Actually, it's right in the tradition of broadside ballads, and the rhyming and assonance (or lack of it, sometimes) is no worse than any of its eighteenth-century counterparts.

Apropos of which: you might be interested to read this reminiscence, written by a woman I've known since my days in alt.callahans. She covered the loss of the Fitz, as a cub reporter in the Soo, and hell, she'll take you there and put you right next to her that night.