I mostly rhyme, although I have a couple tunes that intentionally lack rhymes. And I do have a very loose piece of free verse that I intend to set to music someday.
My search for a rhyme often takes at least equal effort as the devlopment of meaning, and I confess that I have allowed rhymes to alter my initial concept of the song's story (structure dictating content). I don't recommend that approach and I actually feel that rhyme is less important in popular music than it has been in the past.
In the pop world, I think the most casual rhymer I have heard is Neil Finn. If you look at his most famous work, Don't Dream It's Over, only the second of three verses contains a rhyme--it seems almost accidental when he sings it. And the melody subverts the only rhyme in the chorus. He seems oblivious to syllable count as well.
Joe Jackson has a couple of non-rhymers on his Big World album, the title track and a beautiful ballad called Shanghai sky, which is the closest to free verse I think you'll find on a pop album (you may think you see some rhymes in the text, but as sung the lyrics really float):
Strange
How the world got so small
I turned around and there was nowhere left to go
So sad
The dream always dies
Each new arrival closes places in my mind
But I can dream
Until I go
Of smells that I don't recognize
And by the river
In Shanghai
The colour of the sky
Is something I've never seen
After the summer rain
Children smile
Curious and kind
And the world is big again
Deef
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"Marge, when I join an underground cult I expect a little support from my family." -- H. J. Simpson
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