The 100 best pop/rock/etc songs in waltz time

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"Busy Doing Nothing" is in 4/4 all the way through. Try counting it.

Anyway, 56. A Minor Forest - ...But the Pants Stay On

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

55. Animals - House of the Rising Sun (*unless that's actually 6/8 time - I'm not always sure)

54. Eno - Back In Judy's Jungle

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

53. Turn Back The Hands Of Time - R Kelly

― Barima (Barima), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 13:48 (twenty-two years ago)

52. "Waltzinblack" by the Stranglers
51. "Golden Brown" by the Stranglers

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

50 A bunch of songs bu Calexico ('Sunken Waltz')
49 Almost every ballad by cowboy junkies

― Rush Rhees (Rush Rhees), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 13:57 (twenty-two years ago)

The Rascals (or David Cassidy, or Dusty Springfield) - "How Can I Be Sure"

― Joseph McCombs, Tuesday, 4 May 2004 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

(very x-post)
One of the Blur songs you're talking about is called 'The Debt Collector'

― Jamie Fake (the pirate king), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 18:10 (twenty-two years ago)

47. Patti Smith - Birdland

― Marcel Post (Marcel Post), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

46. Jay-Z, 'My First Song'
45. D'Angelo, 'Untitled'

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

44. Ween - "The Blarney Stone"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

43. Jimmy Buffet, "Living and Dying in 3/4 Time"

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 19:44 (twenty-two years ago)

42. carole king (or dusty springfield), "no easy way down." (though maybe that's actually 6/8 or 12/8, as i imagine at least a few of the above are.)

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 19:49 (twenty-two years ago)

41. Black Sabbath "Behind the Wall of Sleep"

― dave q, Tuesday, 4 May 2004 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music to thread.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 19:55 (twenty-two years ago)

91-87. er, lots of Modern Life/Parklife-era Blur, can't remember titles, can anyone help?
Ernold Same is the only one I can think of.
39. Depeche Mode -- Blue Dress (doesn't sound much like it, but it is in 3/4, I've seen the sheet music).

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

38. Prince - Slow Love
37. The Herbaliser - Mr Chombee Has The Flaw
36. Kelis - Suspended
35. Cornelius - Point Of View Point

― Barima (Barima), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

34. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Maid Of New Orleans

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 22:11 (twenty-two years ago)

33. Mogwai - Take Me Somewhere Nice
32. Mogwai - Ratts of the Capital

― Nice Pete, Wednesday, 5 May 2004 05:13 (twenty-two years ago)

31. The Fall - Hip Priest

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 05:47 (twenty-two years ago)

30. "Valse Chinoise", Volapük

(...30. it should be, perhaps? for Alex fired in, attention span-lessly, Stranglers' "Golden Brown" that had already been mentioned upthread)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 07:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry to be obscuro, but

29. Kantner/Slick/Freiberg, "Harp Tree Lament" (my favorite Robert Hunter lyric)

― Joseph McCombs, Wednesday, 5 May 2004 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

"Some Velvet Morning" - or parts of it at least.

― Huey (Huey), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

27. Alicia Keys - "Falling"

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 13:11 (twenty-two years ago)

"Waltz #1" ba-bam
"Keepers"- del Amitri

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

re: 3/4 hip hop, there's a track on Group Home's Living Proof album, tho' it may be a 'lude.

― Barima (Barima), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 18:32 (twenty-two years ago)

23. American Without Tears, Elvis Costello

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

bingo!

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Shellac 'Didn't we deserve a look at the way you really are?'

― mei (mei), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 20:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, Costello seems to like a good waltz. I just noticed this one...

21. Elvis Costello - "Sunday's Best"

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:15 (twenty-two years ago)

That Ramones one that starts "One! Two! Three!".

― jazz odysseus (jazz odysseus), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Flying Burrito Bros. "Juanita"

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Pavement - "Shoot The Singer (1 Sick Verse)"

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Sam Cooke "Fool's Paradise"

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Os Mutantes "Senhor F" It goes back and forth between 3/4 and 4/4.

― not Graham (Inuuu), Wednesday, 5 May 2004 23:48 (twenty-two years ago)

16. The Smashing Pumpkins - "Obscured"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 6 May 2004 00:36 (twenty-two years ago)

15. Red House Painters - "Grace Cathedral Park"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 6 May 2004 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

14. Nick Drake - "Place to Be" (can't believe I almost forgot that)

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 6 May 2004 00:39 (twenty-two years ago)

13. Amateur -Aimee Mann

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Thursday, 6 May 2004 00:50 (twenty-two years ago)

12. Cocteau Twins "Pearly Dewdrops Drops"

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 6 May 2004 05:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Another Costello: "New Amsterdam"

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 6 May 2004 06:24 (twenty-two years ago)

10. Coba - "After Dinner (Plaid Mix)"

probably my favourite bit of music to be released last year.

