Write On, Songwriters, Write On

I heard this old Jackson Browne song at a show by my friend Al's band Rockin' Chair and decided to steal it for my solo set (and by 'set' I mean I'm up to three songs, generally two more than I'm actually allowed to play before being asked to 'move along').

Let me say upfront - this is a fantastic song and great lyrics, at once simple & true, personal & universal - but . . .

But . . .

Get to the third verse and you find one of the oddest and most wonderful rhymes in music:

"These days I sit on cornerstones/And count the time in quartertones to ten my friend"

Physics be damned! Browne is so intent on that cornerstones/quarter tones rhyme, he leaves the listener grasping for mental imagery. You can sit on cobblestones, yes - cornerstones, however, are embedded in a building and provide the, well, cornerstone to its physical structure. And counting time in quarter tones?? What the what? It would be like smelling 'magenta'. Makes no sense.

But go for it Jackson. Most of us pay no attention anyhow (I just realized after 42 years, I had the third line to "Won't Get Fooled Again" COMPLETELY wrong). And dammit, it's YOUR song.

Let this be a lesson to you would-be and still-are songwriters: don't over-think this stuff. Here's my list of odd and tortured lyrics:

• "Slip Kid" - Pete Townsend for The Who - He manages to rhyme "war" with its palindrome "raw"
• "All I Have to Do Is Dream" - Felice & Boudleaux Bryant - #1 hit for the Everly Brothers - "The only trouble is/Gee whiz!" OUCH!
• "Good Times Roll" - Ric Ocasek for The Cars - "Let them leave you up in the air/Let them brush your Rock 'n' Roll hair" - I'm pretty sure no one had ever used the adjective 'rock 'n' roll' for hair in a song before and there's a damn good reason.

Let me know. What are your favorite/most-hated rhymes in song? How does Jay-Z stack up against Paul Simon? Cole Porter vs Schubert?