Attached is a MWE.I tried using explicit syllable lengths, but it appears that they were ignored. So writing "rhythm4" or "jer8 -- "ky8" does nothing.
Switching the order of the voices in << ... >> made no difference; it always aligned to the shorter notes. So " << c4 \\ {a8 a8 } >>" or "<< {a8 a8 } \\ c4 >>" yielded the same result.
I have not played with more complicated rhythms, e.g. tuplets. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
For the simple cases I need atm it seems that a spacer "_" is sufficient. Beyond that, it is guess and fiddle.
MWE2.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
\version "2.24.3" \language "english" \header { title = "Variant Rhythms" subtitle = "Explicit syllable lengths" } global = { \key c \major \time 4/4 \partial 4 } chordNames = \chordmode { \global % Chords follow here. } melody = \relative c'' { \global % Music follows here. c4 | c4 c << c4 \\ {a8 a8 } >> c4 | c4 c8 c c4 } verseA = \lyricmode { % Lyrics follow here. Verse with smooth rhythm _ words And stac -- ca -- to } verseB = \lyricmode { % Lyrics follow here. Verse with short jer -- ky words And stac -- ca -- to } \score { << \new ChordNames \chordNames \new Staff { \melody } \addlyrics { \verseA } \addlyrics { \verseB } >> \layout { } }