Im not comfortable with the symmetry of perfect rhymes at all, but I do appreciate others doing the craft. Pop songs from the golden era of jazz were also written like Broadway tunes, and in Jimmy Webb's bio "songwriter" (well, sorry mr. free speech, but this was not a reference to that! love ) they are covered quite a bit too.

Somehow Im rather pleased to hear that the a&r people doesn't approove of clichés too, as there really are no theoretical reason for them to defend the art (even if it is a death sentence on most of my lyrics). Look how many movies from Hollywood who keeps referring to themselves in sequel after sequel. Clichés are commercial in a tacky way, but they fullfill's the 'Walmart not Hallmark' standard of songwriting.

So, if the standards you reference, Marc, are universal in the music business, that is once thing to credit the publishers and a&r people for..