A Good Read: Momentum Through Rhyme

My dewy-eyed Disney bride, what has tried
Swapping your blood with formaldehyde?
Monsters?
.
Whiskey-plied voices cried fratricide!
Jesus don’t you know that you could’ve died,
You should’ve died.

.
The first verse of the song “Fake Palindromes” by the folk-rock musician Andrew Bird is positively overloaded with rhymes, which creates a strong sonic momentum, emphasized by the rhythm of the music. Line 1 has three rhymes: “dewy-eyed,” “bride,” and “tried.” But Bird puts off the next rhyme until “formaldehyde” at the end of the second line. By employing such a delay in rhyme, Bird heightens the listener’s expectations.

This structure recurs in the second half of the first verse, with “whiskey-plied,” “cried,” “fratricide!” … and “died.” Then, by repeating the word “died,” Bird builds upon the established sonic momentum and delivers the listener into the first chorus.

Like its title, Bird’s song does not make a whole lot of sense, but the rhythm and the rhyme drive the song forward and make listening to “Fake Palindromes” exciting. —Mary Carter