I'm always amazed at what a great song was produced by the one-time-only collaboration of Queen and David Bowie. "Under Pressure" (1981) must be considered as one of the most dazzling pop music singles ever. Its lyrical content, reminiscent thematically of Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding", sneaks up on the listener through the use of short phrases, tenuously connected, with little or no narrative, but with a mood of high drama and urgency. And the personalities of the singers, Bowie, Mercury and later in the song, the drummer Roger Taylor (who as a vocalist is almost as technically gifted as Mercury was, and who wrote the tune, called "Feel Like", that was the seed for the one in question) come through very distinctively on their own and at other points combine to powerful effect. The song's through-composed nature reminds me, a long-time Queen fan, of some of their greatest early songs, "My Fairy King" from their self-named first album (1973) for example. And most importantly, the song's charged atmosphere seems like the result of genuine sentiment: an honest wish for some good in the world. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrEN-YKLBM)

I'll be returning to post-Beatle solo music tomorrow - I'm still catching up on my listening. But today, since I mentioned the rhyming of "rock show" and "Concertgebouw" in yesterday's post, I wanted to give a couple of examples of the use of what some poets and songwriters call "forced" or "contrived" rhyme. In poetry it's used mainly in light verse, for the purpose of humour - think of Ogden Nash, In fact, here's a link to "The Eel": http://www.ogdennash.org/poems/the_eel.htm.

And a song that is known for it is Queen's "I'm in Love with My Car", which features lines such as, "Told my girl I'd have to forget her/ Rather buy me a new carburretor". As in the poem above, liberties are taken with spelling and pronunciation - that's the point, actually. Give it a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQTu9vx-laY, and when you do, notice Brian May's rendering of automotive sounds with the use of guitar overdubs. The song is a lot of fun in every way. I'm sure the Beach Boys, who no doubt inspired it, would approve.