Customer Reviews

The Modern Rhyming Dictionary Edition

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Oscar Hammerstein believed that each of us may have "one good song" within us, waiting to "come out into the light." Hammerstein wrote with authority (he had huge hit shows, with both Richard Rodgers and Jerome Kern) that, "If I meet a man with just one song, I'd be more interested in that man than those who have 'written 400.' I believe that anyone who stated sincerely what was in his heart, could not only write a song, but get it published, because it would be sure to be a good song." (More words of advice from the greatest 'theatrical' lyricist in a moment.)

Look, forget the "rhyming dictionary" part of this book (I have several of those). What sets this book apart as "essential reading" for would-be song-writers is the first 50 pages: the best advice frustrated song-writers (like me) will ever find -- anywhere!

As I type this I have two 'classics' of the genre in front of me: Oscar Hammerstein's book, titled simply, "LYRICS," and Ira Gershwin's "LYRICS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS." If both those giants of the art were still with us, I'm certain they'd agree that Gene Lees has written the best book of its kind. And, whether or not your "one great song" ever sees the light of day, you'll have much fun reading what Mr. Lees has to say. Just one example:

There was a night in 1967 the Canadian-born jazz writer 'crossed paths' with Nancy Sinatra (even if they didn't actually meet). I close my eyes and imagine Frank Sinatra emerging from a night-time session with Claus Ogerman's stellar orchestra (for Sinatra's album with Antonio Carlos Jobim) and immediately starting work with another, much smaller group of musicians, assembled by his first-born, Nancy, for the duet with her Dad that would sell a million copies.

I imagine Gene Lees feeling so lucky, that the stars had finally aligned in his own life; sitting off to one side by himself, perhaps, watching and listening in amazed silence, (pinching himself to make sure it was true?) as Sinatra brought to life, as only he can, the English words Lees had composed for one of Jobim's loveliest songs, QUIET NIGHTS OF QUIET STARS ("quiet notes from my guitar") And there was Mr. Jobim himself, Brazil's Cole Porter (as I've always thought of him) plucking the strings of his own guitar, while the greatest singer of them all worked his magic.

Recalling that moment, Lees said: "After Frank had rehearsed 'Quiet Nights' a few times, he said, 'There are a lot of esses (S's) in this song.' And so there are. I had never noticed it before."

----

I know what it's like to treasure every word Sinatra says to you (he once directed 50 words my way) and so it seems perfectly natural that Lees never stopped thinking about what Frank said: That seemingly throw-away remark prompted Lees to reflect, deeply, years later in his advice to those of us who'd love to write at least "one good song lyric."

"Recording engineers," said Lees, "don't like the letter `S' because it presents them with an equalization problem. If they boost the high frequencies, the `esses' become exaggerated." (Sirius Radio can sometimes be terrible for this, when your reception is going a little `funny' just as Lees wrote, in the days before satellite radio: "Turn up the highs (treble) on your stereo - you notice the attenuation of the `S'."

Then, going further into reflection (remember, all this stemming from a 'chance' remark by Frank Sinatra) Lees said, "The prejudice (against using a lot of `esses' in song lyrics) seems to me now, to date back to a time before high fidelity recording: Ira Gershwin wrote "'S'Wonderful" in the 1930s - and he used esses all over the place, apparently having fun with them, if not poking fun at the prejudice."

Which set Lees to "wondering about the source of this bias? Scholars tell us (or at least hypothesize) that the letter was (given that shape) like a snake to designate the sound a serpent makes. And . . . if that's so . . .the fear of snakes may underlie the prejudice."

Which brought Gene Lees back to his 'Whatever made me think of all this?' moment . . . that long ago evening in a recording studio with Sinatra, by way of an anecdote about 'The Bard.'

"The `S' problem is a problem only in overuse," he says, recalling the line from Mcbeath's soliloquy, "If the assassination, could trammel up the consequences, and catch with his surcease, success."

"That's pretty bad," said Lees. "In four syllables Shakespeare gives the actor a phrase that is hard to pronounce and quite unattractive when you DO get it out."

"As for whatever reservations recording engineers may have," said Lees, "I am reminded of what Sinatra said to his engineer at that (same) session when the latter asked him to stand further from the orchestra since their proximity was creating a `separation' difficulty."

"'That's YOUR problem!' Sinatra said pleasantly."

I believe Oscar Hammerstein would declare this book the best of its kind. Even as Hammerstein provided the best (and simplest) summing up of what is required to write your own "one great song."

"The most important ingredient in a good song," wrote Hammerstein, "is sincerity: Let the song be yours and yours alone. However important, however trivial, believe it. Mean it from the bottom of your heart, and say what is on your mind as carefully, as clearly, as beautifully as you can. Show it to no one until you are certain you cannot make one change that would improve it. After that, however, be willing to make improvements if someone can convince you they are needed."

