False Rhymes and their uses

Well, Mr. Sondheim is dead, so it's time for me to take this artform forward. Something that I learned dissecting Mr. McGlashan and Kiwi rock is that false rhymes can be useful, even in an integrated musical, which is much like Shakespeare or Racine in that the rhyming style is part of the effect. Bear in mind that this discussion is different to deliberately not rhyming by using one of the dissonant vowels for that particular phrase. [consonant vowels = either rhyming vowels or near-rhymes. dissonant vowels = non-rhyming vowels.] - Sondheim himself admits this regarding one of his famous false rhymes: Look, I Made A Hat (p. 30) - Re: Finishing The Hat 'Stream-of consciousness doesn't think in sentences. It's a technique common in pop lyrics, largely because it relieves the writer of having to say anything coherent; strings of images are always effective, if often meaningless. But a little incoherence seemed appropriate in the case of an artist struggling to reconcile his personal life with his professional one. Looking at the lyric now, it seems to me neat and graceful, except for the glaring flaw of the word "wait's", which should rhyme with "late" but doesn't quite. When I wrote it, I excused myself on the grounds that the "s" is short for "is" and therefore belongs to the next line, but even so, it sounds like a false rhyme, and that's what counts. The sour fact is that I could never get rid of that "s." I was reduced to letting it go and taking refuge in the romantic cliche that all first-rate works of art are imperfect." - So, yes, I know his style very well. My own take on false rhymes is somewhat different. I think that they can represent a character who is incoherent, as Sondheim notes, but I also think that one can make an interplay between singular and plural that can be used to add a softer sound to certain words or phrases. For example, in The Sands of Time, the 'near/fears' false rhyme is to emphasise the emotionality of the moment, but also because it's more grammatically accurate and that's an important consideration. https://amandariddell.bandcamp.com/album/amandas-piano-doodles While the 'this/mist' rhyme is an idea that I've been thinking of for a while, which is that false rhymes that extend a word are quite a good way of surprising the audience into paying attention. https://amandariddell.bandcamp.com/album/the-dakumentary-music-from-the-series Like, compare this: My heart simply can't resist; You're just the mist. My heart wasn't made for this; You're just the mist. One rhymes perfectly, but the other is more real. Sondheim's contention is that false rhymes weaken attention, but if they're surprising (and using dissonant vowels or consonants) then they're useful as a springboard. However, for them to be surprising requires that one can do perfect rhymes, so that way they're a colour rather than sloppy technique. I haven't done it yet, but I have an idea where I start a rhyming phrase with a false rhyme but then continue landing blows on that rhyme, then repeat the correct rhyme at the end. Don uses them mostly to point up words, which is something that I think is a useful tool. He writes like a poet; one can sense the enjambment in his words, whereas Sondheim and those American writers tend to have a punchier rhyming style that's vaudevillian.