#426386 - 08/16/1712:52 PM[Songwriting]"Mountain Greenery" - a look at some advanced rhyming techniques
Noel96
Veteran
Registered: 10/31/08
Posts: 13210
Loc: Australia
Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) was a highly skilled lyricist. His words for "Mountain Greenery" contain some of the most inventive rhymes I've come across. If anyone is interested in what advanced lyric rhyming looks like, these lyrics are worthwhile studying.
What is especially clever is how Hart has used the poetic device of ‘enjambment’, where the end of one phrase joins with the beginning of the next phrase, to create some of his rhymes. This is not often encountered in lyrics. (I've listed some of my favourite rhymes at the end of this post.)
Here's Mel Torme singing the song...
... and here are the lyrics...
Mountain Greenery Written in 1926 with words by Lorenz Hart & music by Richard Rodgers
[VERSE 1] On the first of May, it is moving day Spring is here, so blow your job Throw your job away Now's the time to trust To your wanderlust In the city's dust you wait, must you wait Just you wait
[REFRAIN 1] In a mountain greenery Where God paints the scenery Just two crazy people together
While you love your lover Let blue skies be your coverlet When it rains we'll laugh at the weather
And if you're good I'll search for wood So you can cook while I stand looking
Beans could get no keener Reception in a beanery Bless our mountain greenery home
[VERSE 2] Simple cooking means More than French Cuisines I've a banquet planned which is Sandwiches and beans Coffee's just as grand With a little sand Eat and you'll grow fatter, boy S'matter, boy? Huh, huh, 'atta boy
[REFRAIN 2] In a mountain greenery Where God paints the scenery Just two crazy people together
How-how-how-how-how we love sequestering Where no pests are pestering No dear momma holds us in tether
Mosquitoes here, Won't bite you dear I'll let them sting me on the finger
Beans could get no keener Reception in a beanery Bless our mountain greenery Far from life's machinery Bless our mountain greenery home
My favourite rhymes are...
"lover Let-" with "Coverlet". This rhyme uses enjambment to function.
Another enjambment-based rhyme is "keener Re-" with "beanery".
Then there are rhymes like...
blow your job / throw your job - where the end of one line rhymes with the beginning of the next line and then links to an end rhyme between day/away.
trust / wanderlust - and then this links into the rhymes, dust you wait / must you wait / just you wait.
sequestering / pestering
planned which is / sandwiches
cuisines / beans
The way I see it, such lyric writing skills are inspired genius!!!
Regards, Noel
_________________________ LINKS TO MY BIAB/RB SONGS
#428191 - 08/30/1707:11 AM[Songwriting]Re: "Mountain Greenery" - a look at some advanced rhyming techniques
[Re: Noel96]
Deryk - PG Music
PG Music Staff
Registered: 02/15/17
Posts: 1156
A very interesting read here, Noel! Lorenz Hart was certainly ahead of his time. The rhyme scheme is very intriguing, but even the lyrics in themselves I find fascinating. Thanks for sharing
#430031 - 09/17/1704:00 AM[Songwriting]Re: "Mountain Greenery" - a look at some advanced rhyming techniques
[Re: Noel96]
pinglis
Enthusiast
Registered: 02/04/08
Posts: 57
Loc: Sydney, Australia
I'm a big fan of clever lyrics, and Lorenz Hart was a master. Mind you, these days I feel I have the technique down, and it's more the feeling/passion that I'm after!
Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows users can download the latest RealTracks update patch (519) here.
This patch includes some RealTracks audio updates we have made since the release of Band-in-a-Box 2018. 2018 users should be sure to download the latest Band-in-a-Box 2018 update patch (519), as that patch includes the bulk of the fixes for RealTracks released with 2018. This is a larger download than typical because it updates the Vocal Oohs and Aahs RealTracks audio files. There is more information and Audiophile patches available here.
Summary of RealTracks Audio updates: Improved: There were small issues with the tuning of several Bass styles. This has been fixed for both the original mix and the direct input mix. This affects the following RealTracks:
- Bass, Acoustic, AmericanaSlow16thsByron Ev16 060
- Bass, Acoustic, AmericanaSlow128Byron Sw 040
- Bass, Acoustic, RockabillySwingByron Sw 190
- Bass, Acoustic, BluesyPopByron Ev 100 Improved: Audio glitches have been removed from the ends of phrases in the Vocal Oohs and Aahs RealTracks.
Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows Patch Update Available!
Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Windows users can download the latest (free) update patch (519) here.
Summary of changes: Added: Additional dialog available for detailed information in the StyleMaker (fields for memo, examples, and other parameters). These are set in the StyleMaker (more dialog, a button called "Style Memos etc"). Added: Help Video button Added to the Audio Harmony dialog. Improved: ABC opening improvements with some accidentals, and leadin bars that occur in middle of song. Improved: Audio harmonies now used Improved algorithms, and can be easily set using N voices above, M voices below (and have additional functions like duplicate melody, and dup. melody octave below). Improved: Lyrics will be now read from .mid files that used to be karaoke files (.kar) and got renamed somewhere along the line. Improved: Support for RealTracks that should be transposed only lower (ie heavy metal guitars) and for future Improved metal guitar comping. Improved: The Audio Harmony Dialog has been rearranged to be more intuitive when using Band-in-a-Box Intelligent Mode. Fixed: Audio harmonies might be missing some notes. Fixed: Audio harmonies would be generated with the wrong notes if selecting a range of audio in the middle of the track. Fixed: Band-in-a-Box might crash on bootup with error "Read Beyond end of file". Fixed: Band-in-a-Box should show message if the latest VJT application is not installed when the user tries to render videos. Fixed: File > Open Special > Open Audio was importing audio instead of opening it in a new song. Fixed: In the Bar Settings window, "Chordsheet and Notation - Start a New Line" should say "Notation - Start a New Line". Fixed: It was not possible to record audio using WAS audio drivers if "Output always on" was disabled. Fixed: Misc. RealTracks updates. Fixed: Quicklist drums picker sometimes showing too many drums in the list. Fixed: Redundant flash messages were showing. Fixed: Removing a custom drums from a track would still display Drums as the name of the loop in the track. Fixed: Rendering audio while there is a region of bars highlighted in the chord sheet might cause a crash. Fixed: Saving a MIDI file would fail unless saving as type 1. Fixed: Some 12-key RealTracks were incorrectly set to allow transposition. Fixed: The Audio Harmony dialog needed some hints. Fixed: The Audio Harmony dialog was missing the new Band-in-a-Box Intelligent Mode. Fixed: The VJT application should print out its version number in log files.
Tutorials - How to Install Your Band-in-a-Box® for Mac Hard Drive
When you have your Band-in-a-Box® 2018 for Mac UltraPAK shipped to you on a portable hard drive, there are a few different options for installation. We go over these 3 options with our latest video series:
Option 1: Run Band-in-a-Box® directly from the USB drive only:click here to view.
Option 2: Install Band-in-a-Box® on your computer hard drive, but leave the RealTracks & RealDrums on the USB hard drive:click here to view.
Option 3: Install Band-in-a-Box® and the RealTracks & RealDrums on your computer hard drive:click here to view.
Check out all our Band-in-a-Box for Mac videos here.
Thoughts on Band-in-a-Box® 2017 - Mac Power Users Discussion
David Sparks and Katie Floyd discuss a variety of topics in their recent episide of Mac Power Users: https://www.relay.fm/mpu/432 - listen all the way through (and laugh along with them - it was a very entertaining episode!), or jump to 1:37:40 where David shares his thoughts on Band-in-a-Box® 2017 for Mac!
Previous Topic
Index