Pop musicians who use odd time signatures?

[champbassist]

I've always loved how Sting makes odd time signatures sound so natural.

A prime example:

Sting - Seven Days - YouTube

Can you guys cite more examples of pop bands or artists which use odd time signatures often? Apart from the usual examples from the prog genre, i.e.

[chaosMK]

I think odd time sigs are counter to the idea of pop but it happens occasionally. I was surprised by all the Beatles songs on this list.

List of musical works in unusual time signatures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[BassGen]

Genesis = Turn It On Again is in 13/8.

(Though early Genesis was prog, this is from their Pop era)

[runmikeyrun]

Soundgarden's Fell on Black Days is 6/6. Not really an odd time sig but not 4/4 like 99% of pop. Can't think of any others off the top of my head.

[Demon_Hunter]

Originally Posted by runmikeyrun

Soundgarden's Fell on Black Days is 6/6. Not really an odd time sig but not 4/4 like 99% of pop. Can't think of any others off the top of my head.

6/6?

[chaosMK]

Originally Posted by runmikeyrun

Soundgarden's Fell on Black Days is 6/6.

6/4.. same difference.

[onestring]

Not to turn this into a Sting thread, but I just saw him Saturday on his "Back to Bass" tour. I'm not too familiar with his solo stuff and I was having a hard time counting "Hung My Head". I think he does it in 9/8.

I only knew the Johnny Cash version going in, and JC did it straight--it was really messing with me to figure out how Sting was playing it wrong! Very catchy tune either way.

[Nev375]

The Cars - Touch and go.

The verse is an odd signature, but the chorus is 4/4

[JimK]

Originally Posted by onestring

Not to turn this into a Sting thread, but I just saw him Saturday on his "Back to Bass" tour. I'm not too familiar with his solo stuff and I was having a hard time counting "Hung My Head". I think he does it in 9/8.

Sting does a few Odd metered tunes-
Another-
"St. Augustine In Hell"

[ethnotime]

Pink Floyd's "Money" is in 7/4, they are a prog rock band but it was a pop hit.

Also Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen" is in 4/4 but has one bar of 2/4 at the end of the chorus. Not an odd meter but a meter change is equally rare (methinks) in pop music.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by champbassist

Can you guys cite more examples of pop bands or artists which use odd time signatures often? Apart from the usual examples from the prog genre, i.e.

A Jethro Tull Pop tune-
"Living In The Past"

[JimK]

Originally Posted by ethnotime

Also Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen" is in 4/4 but has one bar of 2/4 at the end of the chorus. Not an odd meter but a meter change is equally rare (methinks) in pop music.

The Beatles (& others) would also have 4/4 tunes where a section (or 4 bars, etc) may go off into 6/8...
"We Can Work It Out", for example.

[projectMalamute]

Solsbury Hill is in 7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fF8wU4Nl9Y

[champbassist]

Originally Posted by onestring

Not to turn this into a Sting thread, but I just saw him Saturday on his "Back to Bass" tour. I'm not too familiar with his solo stuff and I was having a hard time counting "Hung My Head". I think he does it in 9/8.

Yes! It's 9/8 but not (the somewhat more usual) 3 x 3/8 division. It's 4/4 + 1/8

Originally Posted by JimK

Sting does a few Odd metered tunes-
Another-
"St. Augustine In Hell"

Also, the verse of Love Is Stronger Than Justice is in odd time: likely 7/8. I Was Brought To My Senses of the Mercury Falling album is also in 7, IIRC.

[BBox Bass]

Originally Posted by Nev375

The Cars - Touch and go.

The verse is an odd signature, but the chorus is 4/4

Verse is 5/4.

[Richland123]

I think some Joe Jackson, Steely Dan, and Rush stuff is in odd time signatures.

Led Zeppelin - Black Dog. Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones wanted to write a song that people could not "groove" or dance to with its winding riff and complex rhythm changes.

[Frank Tuesday]

Seal - Dreaming in Metaphors is in 7/8.

[GodinFan]

Link Wray's Rumble is an interesting one. It's essentially an 11 and a half bar blues. There's a 6/4 bar on the five chord, and no turnaround.

[JimK]

Another I just thought of-
The Monkees- "Love Is Only Sleeping".
Verses in "7"...chorus is in 4/4

Also, The Monkees' "All Of Your Toys" has that Beatles-esque change from straight 4/4 into 6/8 (or a tripletted feel of 4).

[One Bad Monkey]

The verse to Possum Kingdom by the Toadies is in 4/4 7/8 time (meaning that every other measure goes between 4/4 and 7/8)