Why rhyme?

I have a plan during lockdown to listen to all of my CDs from the past. Even if they are really bad I have to listen to them once and even if they are really good I am not allowed to listen to them more than once, I am strict! I have realised that I have some really cheesy CDS, lots of them from the 1980s. Some of the best/worst rhymes are in ABBA songs. I wonder if it was because at the time they did not speak enough English to realise how totally pants they actually were. I bet after years of living in London they probably cringe at the lyrics but hey look at the success that it brought them. A musical that is never off the West End and 2 successful movies with a 3rd in the pipeline.

So why rhyme? When I think of rhymes I think of traditional poems, nursery rhymes and songs. There you have the answer. It is so much easier to remember stuff if it rhymes. Back in the day when not many peops could read and write there had to be an oral tradition. No technology or TV so telling stories was the way forward in the entertainment business. There are whole books written in verse. I remember at school having to learn sections of Coleridge's 1834 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner'. 'Water water everywhere/ and all the boards did shrink/ water water everywhere/and not a drop to drink.' That is taking up valuable space in my brain but at least the rhyme helps me. Think how many nursery rhymes you know and if you do chance to forget a word you just replace it with one that rhymes!

So the same goes for songs, if you want them to be catchy and stick then use rhyme. My favourite recently by ABBA which make no sense: 'well, you can dance with me honey/ if you think its funny'. Pretty sure they meant 'fun' although they may have seen me dance! And from 'The Winner Takes it All': 'The gods may throw a dice (surely they meant die as the singular and why would gods be gambling?)/Their minds as cold as ice (I always think of gods being nice warm beings)/ And someone way down here/loses someone dear.' I think I have established that ABBA are brilliant at heroic couplets but not quite as good at English. I suppose that makes sense seeing as they are all about the sound. What is frightening is that we can get dragged along singing complete and utter rubbish out loud.

Going to listen to some more!