# Popular songs with unusual time signatures **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-with-unusual-time-signatures/359614 "2006-06-06T14:51:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-with-unusual-time-signatures/359614/81 "2006-06-11T21:20:43Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] Jethro Tull “Living in the Past” (5/4) [/QUOTE] I wondered if anyone else had mentioned Jethro Tull. I knew a keyboardist who was auditioning for them, pissed off that nearly everything they wrote was in a weird time signature and key, “for no apparent reason”. Anyway, I don’t think Living in the Past is 5/4. I’ve been doing some clapping in the kitchen (my wife thinks I’m mad) and think it’s two sets of three followed by two sets of two. What’s that? 1 bar of 6/8 followed by one of 4/8? ||| ||| || || ||| ||| Ha-ppy and I’m smiling || || ||| ||| Walk a mile to || || ||| ||| Drink your water. ---
**Author:** ![ululate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/59ef9b/32.png) [@ululate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ululate)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-with-unusual-time-signatures/359614/82 "2006-06-11T22:05:12Z")
I’m woefully ignorant of the specifics, but isn’t Steely Dan famous for playing around with this sort of thing? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-with-unusual-time-signatures/359614/83 "2006-06-11T22:31:35Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Anyway, I don’t think Living in the Past is 5/4. I’ve been doing some clapping in the kitchen (my wife thinks I’m mad) and think it’s two sets of three followed by two sets of two. What’s that? 1 bar of 6/8 followed by one of 4/8? [/QUOTE] Well, you’re right about the beat pattern, but all you’ve done is determined how the 5/4 measure is subdivided. It’s simply a syncopated beat, and it would be an unnecessary and pointless complication to write it as changing meters, like writing a rumba as 3/8 + 3/8 + 2/8 instead of simply 4/4. In any case, with “Living in the Past,” we have no doubt as to the composer’s intention, as Ian Anderson has frequently mentioned the 5/4 time signature when introducing the song onstage. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-with-unusual-time-signatures/359614/84 "2006-06-12T08:51:26Z")
[QUOTE=ululate] I’m woefully ignorant of the specifics, but isn’t Steely Dan famous for playing around with this sort of thing? [/QUOTE] Nope, there may be the odd bar of 2 or 3 (in Aja maybe?) but they stick to 4/4 pretty much. What makes them stand out is their chord sequences, a lot of their stuff reads more like jazz charts than “normal” pop song music. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-with-unusual-time-signatures/359614/85 "2006-06-27T14:21:00Z")
Guess I’ll give this thread a bump. How about this song from 1967 - “You Better Sit Down Kids”. It’s sung by Cher but written and produced by Sonny Bono. The song is mostly played in 4/4 time but the part that goes “Say your prayers, before you go to bed, make sure you get yourself to school on time”, etc is very different from the rest of the song. Is this some weird time signature like 7/4 or is it just a matter of syncopation? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-with-unusual-time-signatures/359614.md?page=4)