Time signatures, a musicians best friend if used wisely. Time signatures when used correctly can add other dimensions to a song, a feeling of awkwardness, incompleteness, shuffling dancing, rushing. Whilst there are entire genres, bands, and lesser known material that utilise the practice of time signature variation, it is somewhat of a rarity for popular songs that get radio exposure. Lots of IDM, Math Rock, overtly Prog, and other genres really expand the usage of time signatures. Also included are songs that flirt between and throw in unexpected moments of other time signatures. This is probably the likely case, but it does not always ring true. For an extensive list of compositions and songs, you can head over to or. One of the most famous Jazz names, and equally famous songs, Mr Brubeck was notorious for his usage of playing with time signatures. There are several instances in soundtracks that used slightly odd time signatures. Note, not the theme, just the standard Latin groove the theme uses Burt Bacharach, writer extraordinaire, has dabbled in time signatures. A brilliant song covered by an array of featured artists, including this version by Aretha Franklin. The most popular band of all time, The Beatles, were definitely not afraid to experiment with odd time signatures, or even dropping a bar into the middle of a song. One such example is We Can Work It Out. Another famous song for tricky time signatures is Here Comes the Sun. However the song for this list is the papier-mâché collage of Happiness is a Warm Gun. Strawberry Fields is another example of a song that features shifting time measures. To think this is from the greatest boyband of all time. Led Zeppelin also got caught with the mixed time signature bug. As far as popular songs with odd time signatures go, this may be the most famous example. Prog Rock group Genesis, as with any Prog act, are notorious for unusual time signatures. However, the Genesis track in this list though has to be Turn It On Again. Not only is this one of the bands most recognisable for non fans, it is also one of their later output that changes so frequently. The song varies in time signatures and the structure is quite complex. There is even a whole debate about exactly what signatures are where on Genesis forums and music forums. Thankfully, whilst fact checking the article Wikipedia confirmed this. In fact Kate, along with Paul Simon, are bigger whores of syncopated lyrical structures over common time signatures, especially Paul Simon. If you ever watch the Graceland Classic Albums documentary then he goes through the lyrics profusely, with an attention on syncopation. It is one of the more memorable instances of a pop song in the 80s with an odd time signature. Pop hits in the 80s became far more rigid by design. I actually found it far harder to find songs from this period that were popular and had odd time signatures. There are lots of examples of interesting song structures, polyrhythms and syncopation. Because of the odd bar or a few beats of one idea followed by another contrasting it feels like it should be in a peculiar time signature. The opening riff is a 3 beat riff, followed by 5 beats of marimba. This usage of using the 3 beat riff occasionally in the verse makes the chorus sound like a union by being far more linear. This does not mean that no songs in the 80s outside of common time, far from it, but they were more likely found on albums, in deep sub genres than raking up notoriety. Lots of Heavy Metal and Prog groups including: Dream Theatre, Metallica, Rush, Porcupine Tree, and many others were toyed with time signatures and rhythms, almost in attempt to be more bombastic and clever than the other acts. A silly morse code pattern that spells out the title of your song, aw how sweet. On reflection there is one song that jumps out from the 80s with a weird time signature. However, the most famous example is easily from Cats. The nineties has far more offerings of popular uncommon time songs. A Nine Inch Nails classic, March of the Pigs, also features slightly odd measurements. You can notice it quite a bit, as it is jarring. One band that have become notorious for their use of time signatures and polyrhythms, and a band that are still on the go, is Radiohead. Personally, I count it as 3, pause, 3, 2, 2. This video below shows the rhythmic structure of Pyramid Song. In the early 2000s, Outkast were possibly the rap and hip hop act that everyone could get on board with. Their catchy melodies, quick lyricism, and brilliance is hard to contest. However, who knew they would provide not only one of the biggest hits with an insanely recognisable product placement phrase Shake it like a Polaroid picture — which incidentally caused Polaroid to release a statement explaining that this could if anything damage a Polaroid , but a hit with a peculiar measure to boot. Deceptive pop, wonder if more acts should do this. As far as metal goes, this is one of the more popular songs of the last ten years to have such diverse changes. One of the more prominent bands of the moment, Biffy Clyro, have various songs with odd time signatures. In the program, Björk meets Attenborough, she discusses how the face of a crystal could inspire her song writing by each face representing a different amount of beats. It is quite likely this was the inspiration for the track, as with the others on the album. Also, I personally love the destructive Squarepusher ending, so that may have influenced its inclusion on this post. There are some exceptionally famous tracks distinguished for their deviation from common time, whereas others are completely glossed over. Others I instantly knew to put down. The biggest anomaly is the lack of the odd pop song in the 80s being in uncommon time. Other decades I had to actually be a bit more selective with, but covered as many bases as possible. Hopefully this shed some light, or baffled you further. Thanks to Chris Hilton, Kirstie Hopper, Colin Obbard, and anyone else who suggested or fact checked this post. Of course, this not being the first list on the subject, there are many places to find people gathering songs or talking about them. Included in the sources are more examples, as well as time signature explanations. The question is, is it actually? This confusion lies in the verses, where the guitar and drums accent the beats like so. There are a few occasions where strategic accents can create confusion in the time signature. It is quite likely that Phil Selway would play the drums counting 2 beats of 6 followed by one of 4. A time signature is, in its most rudimentary form, a way of counting a song. This guide on the BBC explains it simply. The bottom number represents the speed of the counting. So instead of counting 4, you count 8. There is a lot more involved, but generally this is the principle. If you want a good example, of time signatures and drum patterns explained then have a listen to ex Dream Theatre drummer, Mike Portnoy. Due to a mixing error, the band actually came in too early. This oddity though rather amused and delighted the group. That was until they had to play it live and it became a bit of a chore, thus being dropped from most setlists since the OK Computer tour. Edit — This section expanded. After getting a pingback on this from Reddit, I decided to look at it again as someone mentioned this section was confusing or incorrect. According to the original acoustic guitar part was mixed out by accident. After trying to find the original source about this comment I was unable to. I will update this again if I find the source, or remove it entirely for being inaccurate. There is often a debate about what time signature Pyramid Song by Radiohead is in. This debate often opens up to a further over hanging debate about does it even matter. Not in the sense that hours of talking about it instead of something else mean it is wasted, but rather, are time signatures themselves important if it is not the individual playing. For example, I explained how I count the rhythm of Pyramid song, but someone else could count it entirely differently. In fact if the counting makes logical sense for the player then it does not matter. This is the core belief to a lot of Math Rock musicians. Mahavishnu Orchestra once joked to Ken Scott that they had no idea what time signature the songs were in because they were all busy counting their own parts. Notable exclusions: Tool, who take the absolute piss with their time signatures. There were several songs that could be mentioned, however I wanted to try and keep the progression and history going. Thanks to Reggie cat for getting into shot. Edited — April 29 2016, cleaned up and relinked outdated content. If anyone has any questions or spots anything they want to point as completely incorrect please do. Hope the read was enjoyable.
