"No More Rhyme" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter and actress Debbie Gibson. It was released as the third single from her second studio album Electric Youth (1989) only in North America, Australia, and Japan. It was produced by Fred Zarr.
The song had moderate success, peaking at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 13 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Internationally, the song entered the charts in Canada, Australia, and the Flanders region in Belgium.
Content
According to the sheet music published on Musicnotes.com, "No More Rhyme" is performed in the key of A major, with Gibson's vocals ranging from F#3–D5.[2] Lyrically, the track is about a relationship's "first hurdle."[3] Gibson stated that it was one of the few songs where "I can't remember where or when I wrote it."[4]
Critical reception
Oscar Wednesday of Cashbox gave the track a negative review writing, "This tender ballad makes me want to lean over into little Debbie’s ear and whisper, "How can I say doo-doo? Let me count the ways."[5] In his review for Electric Youth, Harry Sumrall of the Lakeland Ledger called the track a "sappy paean to love."[6] Dan Firestone of the Toledo Blade however, gave it a positive review, calling it the best song off the album.[7]
Music video
James Yukich directed the video for "No More Rhyme".[8] It was filmed in Los Angeles in mid-May 1989.[4] The music video features Danica McKellar from the hit TV show The Wonder Years playing a cello. In the original recording of "No More Rhyme", Bob Osman played the cello.[9] It was first released to Night Tracks on July 1, 1989.[10] At the time, "No More Rhyme" was the third most requested video on MTV.
^Buss, Bryan (November 27, 2002). Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas; Bogdanov, Vladimir (eds.). All Music Guide to Rock. Backbeat Books. p. 464.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^No More Rhyme (US 7-inch single sleeve). Debbie Gibson. Atlantic Records. 1989. 88885.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^No More Rhyme (US cassette single sleeve). Debbie Gibson. Atlantic Records. 1989. 4-88885.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
