"Standin' on your mama's porch,
You told me that you'd wait forever.
Oh and when you held my hand,
I knew that it was now or never."
...and it made me think - just how many songs have rhymed "forever" and "never"? Or used the phrase "now or never"? Can't we find any other words that rhyme and offer an interesting contrast in meanings? Is forever/never the most overused couplet in all of song lyric history?
...which made me think that "fire" and "desire" have probably been rhymed more. Ugh. I'm pretty sure I dislike fire/desire MUCH moreso than forever/never.
So here's (the start of) a list of all of the songs I can think of that make use of these well-worn lyrical devices. Feel free to chime in with your additions in a comment. There's gotta be lots more cheesy Michael Bolton-type pop songs to add to the list.*
Forever/Never/Now or never
"Summer of '69" - Bryan Adams
"It's My Life" - Bon Jovi - (Embarrassed that I thought of that one so quickly.)
"Jamie's Crying" - Van Halen
"High Enough" - Damn Yankees
"Right Here Waiting" - Richard Marx - (Even more embarrassing.)
"Live Forever" - Oasis
Fire/Desire
"Fire" - Jimi Hendrix
"Ring of Fire" - Johnny Cash
"We're Gonna Groove" - Led Zeppelin
"Stand Up and Shout" - Dio
"Misfire" - Queen - ("misfire" is close enough to count...)
"Fuel" - Metallica - ("Give me fuel, give me fire..." - such a terrible song.)
"You Are My One Desire" - Buddy Holly
"Desire" - U2 - (Submitted by Michael.)
"I Want It That Way" - Backstreet Boys - (Ha! Submitted by Tristan.)
"I Got The Blues" - The Rolling Stones
"Strange Desire" - Black Keys - (Great song, lame lyric.)
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*There are. I know of several, I'm just too embarrassed to admit it.
Forever/Never, Fire/Desire
"Summer of '69" came up on my iPod on the way home from work today and this lyric caught my attention: