Popular songs in unusual time signatures

Popular songs in unusual time signatures

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Discussion

gmaz

Original Poster:

4,382 posts

209 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
I've been trying to think of popular songs that are not in 4/4 time (its a hobby of mine wink ) From my mental prog archive I've come up with

Pink Floyd - Money - 7/8
Jethro Tull - Living In The Past - 5/4

So, are there any others that are not over 40 years old?


conkerman

3,298 posts

134 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
Genesis - Turn it on again. Partly in 13/8 and 9/8 iirc.

The start of Tubular bells 7/8

I can't quite work out Charge by elbow.


dojo

741 posts

134 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
The most recent one I can think of is the Hoizer take me to Church song which is a mix of 3/4 and 4/4 - that been said 3/4 is hardly unusual and it says a lot about the state of popular music that it stands out!

Halmyre

11,148 posts

138 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" switches between 7/4 and 4/4.

ATG

20,485 posts

271 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
First track on Mike Oldfield's Tubular Balls has an odd time sig ... 9/8 and 7/8. But that's still ancient prog rocky stuff.

Oops. See it already got mentioned.

dojo

741 posts

134 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
ATG said:
First track on Mike Oldfield's Tubular Balls has an odd time sig ... 9/8 and 7/8. But that's still ancient prog rocky stuff.
The main hook of the song? I would never have counted that in compound. Maybe its later in the track - I never get that far - ha

Another one is Spoonman by Soundgarden which in 7 if memory serves me correctly.

Halmyre

11,148 posts

138 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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Tom_C76

1,923 posts

187 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
Iris by the Googoo Dolls has some very odd timings.

Isn't All you need is love by the Beatles in 7/8 or am I imagining things?

andyr30

613 posts

185 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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The Stranglers - Golden Brown - 3/4

shakotan

10,679 posts

195 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
Tom_C76 said:
Iris by the Googoo Dolls has some very odd timings.
All in 3/4 apart from the break in the middle.

utgjon

713 posts

172 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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Sting - Seven Days

counterofbeans

1,061 posts

138 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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My favourite song "Starless" by King Crimson has a middle section in 13/4 and a final section in 13/8

Halmyre

11,148 posts

138 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
counterofbeans said:
My favourite song "Starless" by King Crimson has a middle section in 13/4 and a final section in 13/8
Bill Bruford once said of King Crimson that this is a band where you get to play in weird time signatures and still stay in nice hotels.

conkerman

3,298 posts

134 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
Bruford has a lot of interesting stuff to say about crimson.

Just listening to him drumming with Phil Collins from 1976. Groovetastic.

counterofbeans

1,061 posts

138 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
Halmyre said:
Bill Bruford once said of King Crimson that this is a band where you get to play in weird time signatures and still stay in nice hotels.
My favourite drummer, along with Omar Hakim

schmunk

4,399 posts

124 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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andyr30 said:
The Stranglers - Golden Brown - 3/4
Every 4th bar is in 4/4.

vournikas

11,683 posts

203 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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"Walk" by Pantera is in 12/8, which is unusual for a metal group


CAPP0

19,533 posts

202 months

Friday 27th May 2016
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schmunk said:
Every 4th bar is in 4/4.
I was just thinking, aren't some of those mentioned above a mix too? Tubular Bells - 7 then 8 then 7 etc?

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
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I thought this was meant to be "popular songs", not "name your favourite band that use odd time sigs"? wink

For the above poster who mentioned Mudvayne, practically every song of theirs that I can think of has an odd time sig in at some point, at least on the earlier stuff.

Tool are the same, can't think of a single song that sticks to regular time all the way through.

OldSkoolRS

6,718 posts

178 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
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Foo Fighters Times like these is partly in 7/4 with 4/4 sections. We learnt it last term at an evening college guitar class I go to. Took me a while to get my head around it, but seems perfectly natural now.