-- Oscar Hammerstein II (1949)

I have used this book extensively in my search for the proper form and rhyme in my lyrics. I've bought several copies to give to friends and students. A must in any songwriter's library of resources.

I am a lyricist and have written about 25 songs, the one song I was stuck on and viola after consulting your book I found the help I needed.I reccommend this to any songwriter no matter how successful they are you are never to old to learn. I am 70.

this is the first rhyming dictionary i've looked at. i've two more coming in the mail, one from penguine and one from webster. this thing, so far, has been something of a dissapointment. it doesn't seem very complete. as a poet, i "do" want access to many of the more obscure words because some of these words can express thoughts very precisely. part of the idea of this book is to weed out the obscure words, so it is oriented toward song writers who are not interested in developing any degree of complexity or depth in their works. now i don't know what the convention is, yet, of rhyming dictionaries, but it took me a long time to find words that rhymed with "edge" because these words were to be found under the header "EJ". i don't know about you, but when i prounce "edge", i include the "d" in my prounounciation. under "EJ" are words that include and exclude the "d", for instance, directly below "ledge" is "allege". secondly, i went to look for words that rhymed with "glow" and couldn't find them for anything. i just happened to stumble across these words under the heading "O", not "OW". this was kind of interesting. under the heading "O" are words like "foe", "fro" and "grow"; i suppose it works, but it was still an odd place to find "OW", so far as i'm concerned. at the very least, a little information under "OW" (where you might look for words ending with "ow") saying to look under "O" for the list. anyway, i feel this book is pretty poorly organized and so far it hasn't gone very far with me. my first impression of this book was REALLY bad, but as i become familiar with it, my oppinion has grown from a single star to one more.

I opened my package and asked my girlfriend "give me a word to rhyme" and she said "Nickel." Well, I looked and couldn't find one.

I looked up feminine (two syllable) rhymes starting with IK and found the following:

I-ka, IK-en, IK-et, I-ki, I-king, IK-ing, IK-li, IK-ling, IK-lish, IK-lur, IK-ness, IK-nik, IK-ning, I-kon, IK-sen, IK-shun, IK-si, IK-sing, IKS-ture, IK-sur, IK-ted, IK-ting, IK-tive, IK-tur, IK-tur, I-kur, IK-ur, IK-urz.

To see whether or not I had the wrong idea for how to rhyme this word, I looked up IB-l and it was there - dribble, kibble, nibble, quibble, scribble, sibyl.

I'm sure there are better rhyming dictionaries out there. Off the top of my head I can think of Pickle, Trickle, Tickle, Sickle, Fickle, Bickle... There are online rhyming dictionaries better than this one!

I bought this book on it's recommendation in Tunesmith by Jimmy Webb. Jimmy talks about a lot of rhyming books, and the one he recommended highest has been revised and the new version isn't as good as the old one, so this one seemed like a good alternate... Oh well, I guess I'm going to look for another rhyming dictionary. Since I should have more than one, I guess I'll keep this one, you never know when it might come in useful, but I wouldn't buy it.

I don't have another rhyming dictionary for you, but I highly recommend J. I. Rodale's Synonym finder as a good thesaurus. Need another word for something? This book is an excellent resource.

this is the first rhyming dictionary i've looked at. i've two more coming in the mail,... this thing, so far, has been something of a dissapointment. it doesn't seem very complete. as a poet, i "do" want access to many of the more obscure words because some of these words can express thoughts very precisely. part of the idea of this book is to weed out the obscure words, so it is oriented toward song writers who are not interested in developing any degree of complexity or depth in their works. now i don't know what the convention is, yet, of rhyming dictionaries, but it took me a long time to find words that rhymed with "edge" because these words were to be found under the header "EJ". i don't know about you, but when i prounce "edge", i include the "d" in my prounounciation. under "EJ" are words that include and exclude the "d", for instance, directly below "ledge" is "allege". secondly, i went to look for words that rhymed with "glow" and couldn't find them for anything. i just happened to stumble across these words under the heading "O", not "OW". this was kind of interesting. under the heading "O" are words like "foe", "fro" and "grow"; i suppose it works, but it was still an odd place to find "OW", so far as i'm concerned. at the very least, a little information under "OW" (where you might look for words ending with "ow") saying to look under "O" for the list. anyway, i feel this book is pretty poorly organized and so far it hasn't gone very far with me. my first impression of this book was REALLY bad, but as i become familiar with it, my oppinion has grown from a single star to one more.

Very helpful tutorial for aspiring song writers and dabblers in composing poetry. An excellent place to start. Useful desktop reference.