Interesting/famous time signatures

Isn't it "picking his nose?"

Honestly, I think that most of the songs mentioned in this thread have pretty easy/basic rhythms and metres...

???

 

Even "Keep It Greasey" on Joe's Garage? Impressive.

How about I Hung My Head by Sting? Nice 9/8.

 

Keep it Greasy is nuts!!!!!! I'd be fired from his band in a second!

 

Funny... "Keep It Greasy" was the one that stuck out in my mind when I wrote my post; it's a bit cluttered, in the solo part, whew... Well, maybe I should qualify my statement... I really like that groove; Vinnie Colaiuta is my favorite drummer! In reality, though, a time signature is really only "difficult" if I don't know what it is (usually in orchestral works without "definite" percussion accompaniment, or very irregular syncopation), or there is a complex polyrhythm.

Also, you replied before I edited my post to replace the word 'simple' with 'basic' to avoid confusion with 'simple' vs 'compound' time signatures, which I was not referring to.

Robert

 

Vinniefan here too! I agree, it can be confusing when you hear odd times for the first time before knowing what it is. It's really fun figuring those out.

 

Oh, and apart from the solo part, there is another part of "Keep It Greasy that's pretty crazy. I think it's the second verse... Anyway, one of the verses where Ike is singing bluesy like it is a regular beat, and I have NO IDEA what the hell is going on in the instrumental backing. Granted, I've never attempted to analyze it (note to self: remember to try to transcribe that some time!), but it's enough to trip me up if I was the singer! (I was an instrumentalist too, I'm quite sure) Absolutely magnificent.

BTW, admittedly, I haven't heard all the songs mentioned in this post (eg that Sting song you mentioned, ybe), so bear in mind that I exclude those from my statements, as I am not familiar...

 

That's Vinnie Colaiuta there with Sting, of course. Check it out!

According to Vinnie on "Keep It Greasey" guitar, bass and drums were done live in studio and they changed the time signatures following Zappa's hand gestures! It has 4/4, 19/16 & 21/16 in there.

Info on "Keep It Greasey" and other Vinnie stuff here:

http://digilander.libero.it/drumland/INTVinnieMD82.htm

http://digilander.libero.it/drumland/INTVinnieRHTMNov2000.htm

 

Little Feat had some pretty strange timings going on. "Day at the Dog Races" is the first one that pops into my head, but Lowell George was always screwing around with things.

John K.

 

Living In The Past (Tull) is straight 5/4 (you don't necessarily count time signatures only on the accents, which may be on the off-beat), and between that track and Brubeck's "Take Five", you can see how catchy 5/4 time can actually be.

And the "All You Need Is Love" verses are either 7/4 or one bar of 4/4 and one bar of 3/4, whichever floats your boat. I'd call the whole song 4/4 with occasional 3/4 bars thrown in for good measure (that's a pun, by the way....)

 

Yeah, I know Vinnie's worked with Sting a lot, so I'll check the stuff out some time...

Hey, did you ever read that interview, or whatever it was, with Terry Bozzio where he told that anecdote about Vinnie sight reading a part of (the very complex) Mo 'N Herb's Vacation while turning the page with one hand and pushing his glasses up on his nose?

Heh heh.

 

Yeah. How about his audition with Zappa when he sight read two thirds into "The Black Page" when Zappa stopped him and said: "Okay, yes, you can read."

Another Vinnie goodie: "Saint Augustine In Hell" by Sting, in 7/4 with ride cymbal in 4/4.

 

Dance On A Volcano from the Trick Of The Tail Album by Genesis.
Taurus Bass Pedals Rule!!!

 

Tool's latest album "Lateralus" has some pretty nifty time signature. The title track switches between 5/4, 7/8, 8/8, 9/8, 4/4, and probably some others.

 

ybe- I count the beginning of Whipping Post the same way. 11/8

MagicAlex- speaking of Rush, Time and Motion and the title track from Test For Echo have some real cool rhythm things going on. I heard a radio interview with Ged and Alex where a caller asked what the time signature of Time and Motion was. Geddy said, "Which part?"
Kick-ass.
And then there's Limelight, where the main riff is 7/4, the chorus is 3/4, and the verses are mostly 6/8 with an extra beat before the main riff enters again. Or something.

Peter D- I never read that about Discipline before. I never could pick one time signature, because it's in rhythmic counterpoint. Tony Levin's bass line sorta sounds like 13/8, but that's all I could ever come up with.
God I love that song.

And Zappa- man, we could go on all day about some of his stuff. The man who can calculate what the heck time signature is going on in The Black Page (#1, not the disco version ) is a genius.

 

The intro to "White Room" by Cream.

 

Me too. And you may well be right about the bass -- I wouldn't be surprised if Fripp, Belew, Levin, & Bruford are all playing in different time signatures...

 

Ah, thought of a couple more. Hope no-one's mentioned them yet

Radiohead's 'Pyramid Song', off Amnesiac. I don't have the slightest clue what's going on there.

PJ Harvey's 'Man-Size' (and probably a couple others) off 'Rid of Me'. Sounds fairly conventional but every so many measures it goes weird.

I'd appreciate it if anyone could tell me what's happening on those two.

Cheers,

Damián

 

What, no Mahavishnu yet? How about "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters" from Birds of Fire—a very swinging 19/8!

One of my fusion favorites was keyboardist Jan Hammer's "Magical Dog" from his (sadly not on CD) Oh Yeah! album—another one in 11/8. I hummed some of it for an Indian tabla-player friend of mine. He counted to himself for a minute and said, "Actually 5 1/2—but you could say 11!"

 

I'm too lazy to check now - but didn't Paul Simon have a song (Cool, Cool Water?) on the Rhythm of the Saints album that went all over the map?

 

Well, I can count along when Billy Cobham does it...

- Living Legend Dave

 

Chicago is another band that loved odd time signatures - Goodbye in 7/4 and All Is Well in 5/4 from V, the crazy stuff going on in Manipulation, and lots more. ("Can you play free / or in three / or agree / to attempt something new?" - A Hit by Varèse, also from V.)

For big jazz bands, the champion of complex time signatures in Don Ellis. Bulgarian Bulge moves along in 33/16 just like a Bulgarian folk tune, apparently (I've not been to Bulgaria to verify this). Much of his music hasn't made it to CD, but his last album, "Live in Montreux", is out on Koch. This one usually sticks to 4/4, but has some amazingly involved subdivisions. Yet it all swings with great joy. Ellis is a genius musician and bandleader who unfortunately has had no successors in this era of jazz conservatism, though Dave Douglas might come closest.

Stan Kenton also has quite a few odd-meter charts, especially those by Hank Levy, who wrote for both the Kenton and Ellis bands.

- Joe

 

Tattooed Love Boys by The Pretenders.