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 6 May 2004 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)

9. George Michael - "Cowboys and Angels"

― Joseph McCombs, Thursday, 6 May 2004 12:48 (twenty-two years ago)

8. J.Lo and R Kelly - 'Baby, I Love You'
(10 times better if J.Lo was replaced with Kiley Dean, Aaliyah, Javine, Kelly Rowland even*!)

*OK, maybe not.

― Barima (Barima), Thursday, 6 May 2004 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

7. "Solar System," the Beach Boys.

Speaking of the BBs, I'm listening right now, on a sunny day filled with my doin' mostly nothin', to the great "Busy Doin' Nothin'" and it's really a modified bossa nova--I count it in 2/2, not 4/4...classic bossa time signature...

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 6 May 2004 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

6. Weezer - Holiday

― Roberton, Thursday, 6 May 2004 20:45 (twenty-two years ago)

5. Sly and the Family Stone - Que Sera Sera

― Dr. Annabel Lies (Michael Kelly), Thursday, 6 May 2004 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

4 - Delgados - "The Light Before We Land"

― Ben Dot (1977), Thursday, 6 May 2004 22:00 (twenty-two years ago)

3. Richard Thompson, "Waltzing's for Dreamers"

― m.e.a. (m.e.a.), Thursday, 6 May 2004 22:09 (twenty-two years ago)

2. Kate Bush, "Army Dreamers"

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 6 May 2004 23:00 (twenty-two years ago)

1. the linger effect - aquaman

hehe.

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Friday, 7 May 2004 10:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 83 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Where did you find the official sheet music?

― One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 January 2020 02:58 (six years ago)

Well, just looking at the first page of the most reputable looking sheet music that came up on the first page of Google results, with official looking copyright etc. I admit this may not be the dispositive finding.

― o. nate, Sunday, 19 January 2020 03:00 (six years ago)

Even the 'scores' that get registered with copyright offices are often after-the-fact, sometimes sketched-out transcriptions and are not necessarily dispositive tbh. The Donovan song is actually one of the only rock-era songs I can think of that feels to be inarguably in triple metre to me, not counting songs with 3/4 passages juxtaposed with other metres (Rush - Limelight, Sonic Youth - Pipeline/Kill Time). "Get to You" is mostly 5/4, surely, except for the bridge.

― One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 January 2020 03:08 (six years ago)

"Cloudbusting" another example of a song that moves between 4 and 3.

― One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 January 2020 03:09 (six years ago)

I just noticed that the Byrds song I nominated in the first post all those years ago is actually 5/4 much of the time, only moving to 3/4 in certain sections. LOL. (Arguably making it *more* noteworthy, but not so great as an opening post re 3/4.)

― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 19 January 2020 03:17 (six years ago)

Haha XP!!

― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 19 January 2020 03:20 (six years ago)

xxxp I get you on the fuzziness of sheet music in this context. The canonical text for rock/pop is the recording, and different people can interpret it differently. Heck probably even different musicians who played on it interpreted it differently (such as the drummer vs the singer or guitarist).

― o. nate, Sunday, 19 January 2020 03:32 (six years ago)

yeah most triple meter rock songs are in 6/8 (or use a shuffle beat in 12/8 a la everybody wants to rule the world or never tear us apart). 3/4 time is less driving, it can feel a little stilted in a rock context. 6/8 swings, sounds great in power ballads (we are the champions, nothing else matters)

― culture of mayordom (voodoo chili), Sunday, 19 January 2020 04:27 (six years ago)

actually never tear us apart is def 6/8 isn't it?

― culture of mayordom (voodoo chili), Sunday, 19 January 2020 04:28 (six years ago)

I'd definitely say 12/8. The chords change once every twelve eighth notes (four beats), the melodic phrases are built around the 12 (or 4) groupings, the guitar plays at the beginning of each grouping of 12 when it enters.

― One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 January 2020 04:44 (six years ago)

When there is a standard rock backbeat that would be analysed as 4/4 at any other time, it generally seems most logical/natural to me to continue counting it as quadruple metre even if it is subdivided into triplets, so I tend to default to 12/8 in these situations unless there is a really compelling reason to count 6/8.

― One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 January 2020 04:49 (six years ago)

Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" feels like an actual triple metre to me: the drums are actually playing groups of 3, the chords change once every three beats. Agree with "Manic Depression" upthread as well.

― One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 January 2020 04:59 (six years ago)

The canonical text for rock/pop is the recording, and different people can interpret it differently. Heck probably even different musicians who played on it interpreted it differently (such as the drummer vs the singer or guitarist).

(I agree with this 100%, to be clear. Obv there are wrong interpretations but there can definitely be multiple credible interpretations.)

― One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 January 2020 05:02 (six years ago)

"Cloudbusting" moves between 4/4 and 6/4, sorry. Remembered wrong.

― One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact (Sund4r), Sunday, 19 January 2020 05:12 (six years ago)

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