Estimated reading time 6 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Are you confused about how rhyme schemes work? Do you want to get away from using the same old rhyme scheme in every song? You’ve come to the right place! Read more to learn how to create songwriting rhyme schemes.
We’d already talked about rhyming in the post Learn Rhyme and Reason in Songwriting. However, that post only talked about the types of rhymes. Today’s post discusses rhyme schemes. I’ll demonstrate how they work by showing you four songwriting standards.
What’s a rhyme scheme? Read the next section to find out.
This post uses music and lyric terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end.
Defining Songwriting Rhyme Schemes
Before we can talk about songwriting rhyme schemes, we need to define the term rhyme. We use rhymes in both songs and poetry, so this applies to both art forms.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines rhyme as, “…correspondence in terminal sounds of units of composition or utterance (such as two or more words or lines of verse).” As an example, the end sounds in each line of a pure rhyme will be the same:
fork/stork, chair/bear, red/bed
Then, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines rhyme scheme as, “the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or a poem.”
Read more to find out how we do this in a song.
Give My Regards to Broadway’s Songwriting Rhyme Scheme: ABCB
The ABCB rhyme scheme gets use a lot in songwriting. Technically, this lyric should be labeled ABCBDEFE rhyme scheme. However, if we split the chorus in half, the first four lines scan as ABCB. Likewise, the second half of the chorus also has the same pattern of rhymes.
Mobile users: for best results reading the lyrics, tilt your screen 90o to the right.
Give my regards to Broadway A
Remember me to Herald Square B
Tell all the gang at Forty Second Street C
That I will soon be there B
Whisper of how I’m yearning D [A]
To mingle with the old-time throng E [B]
Give my regards to old Broadway F [C]
And say that I’ll be there, ‘ere long E [B]
(See the videos below each song to hear how the lyrics fit in with the music.)
Give My Regards to Broadway Video
Danny Boy’s Songwriting Rhyme Scheme: ABAB
Like the ABCB rhyme scheme, ABAB appears in many songs. This is a classic that you should keep in your lyric writing tool case.
Oh, Danny Boy the pipes, the pipes are calling A
From glen to glen and down the mountainside B
The summer’s gone and all the roses falling A
It’s you, it’s you must go and I must bide B
Danny Boy Video
Carolina in the Morning’s Songwriting Rhyme Scheme: Internal Rhymes and Couplets
Breaking Down the Lyrics
The above rhyme schemes get used a lot and can sometimes be a little too obvious. Using internal rhymes and non-rhyme similar sounds, you can really mix it up.
Internal rhymes have been a mainstay of country music over the years. The basic idea? That you have rhymes within the line.
Carolina in the Morning uses internal rhymes. Also, it uses couplets for the rhymes at the end of the lines. Sometimes, though, the lyrics use the same or similar sounds in place of rhymes.
For instance, in the first line we see that finer and Carolina create an internal slant rhyme. However, the second line uses similar sounds sweeter and sweetie (similar to alliteration).
It uses couplets for the end rhymes on lines three and four: door and more. But it simply repeats the words at the end of the first and second lines: morning and morning.
We see a similar mix of rhymes and similar sounds used throughout the rest of the chorus. The lines mostly end with rhymed couplets. However, notice the rhyme glories and stories at the middle of lines three and four.
All the internal rhymes and other wordplay makes for a catchy set of lyrics. Nonetheless, it does draw attention to itself, so only use it if you want that effect.
The Lyrics
Here I have added letters only to the rhymes at the end of lines. I did this to make sure the songwriting rhyme scheme remained clear. However, you should also pay attention to the rhymes and wordplay happening in the middle of the lines.
Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning A
No one could be sweeter than my sweetie when I meet her in the morning A
Where the morning glories twine around the door B
Whispering pretty stories I long to hear once more B
Strolling with my girlie where the dew is pearly early in the morning A
Butterflies all flutter up and kiss each little buttercup at dawning A
If I had Aladdin’s lamp for only a day C
I’d make a wish and here’s what I’d say C
Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning A
Carolina in the Morning Video
Grandfather’s Clock’s Songwriting Rhyme Scheme: Mixing It Up
To avoid being predictable, you can also mix rhyme schemes. The first half of the verse has an ABAB structure, while the second half has a ABCB pattern. Also, we find an internal rhyme in line five. (Again, I have added letters only to the end rhymes.)
My grandfather’s clock was too large for the shelf A
So, it stood ninety years on the floor B
It was taller by half than the old man himself A
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more B
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born C [A]
(Internal rhyme between morn and born.)
And was always his treasure and pride D [B]
But it stopp’d short never to go again E [C]
When the old man died D [B]
Grandfather’s Clock Video
Concluding Thoughts on Songwriting Rhyme Schemes
As we already talked about, it’s important to avoid being predictable in your songs if you want to avoid boring you audience. Thus, you must avoid moon/June rhymes in your lyrics. The description “moon/June” refers to songs that contain obvious rhymes.
While you must avoid stale rhymes, you must also be consistent in you rhymes schemes. In other words, keep the rhyme pattern the same from one verse to the next.
Don’t do ABAB in one verse and ABCB in another as it sounds unprofessional. Not that you have to be a pro, but wouldn’t it be nice to sound like one?
The best way to learn songwriting rhyme schemes is to listen to lots of songs while following along with the lyrics. Also, search online for the words of your favorite songs and scan through them, labeling the rhyme scheme of each song.
Then, try writing songs using your favorite rhyme schemes. Once you’ve mastered them, you can start to create your own rhyme schemes.
See you next time. Have fun writing!
© 2022 Geoffrey Keith
Join me for online or in-person lessons today!
Glossary
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