search: pop songs with weird time signatures and metric shifts

I was listening to a tune of the newest Low album last night that's in 9. Can't remember which one offhand but I'll check later.

Oingo Boingo were big on playing half- or third-measures all the time

Surprised no one's mentioned:

Sugababes - Round Round

"Hey Ya" is definitely crowded with weird time signature, and that is very much a major reason for its appeal and impact. Not at least because it is from a genre where this kind of thing (apart from polyrhythmics and other microrhythmic tendencies, it must be added) is so unusual.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, September 22, 2006 8:00 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

that TOTALLY PROG bar of 2/4

The verses of Arcade Fire's "Modern Man" have a very weird structure.

This is as best as I can figure out the first verse, from when the guitar comes in:

one measure of 8
four measures of 9 (Win's vocal comes in on the second)
two measures of 8
two measures of 9
two measures of 8
four measures of 9
one measure of 8

"i love rock and roll"

(some accelerated turnaround bars of 7 in there)

okay i generally don't listen to the arcade fire but i am on the case

jaymc, are you counting 8th notes? here's why i think it comes off as tricky: there are bars of 5/4, but they always accent the "&" of 5 before the one, and don't really mark the one (at least in the drums). usually when people play odd times they hit the one pretty clearly, and you only hear that kind of anticipation in 4/4.

so, i hear the verse as alternating measures of 4/4 and 5/4, but downbeat of the 4/4 bars is anticipated by an 8th note. does that make sense?

I believe Juliana Hatfield's 'Spin the bottle' is in 5/4.

xp I guess that makes sense; I've always been lousy at counting off-beats.

It's been mentione upthread but just a moment ago I was listening to 'hey ya' and noticed for the first time it doesn't have a straight 4/4 time signature.

9/8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YrTtYaCD0&feature=player_embedded

I think we discussed this in another thread but there's a single bar of 3/4 at the end of the bridge in Beyonce's "Single Ladies".

There was a really good article in an old issue of the English musicology journal Popular Music on the really free meter in some early Incredible String Band songs. "October Song" from the first album is a good example.

And, interestingly, both of those guys did it. Try counting the meter in "Gently Tender."

Pink Floyd - "Bike"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIkOVe0MF1k

lots of early Pretenders songs boast unexpected time signatures ("Tattooed Love Boys") and chord changes ("The Phone Call").

Ignition (Remix) adds an extra bit of a bar here and there

There was a really good article in an old issue of the English musicology journal Popular Music on the really free meter in some early Incredible String Band songs. "October Song" from the first album is a good example.

Pop songs. I could list 20 songs from "Trout Mask Replica" if you just want songs with funny time signatures etc

That's a great deal more obvious, though. If someone had pointed it out in a Donovan song or something, I wouldn't imagine anyone would raise that objection.

I think we discussed this in another thread but there's a single bar of 3/4 at the end of the bridge in Beyonce's "Single Ladies".

ha, we discussed this in great detail iirc

Ignition (Remix) adds an extra bit of a bar here and there

yeah but it's always even (like a two beat extension, standard pop stuff)

Plus, the main thing about that article was how extreme those ISB songs are.

"Painting Box" was released as a single from the 2nd album, is in 4/4, and doesn't sound like a different genre entirely from the songs that are all over the place metrically.

It's been mentioned upthread, but recently experienced firsthand that phenomenon of thinking a song might be in a weird time signature, The Smiths's "Oscillate Wildly," when actually it was on 4/4, but with the eighth notes grouped 3-3-2, which I guess is not actually that uncommon

i tried and failed to find that 'single ladies' discussion, but i definitely remember dan and i arguing about the bar at the end of the bridge.

Maybe it's naive on my part, but I tend to defer to your judgement in these discussions since you're a drummer.

Devo's "It's Not Right" is I think 6/4, 2/4, 4/4, 2/4 during the verse, but there are variations in there as well where they omit the 6/4 and use 4/4. It's great.

On the same LP, "Snowball" is in 4/4 but it has an accent on the "and" of 4, which makes it sound like an odd meter.

Wow, my ear sucked five years ago.

Anyway, an obvious one that wasn't mentioned here: "Strawberry Fields Forever" (a bar of 9/8 on the title line).

Try counting this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODJ-AAmCM-A

Will do when I get home.

the main reason that one is so hard to count is that there is counting in it

Ha, yeah they were messing us kids up

I think it's 7 - 7 - 4 - 4 - 3 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 2??

It's two bars of 14/8 (or four bars of 7/8), followed by a bar of 11/8, then a bar of 15/8, then I think it's either 16 or 17 -- the transition to the bridge confuses me

actually johnny's divisions make more sense

The vibe solo's in 4/4!

Steel drums, rather

right, but there's a weird extra bar going into it I think

I mean extra beat

Yes, that transition is very odd.

The Beatles' "Good Morning" is another fun one to count.

ten, isn't it?

No, it changes multiple times throughout the song. It's really wacky.

Devo has some weird ones in their day. Never was able to figure out the first half of "Jocko Homo" though I believe it's 7/4. Todd Rundgren also messed around a bit on "Izzat Love?"

Alan Myers from Devo rarely gets mentioned in 'great drummers' discussions but he was terrific. Even on "Freedom of Choice" they were still using a kit on almost all the tunes.

yeah and that drummer they brought in to replace him couldn't do the same things, they had to slow songs with trickier rhythms like "Satisfaction" or "Whip It" way down. though they're now touring with Josh Freese and from what I've seen he's really a very good drummer, but he plays Devo a little too straightforward. Alan was key to Q: Are We Not Men's success to me, the drumming really amplifies the nervous and skittish feeling of the songs.

Man, Rush's "Limelight" is great. I've heard it so many times but never tried to count it until now.

The Pinball Song can be counted like

4 3 4 3 4 4 3 3 4 4 3
4 4 4 3 4 4 4 5
14 bars of 4 followed by one bar of 2
4 3 4 3 4 4 4

But the ending makes it clear that it should actually be a division of 8.

A few Lennon's already mentioned, but Don't Let Me Down alternates 5/4 with 4/4. He uses that trick a few times