By Larry Fyffe
A list of earlier articles in this series on the subject of Dylan’s rhymes appears at the end of this article.
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In the poem beneath, the end-rhyme be ~ ”someone’/’run’:
I'm petty sure she'll make me kill someone Then I'll be on the run For I'm a dangerous man When I have a knife in my hand (Geoffrey Chaucer: Monk's Tale ~ modernized)
In the likewise dark lyrics below, the rhyme twist be ~ ‘run’/ ‘someone’:
One of these days, I'll end up on the run I'm pretty sure she'll make me kill someone I'm going inside, roll the shutters down I just wanna say, "Hell's my wife's home town" (Bob Dylan: My Wife's Home Town)
https://youtu.be/hrgXpz7e-Uw
A motif akin to the one expressed in the following song – the double negative idiomatic:
You mistreat me, baby, I can't see no reason why You know that I'd kill for you, and I'm not afraid to die You treat me like a stepchild (Bob Dylan: Stepchild~ Dylan/Springs)
The end-rhyme in the love lyrics below ~ ‘me’/’see’/’Marie’:
Come to me, Sweet Marie, Sweet Marie, come to me Not because your face is fair, love to see But your soul, so pure and sweet, makes my happiness complete Makes me falter at your feet, Sweet Marie (Ada Jones: Sweet Marie~ Moore/Warman)
The end-rhyme in the euphemistic song lyrics beneath ~ ‘see’/’me’/’Marie’:
Sometimes it gets so hard, you see I'm just sitting here, beating on my trumpet With all these promises you left for me But where are you tonight, Sweet Marie (Bob Dylan: Absolutely Sweet Marie)
The end-rhyme in the baroque poem following ~ ‘dim’/’swim’/’within’:
You want clear spectacles, your eyes are dim Turn inside out, and turn your eyes within Your sins like motes in the sun do swim (Edward Taylor: The Accusation Of The Inward Man)
The end-rhyme in the unrequited love lyrics below ~ ‘dims’/’swims’/’hymns’ – a ‘match-book song’ being one of which some lyrics are quickly scribbled on matchbook cover lest they be forgotten:
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims Into your eyes where the moonlight swims And your match-book songs, and your gypsy hymns (Bob Dylan: Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands)
A final example of a similar, but twisted, rhyme that’s drawn from another piece of writing, in this case a Gothic poem, that’s quite likely the inspirational source.
With the end-rhyme ~ ‘by’/’sky’:
From the lightning in the sky As it passed me flying by From the thunder and the storm And the cloud that took the form ... Of a demon in my view (Edgar Allan Poe: Alone)
Then the song lyrics of unrequited love with the end-rhyme ~ ‘by’/’fly’:
Some of us turn off the lights, and we live In the moonlight shooting by Some of us scare ourselves to death in the dark To be where the angels fly (Bob Dylan: Red River Shore)
Earlier articles in the series on rhyme…
- Bob Dylan: Looking Back At Rhyme
- Bob Dlyan: “Booging” The Rhyme
- The Dylanesque Rhyme Twist
- Hardin And Hardy: The Dylanesque Rhyme Twist (Part II)
- Bascom Lunsford: The Dylanesque Rhyme Twist (Part III)
- Odds And Ends: The Dylanesque Rhyme Twist (Part IV)
- The Dylanesque Rhyme Twist: The Immortal ‘I’ (Part V)
- Bob Dylan And The Shakespearean Tambourine Rhyme Twist
- Cry A While, There’s A Mean Old Rhyme Twister Bearing Down On You
- Bob Dylan And The Selfie Rhyme Twister
* ‘Stepchild’….perhaps just by Dylan