”

I know that’s a lot of jargon, so let’s break down that full definition of perfect rhyme and picture that as a table, like the one below:

Diagram of perfect rhymes: station, duration, explanation

Station, duration, and explanation all perfectly rhyme with one another. Notice that the total number of syllables doesn’t affect whether the rhyme is perfect or imperfect!

Perfect Rhyme Variations

It’s important to note that singing is an aural medium, and you should always go by the way words “sound” and not how they’re spelled. Look at the perfect rhyme below:

Diagram of perfect rhyme with different spellings: Play, Prey

Prey is a perfect rhyme of play even though the final stressed vowels are different letters. The “a” in play and the “e” in prey are pronounced the same in both words.

For a fantastic example of perfect rhyme, let’s take a look at lyric found within “But Mr. Adams” from 1776. (lyrics by Sherman Edwards)

I cannot write with any style or proper etiquette.
I don’t know a participle from a predicate!
I am just a simple cobbler from Connecticut.

 

We can form perfect rhymes even when the syllable before the final stressed vowel in both words is identical, except for the consonant right before the stressed vowel.

Diagram of multi-syllable perfect rhyme: Altercation, Alternation

We can also use “mosaic” perfect rhymes by rhyming one word with more than one other word or vice-versa.

Let’s take a look at one example of this tactic that appears in “By the Sea” from Sweeney Todd. (lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

By the sea, Mr. Todd, that’s the life I covet,
By the sea, Mr. Todd, oo, I know you’d love it!

 

Covet is one word and its rhyme, “love it”, is two words. That’s the kind of rhyme that you won’t find in any rhyming dictionary!

What is NOT a perfect rhyme?

Well, everything else! But let’s look at some examples that are often mistaken for perfect rhymes.

1. Identical rhymes

Identical rhymes share too much in common to be perfect. Like in a perfect rhyme, the final stressed vowel sound and the subsequent sounds are identical but in an identical rhyme the consonant sound before the final stressed vowel sound is also identical!

“Rotation” and “dictation” do not rhyme perfectly because the consonant, “t”, before the final stressed vowel, “a”, is identical in both words.

Example of identical (not perfect) rhyme: rotation dictation

This category also includes homophones like I/eye, do/dew, wrap/rap, etc.

2. Accent mismatches in rhyme

Another example is when the rhyming syllable fails to land on the stressed syllable. For instance:

Rebate
Debate

In the above example “re” and “de” rhyme but the rhyming syllables fall on opposites stresses.

3. Eye rhymes

Another example would be eye rhymes, (also called visual rhymes or sight rhymes) Eye rhymes look like they rhyme on the page but, phonetically, do not. Let’s take a look at an example:

Bowl
Howl

That’s why you should always speak or sing your lyrics out loud. Some words look like perfect rhymes on the page but actually don’t rhyme at all!

When should I use perfect rhyme, and why?

Perfect rhyme is a helpful way to show a character’s showmanship, intelligence, and wit.

Let’s take a look at some showmanship in action. The example below is found in “Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir” from Sweeney Todd. (lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) In this song Toby, a young barber’s assistant, is warming up the crowd before his boss takes the stage.

‘Twas Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir.
That’s wot did the trick, sir.
True, sir, true.
Was it quick, sir?
Did it in a tick, sir.
Just like an elixir ought to do!

The above passage uses a series of mosaic rhymes for “Elixir” and also rhymes “true” with “do” to finish up the section. It effectively sells the number as an authentic “warming up the crowd” speech, full of showmanship.

As for intelligence and wit, let’s take a look at a passage found in “Blood in the Water” from Legally Blonde. This is sung by Professor Callahan during the first class of the year at Harvard Law.

Now when you choose a law career,
The moment you embark,
There is a joke you’re bound to hear,
“A lawyer is a shark.”
Ignore that, it’s simplistic, and it’s dumb.
Only some of you will turn out sharks, just some.
The rest…. are chum.

There are other reasons to use perfect rhyme, of course. Such as:

  1. It makes it easier for audiences to hear the lyrics upon a first listen.
  2. It helps to reinforce the form of a piece, letting the audience know the A section is over because we’ve landed on a perfect rhyme.
  3. It adds prosody to the lyrics because rhyme is a form of assonance.

Forced Perfect Rhymes

Maybe there’s, seemingly, no usable perfect rhyme available for a particular word. There are many ways to force a perfect rhyme. We can do this for comedic effect, or to take advantage of a particular character’s dialect.

1. Forced perfect rhyme with nonsense words/syllables

We can add nonsense syllables onto real words to make them rhyme. This is often done in a tongue-in-cheek way, with the character nonsense-rhyming in a partially diegetic way.  For an example, let’s take a look at “I Am Africa” from Book of Mormon. (Lyrics by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Robert Lopez)

We are Africa,
Let us smile and laugh-rica.

