ABSTRACT
I think these lines from a song by Cole Porter (1891-1964) include my favourite rhyme. They are blindingly simple but utterly ingenious in the way they manipulate Harris, plutocrat/pat and then carry the sounds into the brilliant inversion of ‘Harris pat’ and ‘Paris hat’. The song, ‘I’m Always True to You in My Fashion’ from Porter’s musical Kiss Me Kate (1948), plays a series of such rhymes: vet/pet, Tex/checks/sex-and it would not be impossible to believe that a less decorous version might have made the Harris word-play yet better by substituting ‘ass’ for ‘cheek’.
