Wednesday, March 30, 2011

This Doesn't Rhyme, But You Can Pretend It Does

Who was it that decided that every song has to rhyme? My knowledge of incredibly ancient music history is a bit limited, but I do know that the modern form of music originated as religious ceremonies. So I have to wonder when it was decided that more or less every song was requires to have lyrics that rhyme. My theory is that since many early songs were simply poems adapted to a melody, this nuance just sort of carried over and stuck. But that just ends up raising more questions, doesn't it?

See, because now I'm wondering who decided that POEMS should rhyme. But that's sort of thing, isn't it? Rhyming is what makes it a poem. At least, in my opinion it does. There are lengthy "poems" that don't rhyme at all. Sure you can go on and on about art and freedom of expression, but I don't think it's really fair to call it a poem when you didn't even bother to make it rhyme. It might still be art, but I think we need a different word for them. I mean besides "rampant pretentiousness".

Of course, if you keep following these kinds of trains of thought, you'll eventually go insane. If you ask who decided that poems rhyme, then you have to ask who invented poems. Then it just keeps going. Who invented writing? Who invented language? This almost inevitably leads to pondering the origin of the universe, which I try not to do because I'm pretty sure it's what makes religious fundamentalist so insane.

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