Songs with limerick-meter lyrics
January 19, 2019 6:04 PM Subscribe
I read recently that the verse of Billy Joel's Piano Man is loosely a limerick - the first 2 lines don't rhyme, but the meter and the rest of the rhymes are right. I'm looking for other songs that fit the limerick pattern.
“White Lines” by Grandmaster Flash has a couple of verses that follow the “Piano Man” model (though not so much the meter):
A street kid gets arrested
gonna do some time
He got out
three years from now
just to commit more crime
A businessman is caught
with 24 kilos
He's out on bail
and out of jail
And that's the way it goes
posted by ejs at 6:47 PM on January 19, 2019 [5 favorites]
A street kid gets arrested
gonna do some time
He got out
three years from now
just to commit more crime
A businessman is caught
with 24 kilos
He's out on bail
and out of jail
And that's the way it goes
posted by ejs at 6:47 PM on January 19, 2019 [5 favorites]
Something by the Pogues probably floats this boat.
posted by vrakatar at 6:55 PM on January 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by vrakatar at 6:55 PM on January 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
The Good Ship Venus and Rhyme of the Chivalrous Shark are a couple...
posted by The otter lady at 7:13 PM on January 19, 2019
posted by The otter lady at 7:13 PM on January 19, 2019
Nirvana '"Lake of Fire"
"There was a lady who came from Duluth,
She got bit by a dog eith a rabid tooth..."
posted by matkline at 7:30 PM on January 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
"There was a lady who came from Duluth,
She got bit by a dog eith a rabid tooth..."
posted by matkline at 7:30 PM on January 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
Are you just looking for the AABBA rhyme scheme? In that case, "Animal Fair": I went to the animal fair... the birds and the beasts were there... the big baboon... by the light of the moon... was combing his auburn hair.
posted by ubiquity at 8:06 PM on January 19, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by ubiquity at 8:06 PM on January 19, 2019 [4 favorites]
"The Merry-go-round Broke Down", better known as the Looney Tunes theme.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:36 PM on January 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:36 PM on January 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
It might help narrow the search to look for songs that are in 3/4 or waltz tempo, as "Piano Man" is. Waltz tempo (OOM-pah-pah, or "SING us a SONG you're the PIA-no man") is naturally suited to the limerick's anapest meter ("there WAS a young GIRL from nan-TUCK-et").
posted by clair-de-lune at 11:19 PM on January 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by clair-de-lune at 11:19 PM on January 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
...and indeed, one of my favorite modern waltz songs, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by Stars, mostly qualifies, except that lines 3 & 4 don't rhyme:
Captured a taxi despite all the rain
We drove in silence across Pont Champlain
And all of the time
You thought I was sad
I was trying to remember your name
posted by clair-de-lune at 11:35 PM on January 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
Captured a taxi despite all the rain
We drove in silence across Pont Champlain
And all of the time
You thought I was sad
I was trying to remember your name
posted by clair-de-lune at 11:35 PM on January 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
Except for the very last syllable, the chorus to Daughters by John Mayer:
So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers
who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
posted by rollick at 5:35 AM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers
who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
posted by rollick at 5:35 AM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
Something by the Pogues probably floats this boat
Indeed - and Sally Maclennane as a specific example. But then I think there are lots of folk songs that fit this metre - because the Limerick pattern has spawned just as many as it did poems. The Old Man by Kate Rusty plays with that idea.
posted by rongorongo at 7:38 AM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
Indeed - and Sally Maclennane as a specific example. But then I think there are lots of folk songs that fit this metre - because the Limerick pattern has spawned just as many as it did poems. The Old Man by Kate Rusty plays with that idea.
posted by rongorongo at 7:38 AM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
"Hickory Dickory Dock."
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:44 AM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:44 AM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
Some of these suggestions are not actually limerick style. It needs to be 5 lines with rhyme pattern being AABBA and the BB lines are shorter.
