Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.

Subject: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Peter T.
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 01:55 PM

Saw "Words and Music" last night, a laughable biopic of Rodgers and Hart that came out in the late 1940's (among the first glimpses of future stars like Janet Leigh, Cyd Charisse, Ann Southern, etc.), with Mickey Rooney as the deplorable Larry Hart. One of the leitmotifs of the film was Hart's propensity for making up rhymes for tough words. Thought it would make a good thread. "Orange" supposedly has no rhymes in English. Hart rhymes "Calvin Coolidge" with "eulogy" (coolidge - ey). Other tough nuts to crack are double and triple syllable rhymes -- ("Let's take a kayak to Quinsey or Nyack" is a lovely double that springs to mind).

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 02:13 PM

Coolidge- porridge
orange- lozenge is close.

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Leadfingers
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 02:18 PM

What about Banjo - It IS a Music site !!!

Or Silver ???

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Scotus
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 02:22 PM

Funny you should bring this up Peter, but my wife and I moved to Florida recently and discovered it's full of songwriters. Not to be outdone we sat down and wrote this just this past week. There's a small 'in-joke' about a well known songwriting Floridian!

The Orange Song

When we moved to Florida, we found everyone writing songs
We wanted to fit in, to stake our claim, so we thought we'd join the throng.
We sat down at the piano, we racked our brains for rhyme. . .
And we found it couldn't happen. Orange blocked us every time!

There ain't no rhyme for orange, no matter how you forage.
You can twist, you can turn, you can fume, you can grind
But no matter how you churn, you're still gonna find
There's just no rhyme for orange.

Our new friends kept asking us, "Written that great song yet?"
We said, "It's just so hard to choose! There's so much scope for it!
You got your Suwannee River, those cute tree frogs, and let's not forget the gators!"
But it'd be a whole lot simpler if you folk were growing taters.

There ain't no rhyme for orange, we've looked behind every door hinge
You can fuss, you can fret, you can moan, you can shout
But no matter how you slice it, you'll be going without
A real good rhyme for orange

So we thought of other Florida words, to make our job a breeze
Like Ibix, manatee, Spanish moss, swinging from the trees
Flamingo! Much too difficult! Malaluca? Grant wrote that best.
So here we sit stewing in our own juice trying to process with some zest.


Spoken: We're gonna call our agent.
         Orange ya gonna try again?
           
There ain't no rhyme for orange, we put the guitar in storage
Cause we tried and we cried and we pretty near died
Trying to find that word that's never yet been heard, elusive as a bird, we were so assured, until it finally dawned on us:
There ain't no rhyme for orange!

What do you think?

Jack beck

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Kevin Sheils
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 02:25 PM

I remember my brother telling me that nothing rhymes with Orange.

I replied "No it doesn't!"

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: michaelr
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 03:16 PM

Orange - door hinge

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Vixen
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 03:57 PM

Well, Reynaud thought he'd stump me in Jenny Jenkins...

No, I won't wear orange
it's a color I deplore an' just
buy me a folly rolly dilly dally
seek-a-double use-a-cozzy rolllllllllll

Don't know if that would count...

A memorable quote from a book I read once:

To find a rhyme for silver
requires only will, ver-
bosity, and time.

Just my $0.02, fwiw.
V

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Amos
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 04:53 PM

A fat Bishop, garbed in orange
THought to gather and to store ang-
Elic blessings in a golden jar.

But a monk -- with bowl of silver
Said, In spite of all your skilll, ver-
Idical reports will be a bar!"

A

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Peter T.
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 05:16 PM

Very impressive (and suggessive!). yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Peter T.
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 05:20 PM

With the thoughts I'd be thinkin',
I could be another Lincoln....

"But I could show my prowess,
Be a lion, not a mowess,
If I only had the nerve" (brilliant!!!!)

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Apr 05 - 11:21 PM

LOL...well done, all!

Fliver/flivver would be a close one for silver, no?

kat

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: ElwynnMaxon
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 12:28 AM

Dave Carter rhymed "Agent orange" with "door in just about the time"
in the song Mary Where She Sleeps.

E.M.

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Snuffy
Date: 21 Apr 05 - 08:36 AM

Blorenge

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: pavane
Date: 21 Apr 05 - 09:11 AM

Purple is another difficult one.

Tom Lehrer liked the challenge, rhyming Waltz with Chocolate Malts, and tragic with ajec (-tive)

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: katlaughing
Date: 21 Sep 07 - 05:30 PM

This website claims rhyming words for both orange and purple.

Subject: RE: Tough Rhymes: Coolidge, Orange, etc.
From: Joybell
Date: 21 Sep 07 - 06:16 PM

Roger Miller - in "Dang Me" used:
Roses are red, violets are purple
Sugar is sweet, so is maple syurple.
Cheers, Joy