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Popular Songs with Odd Time Signatures

#23
The Pretenders Tattooed Love Boys is 7/16.

Chrissy Hynde was known, at least in the early days, for having odd time signatures the guys in the band had trouble following. I think it was by accident more than anything though... lack of experience, her brain didn't work in 4/4.
 
#26
LeeNunn said:
I have always been intrigued by the fact that Dave Brubeck's Take Five is so popular given that it's in 5/4.
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bigswifty1 said:
Almost every song in that album has an unusual time sig. Trolley Song. Unsquare Dance. etc etc

Mike
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Yes, but neither of those songs is on that album. Unsquare Dance is from "Time Further Out", which was a continuation of the odd time sig concept of "Time Out".

Track listing of "Time Out":

Side one

1. "Blue Rondo à la Turk" (this one's another popular tune with a 9/8 time sig)
2. "Strange Meadow Lark"
3. "Take Five"

Side two

1. "Three to Get Ready"
2. "Kathy's Waltz"
3. "Everybody's Jumpin'"
4. "Pick Up Sticks"

It's a fantastic album, too. I'm a hopeless rock listener but this album made me a jazz fan. I saw Brubeck twice before he died, both times in the last 10 years.
 
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#27
bigswifty1 said:
What's Zep's "Kashmir" ? It's something a bit off too isn't it?
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For the main riff the drums are in 4/4 and everything else is in 3/4. You could also say that everything is in 6/4 in that riff. Great song.

Dream Theater have some weird time signatures going on in lots of their songs. I don't think they actually know of the existence of 4/4 :p

Eleven by Primus is in 11/8
 
#28
Need Gigs said:
For the main riff the drums are in 4/4 and everything else is in 3/4.
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The drums are in the same sig as everything else, to my ears. The snare still falls on every other beat. It's that "every other beat" in that case puts it on the 1 & 3 in every other measure that may be confusing.

You could also say that everything is in 6/4 in that riff.
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This.

I'll add "Seven Days" by Sting, but I don't know how popular it is.
 
#30
Spectrum said:
Yes, but neither of those songs is on that album. Unsquare Dance is from "Time Further Out", which was a continuation of the odd time sig concept of "Time Out".

Track listing of "Time Out":

Side one

1. "Blue Rondo à la Turk" (this one's another popular tune with a 9/8 time sig)
2. "Strange Meadow Lark"
3. "Take Five"

Side two

1. "Three to Get Ready"
2. "Kathy's Waltz"
3. "Everybody's Jumpin'"
4. "Pick Up Sticks"

It's a fantastic album, too. I'm a hopeless rock listener but this album made me a jazz fan. I saw Brubeck twice before he died, both times in the last 10 years.
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Aaah thank you, my album is clearly a compilation. Thanks for that.
 
#37
Amara said:
Define "odd."
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Odd = 5, 7, 9 ,11, 13, etc.
Baird6869 said:
Say Hello by April Wine has a crazy feel to it.
The song is in 6/8, but the drums play in 4/4 (basically a 3 bar loop).
Cool thing is that it always syncs up.
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6/8 over 4/4 is very common with Afro-Cuban music. I would not call this odd. Something more "odd" would be "The Spin" by the Yellowjackets...Haslip's bass is in 5...everything else is in 4. The earlier comment about the DMB & everything they do being "odd"...a lot of that is on Carter, their drummer. He is a master at grooving polymeterically...Colaiuta is another.
 

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