search: pop songs with weird time signatures and metric shifts

(F. Mac's) "Go Your Own Way" sounds really complicated with its odd accents and drum pattern, but it's just plain old 4/4 throughout.

Also, "Carry on My Wayward Son" may just count.

King Crimson, Yes, Genesis... all UK chart acts no? Or is that cheating.

She Said She Said
Good Morning
Happiness is a Warm Gun
Dig a Pony

And if that one doesn't count as "pop", then I guess that Puff Daddy/Jimmy Page collaboration based on "Kashmir" does anyway.

This is straightforward 4/4.

Does "Say A Little Prayer" count?

Weezer's got a few that play some tricks in this vein

Like which?

anyone?

I think that counts as a metric shift.

Maybe it's unfair to exclude Devo. But is Jocko Homo (Are we not men?) the only one?

It's a bar of 3, isn't it? What other pop songs have this?

It does, it's just not very unusual or weird in my estimation.

I guess my question is, at what point does a song become "two bars of 4/4 followed by a bar of 3/4" instead of just 11/4?

It depends on the accents. A lot of this ground was covered here.

Part of "Tallest Man, Broadest Shoulders" or whatever it's called from Illinois is in 11/8. It's 6+5 or 5+6, I forget.

And "Everything in its Right Place" is in 10, I believe. It's 4+4+2.

This is straight 4/4.

The verse in 'Hey Ya' is a six bar phrase where the last bar is 6/4 (or a bar of 4/4 and a bar of 2/4 if you want to think of it like that). Didn't we cover this at length in another thread?

yeah, E, but the song is simply a two-step. does the bassist ever deviate from playing the same pattern? Nope. you simply count the song in 2. One, two, one, two. Where's the complication here? There is none. What is perhaps notable is the structure of the song, which is completely standard in country music. There are no beats dropped at all. This song is quite similar to the Jones hit "Someone I Used to Know." Any country musician worth his salt would immediately see this is nothing to worry about and also, completely intuitive. The thing that makes it distinctive is the way it picks up from the second beat of the 2/2 measure, which I guess gives the illusion that there's something like "dropping beats" going on here. Great song.

Whiney's schemata is correct. The only difference between this part of the verse:

4 bars of 4/4
1 bar of 4/4 • 1 bar of 2/4 • 2 bars of 4/4

and this part:

4 bars of 4/4
4 bars of 4/4

...is that it spends less time on the V chord in the first part. Otherwise, the chord progression is the same both times through.

I wouldn't mind the idea of notating it in 2/2, though.

Here's another one: "Knock Three Times" by Dawn.

In the Jones song, there's a measure of 3/4. At :46, when he sings "I broke the heart." So it actually adds a beat. It's probably best notated in 2/4.

what's this song's time signature? on the album version you can hear a woman (Anna W., presumably) counting off "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgVHJjD5Bcw

i have no idea but i am so hyped that that dog. have a new record out

You'll look in vain for a country tune that has any metric shifts or unusual time signatures; it simply doesn't occur.

Brandy - What About Us
The chorus to the Bee Gees' 'Jive Talkin'
The instrumental part of MacArthur Park

Agreed that country rarely has metric shifts, but Mexican Banda and Mariachi music often does add extra beats, so when country emulates Mexican music, as with Ring of Fire, it will use metric shifts.

that that dog song is 4/4, the chorus sounds like alternating measures of 6/8 and 4/4

"What About Us?" is straight 4/4, isn't it? Just with a lot of singing behind the beat or sounds off the beat

I think the George Jones song is confusing because he starts singing before the beat appears, so every line seems to start on 2 instead of 1.

I don’t know how to say it in proper music terms.

that that dog song is 4/4, the chorus sounds like alternating measures of 6/8 and 4/4

I'd say 6/4 & 4/4 but yeah. Although, the part at 2:30 is in 7/4, but the drums keep rolling through in 4/4.

thanks. i guess i thought it was weirder than that. shows what i know!

odd that Golden Brown hasn't been mentioned http://www.rebelmusicteacher.com/blog/2016/6/14/asymmetrical-compound-meter-in-the-stranglers-golden-brown

oops, I see it has, but it's not 3/4 and 4/4

You'll look in vain for a country tune that has any metric shifts or unusual time signatures; it simply doesn't occur.

The Carter Family's Rhythmic Asymmetry

Time on the Crooked Road: Isochrony, Meter, and Disruption in Old-Time Country and Bluegrass Music

On occasions like this I like to pull out "South African Man" by Bohannon - which was a hit single in case anyone objects, in the UK at least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO3BEUMyzgs

I overheard MGMT’s Electric Feel and noticed it has an unusual time signature. Double checked on google and it’s apparently on 6/4 safe from the instrumental bridge which is 4/4.

This song is quite similar to the Jones hit "Someone I Used to Know."

Except that song ("A Girl I Used to Know") features the standard 32 beats per 8-measure verse. "Not What I Had in Mind" has 30 beats in each verse — just count them.
Even if you consider this a two-step, there are still two beats "missing" in each verse. It doesn't bother me — I actually think it's a pretty cool thing to do in a country song. But I'm surprised so many people can't hear it.