For instance, the Nirvana, "Lake of Fire" suggestion is not a limerick. It's more AABB but the BBs have the same vowel "oo" sounds as AA so they're really off-rhymes and is kind of AAAA. "Duluth" "tooth" "soon" "moon"
posted by acidnova at 2:51 PM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
For instance, the Nirvana, "Lake of Fire" suggestion is not a limerick. It's more AABB but the BBs have the same vowel "oo" sounds as AA so they're really off-rhymes and is kind of AAAA. "Duluth" "tooth" "soon" "moon"
posted by acidnova at 2:51 PM on January 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
Much of the lyrics of "Belle" from Disney's Beauty & the Beast work similarly to "Piano Man":
There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell;
Every morning just the same,
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town--"Good morning, Belle!"
and
Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar,
I wonder if she's feeling well?
With a dreamy, far-off look,
And her nose stuck in a book,
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle!
posted by Inkslinger at 9:49 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell;
Every morning just the same,
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town--"Good morning, Belle!"
and
Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar,
I wonder if she's feeling well?
With a dreamy, far-off look,
And her nose stuck in a book,
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle!
posted by Inkslinger at 9:49 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
Some of these suggestions are not actually limerick style. It needs to be 5 lines with rhyme pattern being AABBA and the BB lines are shorter.
If we look at that in a bit more detail, a Limerick is also somewhat constrained in the length of its A and B lines and overall meter. We have something like this:
de Tah-de-de Tah-de-de Tah [pause]
de Tah-de-de Tah-de-de Tah [pause]
de Tah-de-de Tah
de Tah-de-de Tah
de Tah-de-de Tah-de-de Tah
The syllable structure of the individual lines lends itself quite well to a song structure (in particular a waltz like Piano Man) - but those long and unevenly spaced pauses - which work well when reading a poem - really get in the way of a song's flow. Nobody is going dance to Hickory Dickory Dock. On the other hand - you can add just a few extra syllables to the lyrics structure - and the flow works again - with the benefit of a bit of syncopation. I think that it why it is possible to find many songs which somewhat resemble Limericks - but so few that go all the way.
posted by rongorongo at 10:58 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
If we look at that in a bit more detail, a Limerick is also somewhat constrained in the length of its A and B lines and overall meter. We have something like this:
de Tah-de-de Tah-de-de Tah [pause]
de Tah-de-de Tah-de-de Tah [pause]
de Tah-de-de Tah
de Tah-de-de Tah
de Tah-de-de Tah-de-de Tah
The syllable structure of the individual lines lends itself quite well to a song structure (in particular a waltz like Piano Man) - but those long and unevenly spaced pauses - which work well when reading a poem - really get in the way of a song's flow. Nobody is going dance to Hickory Dickory Dock. On the other hand - you can add just a few extra syllables to the lyrics structure - and the flow works again - with the benefit of a bit of syncopation. I think that it why it is possible to find many songs which somewhat resemble Limericks - but so few that go all the way.
posted by rongorongo at 10:58 PM on January 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
The Monty Python song Knights of the Round Table is roughly made up of three limericks and three couplets:
We're knights of the round table
We dance whene'er we're able
We do routines and scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.
We're knights of the Round Table
Our shows are formidable
But many times we're given rhymes
That are quite unsingable
We're opera mad in Camelot
We sing from the diaphragm a lot.
In war we're tough and able.
Quite indefatigable
Between our quests we sequin vests
And impersonate Clark Gable
It's a busy life in Camelot.
I have to push the pram a lot.
posted by rollick at 3:03 AM on January 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
We're knights of the round table
We dance whene'er we're able
We do routines and scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.
We're knights of the Round Table
Our shows are formidable
But many times we're given rhymes
That are quite unsingable
We're opera mad in Camelot
We sing from the diaphragm a lot.
In war we're tough and able.
Quite indefatigable
Between our quests we sequin vests
And impersonate Clark Gable
It's a busy life in Camelot.
I have to push the pram a lot.
posted by rollick at 3:03 AM on January 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by bleep at 6:06 PM on January 19, 2019 [2 favorites]