Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Pretty self-explanatory
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Neil.
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Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by Neil. »

(If assonance is the right word. All I mean is, the way the vowels and consonants are spaced to create a bit of a thrill of pleasure. Not the same as favourite lyric, necessarily.)

Anyway, my favourite is:

The rabid rebel dogs ransack the shampoo shop.
Last edited by Neil. on Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
Standstobeinsulted
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Re: Favourite lyrical assonance

Post by Standstobeinsulted »

Er...I think you mean alliteration. Assonance is as memorably described by Rita in Educating Rita as 'getting the ryhme wrong'. Incidentally EC is a big fan of Assonance : bending words to make them ryhme : it's all we're skilled in, we will be Shipbuilding
Neil.
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Re: Favourite lyrical assonance

Post by Neil. »

Haha! Thanks for pointing it out: seems I put the 'ass' into 'assonance' (among other things)!

Okay, alliteration - or any rhymey kinda stuff that just chimes nicely.

I guess the whole chorus of 'New Amsterdam' might qualify...
Standstobeinsulted
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by Standstobeinsulted »

I got the password, I got persuasion, a proposition for invasion of your privacy
rightbrain
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by rightbrain »

I always liked the vocal delivery on this line from "Starting To Come To Me" . . . In private she's seductive, but in public, she`s prim, porcelain and nervous.
OnesNamedAlfie
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by OnesNamedAlfie »

I like alliteration with added sibilence eg

The salty lips of socialite sisters

and

Footprints set in sentimental cement
Standstobeinsulted
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by Standstobeinsulted »

Just non stop Disco Tex and the Sex o lettes
Dr. Luther
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by Dr. Luther »

Standstobeinsulted wrote:Just non stop Disco Tex and the Sex o lettes
:shock:

Is that the actual lyric?
If it is, I had no idea...
Dr. Luther
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by Dr. Luther »

I just looked it up.
Well I'll be...

It only took me 27 years.
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A rope leash
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by A rope leash »

I picked up on that one pretty quick, Dr. Luth...great shot at the corporate radio mindset.


I think this one counts, from one of my favorite songs...

Dial me a Valentine
She's a smooth operator
It's all so calculated
She's got a calculator
She's my soft touch typewriter
and I'm the great dictator



It took me years to pick up on the "soft touch typewriter"...I had no idea what he was saying. i think someone on this forum clued me in...thatnks whoever!
Hawksmoor
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Re: Favourite lyrical assonance

Post by Hawksmoor »

Neil. wrote:(If assonance is the right word. All I mean is, the way the vowels and consonants are spaced to create a bit of a thrill of pleasure. Not the same as favourite lyric, necessarily.)
Standstobeinsulted wrote:Er...I think you mean alliteration. Assonance is as memorably described by Rita in Educating Rita as 'getting the ryhme wrong'.
Kind of. Alliteration is the repetition of (usually) consonants for effect ('you lack lust, you're so lacklustre'). Theoretically assonance is the repetition of similar sounds for effect, although in practice we tend to use 'assonance' for repetition of vowel sounds and 'consonance' (or, indeed, alliteration) for the repetition of consonants. A perfect rhyme will have both: 'fool' rhymes with 'stool' because the vowel sounds and the consonants are the same.
Standstobeinsulted wrote:Incidentally EC is a big fan of Assonance : bending words to make them ryhme : it's all we're skilled in, we will be Shipbuilding
Absolutely. I'm a huge fan of rhyme, I think it's one of the most under-rated poetic/lyrical techniques, and I'm an even bigger fan of pararhyme or 'half-rhyme', which is broadly what you're describing. A cheeky half-rhyme knocks a 'proper' rhyme into a cocked hat for me. And EC is a master of the art. My all-time favourite is probably:

'Runnin' wild / just / like / some
Child / ish / tan / trum'

That's audacious rhyming, and it's laugh-out-loud good.
Neil.
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by Neil. »

Some good ones here.

Here's another one that has a pleasing thrum to it:

You've taken everything that you wanted
Broke it up and plundered it and hunted
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Top balcony
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by Top balcony »

Loving this thread - Elvis is King! From World and his wife :

Some alliteration :

The kissing cousins slip outside to cuddle and confess
She says sweet nothing at all it's much more of a mess
The conversation melts like chocolate down their open jaws
As the juniper berry slips down just like last night's drawers

and 'getting the ryhme wrong':

To tell the truth our mum ran off with someone else's father
Went for two weeks' holiday in taramasalata

Colin Top Balcony
Neil.
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by Neil. »

Colin, that's one of the funniest Elvis songs. And yes, full of fizzbombs like the ones you mention!
rightbrain
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Re: Favourite lyrical alliteration (formerly assonance!)

Post by rightbrain »

THE GREAT UNKNOWN from 1984's offers up this lovely line:

"Footprints set in sentimental cement"

the print/ment rhyme is the crowning touch!
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