Is there a name for songs with this kind of lyric pattern?

January 28, 2019 12:31 PM

I was recently reminded of a song by Cross Canadian Ragweed called "Boys from Oklahoma". In turn it reminded me that I've wondered about this question for years.

The lyrics are an example:

The boys from Oklahoma roll their joints all wrong
They're too damn skinny and they're much too long
I ain't no holy roller so I just use a bong
Them boys from Oklahoma roll their joints all wrong

The first and last lines repeat, and the interior lines reinforce the theme. There are further verses with the same structure about boys down in Texas, boys in Arkansas, and boys in Kansas.

Another example is found in the new version of A Star is Born in the Jason Isbell-penned "Maybe It's Time," but in this one the anchor lines occur 3 times per verse: twice in a row, then 2 additional lines before the third repeat. E.g.:

Maybe it's time to let the old ways die
Maybe it's time to let the old ways die
It takes a lot to change a man
Hell, it takes a lot to try
Maybe it's time to let the old ways die

Subsequent verses concern "Nobody knows what waits for the dead" and "Nobody speaks to God these days," and Isbell adds another non-conforming verse (a bridge?), but the same kind of pattern is at work here as with the Ragweed song.

I assume this is common enough that it's got a term of art in songwriting. Does it? What is this kind of lyrical pattern called?

posted by uberchet to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

There are a bunch of different "rhyme schemes" that are common in songwriting. I'm no expert, just trying my hand.

(Somewhat relatedly, Abacab by Genesis is named for not the rhyme scheme, but the structure of the song, or at least a version of it. This charms me and I talk about it a lot.)
posted by wellred at 12:48 PM on January 28, 2019

The line itself is called a refrain, but it's very difficult to look it up in conjunction with the rhyme scheme because of those cursed Swedes the band ABBA. Here's a little bit of info about refrains.
posted by papayaninja at 12:56 PM on January 28, 2019

Wikipedia calls it a monorhyme, but that's just when each line rhymes with all the others (AAAA). It's almost a shairi.

Wiki

Edit: that second example is like a lazy limerick.
posted by BeeDo at 1:20 PM on January 28, 2019

The line itself is called a refrain

A refrain is when you use the same line in every verse, not when you repeat a line within the verse.

Wikipedia calls it a monorhyme

A monorhyme is when each line in the verse rhymes with all the others, not when you repeat a line within the verse.
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:17 PM on January 28, 2019

Songs with repeated lines or phrases are sometimes called, simply, repetitive songs. I'm not sure if there's a more specific term for the patterns described in the question.
posted by Boxenmacher at 4:06 PM on January 28, 2019

I listened to MAKE ME A PALLET ON THE FLOOR today which seemed to consist of 75% those words. It's a very common blues construction.

He includes the verse

never drive a stranger from your door,
Never drive a stranger from your door,
If I come to your home, got no place to go,
Make me down a pallet on your floor.

which is usually considered a different song.
posted by ohshenandoah at 12:15 AM on January 29, 2019

(Yeah, I should've noted the fact that it's really a blues construction.)
posted by uberchet at 6:23 AM on January 29, 2019