2. Vernacular speech, accents, & elisions

Rhyme is a fantastic way to show off your character’s accent! Musical theatre lyrics thrive on specificity. Utilizing perfect rhymes that only work in your character’s specific dialect is a sure-fire way to make them specific to your character. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

In “My Shot” from Hamilton (Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda) General Lafayette’s French accent is put to good use. In his French accent, “anarchy” is pronounced like “ah-narchy”, rhyming with monarchy.

I dream of life without the monarchy.
The unrest in France will lead to anarchy.

An elision is when someone drops one or more sounds in a word when speaking. Many Americans, particularly New Yorkers, say “talkin’” instead of “talking.” In “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” from Company (lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) there is a masterfully used elision on the word “coercing”, paving the way for a truly spectacular perfect rhyme. (personable/coercin’ a bull)

When a person’s personality is personable,
He shouldn’t oughta sit like a lump.
It’s harder than a matador coercin’ a bull
To try and get you off of your rump.

3. Broken/split rhyming

Maybe there is a perfect rhyme available but it’s a word that shouldn’t really end a sentence. We can still use that rhyme if we place that rhyme very carefully.

Let’s take a look at an example from “Be Prepared” from The Lion King. (lyrics by Tim Rice)

Meticulous planning,
Tenacity spanning,
Decades of denial
Is simply why I’ll
Be king undisputed, respected, saluted…

 

When shouldn’t I use perfect rhyme?

Perfect rhyme is the “perfect” solution for every situation. Let’s take a look at some reasons for eschewing perfect rhyme.

1. Naturalistic speech-patterns

Sometimes we want our characters to express themselves in a more naturalistic way. Something that’s a little more hyper-realistic than using rhymes. One fantastic example of this is “Ya Got Trouble” from The Music Man. Lyrics by Meredith Wilson:

Friend, either you’re closing your eyes
To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge,
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a pool table in your community.
Well, ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City.

Harold is talk-singing in the most realistic manner possible, and discarding with perfect rhyme allows for that to happen. No showboating, just good honest talk. (Or so Harold would have them believe)

2. Found pieces of writing

“Found” pieces are songs that set pre-existing, non-fictional, words to music. (Or are mimicking this process for effect.) Found pieces are, by definition, hyper-realistic, so they tend not to rhyme. One example of this is “Frank Mills” from Hair. (Lyrics by Gerome Ragni & James Rado) “Frank Mills” was cobbled together from multiple real-life “Lost and Found” articles in Rave Magazine.

“I met a boy called Frank Mills
On September twelfth right here
In front of the Waverly
But unfortunately I lost his address.”

 

3. Poetry

Setting poetry to music, whether pre-existing or original, often requires eschewing perfect rhyme. In lieu of perfect rhyme, poets often focus more on consonance, assonance, and other ways of ensuring good prosody.

In “Whispering” from Spring Awakening (lyrics by Steven Sater) the consonance of the repeated “s” sound is acting as a kind of “word painting” of the hook, “whispering.”

Whispering,
Hear the ghosts in the moonlight.
Sorrow doing a new dance
Through their bone, through their skin.

The above passage is an excellent example of focusing on other aspects of prosody instead of rhyming!

4. Subverting expectations

A subverted rhyme (also called a “mind rhyme” or “teasing rhyme”) is a non-rhyme that falls on a beat where we’re expecting a rhyme.

Many punchlines are funny because they subvert the expectation we had for the joke to begin with. They rely on the element of complete surprise. Because of this, for a joke to land, sometimes we’ll have to set up a perfect rhyme in order to break the pattern.

A very specific form of this phenomenon is when we set up an obscenity of some kind, only to unexpectedly replace it with a family-friendly word. Let’s take a look at an example from Shrek. (lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire)

Welcome to Duloc, such a perfect town.
Here we have some rules, let us lay them down.

Don’t make waves, stay in line,
And we’ll get along fine.
Duloc is a perfect place.

Please keep off of the grass.
Shine your shoes, wipe your…. FACE.

We can also use subverted rhymes to make the audience aware of the “correct” answer but show a character’s lack of knowledge. In the song “In Summer” from Frozen (lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez) Olaf, a snowman brought to life, is unaware that heat will make him melt and pines for summer.

The hot and the cold are both so intense.
Put ’em together, it just makes sense.

Winter’s a good time to stay in and cuddle,
But put in summer and I’ll be a….. Happy Snowman

We know the correct answer is, of course, puddle but Olaf doesn’t have that information.

Ready, set, rhyme!

Now you’re ready to get out there and perfect your perfect rhymes. The parting advice I can give is to not lean too much into a rhyming dictionary. For one thing, even though a rhyming dictionary is a great tool, it can’t fully form mosaic rhymes, which exponentially increase our rhyming potential.

But more importantly, rhyming should never be your top priority. Instead, your top priority is telling the story as best you can, and letting your characters express themselves in the most authentic way possible. Perfect rhymes are a very powerful tool that we can utilize, but they’re not the only tool we have. Don’t let the audience ever think that you’ve written a lyric solely for a clever rhyme!


This article is part of a Songwriting Series by guest writer Sam Sultan. Make sure to check out the related companion articles below: