# Rhythm of Steve Winwood’s “Valerie” **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [May 14, 2021, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063 "2021-05-14T11:22:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/1 "2021-05-14T11:22:10Z")
Is there a name for this kind of rhythm? It sounds to me like an eighth note and two sixteenths, as in _dum-digga, dum-digga_, etc. I think I’ve heard it in a Madness recording, maybe toward the end when they speed up a bit. Any chance it comes from ska? Examples of this rhythm in popular music would be much appreciated. Here’s a link, just in case you’ve never heard Valerie: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/cbKNICg-REA/maxresdefault.jpg "Steve Winwood - Valerie (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbKNICg-REA) ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/2 "2021-05-14T13:35:55Z")
I don’t have an answer to your question, but I love that song. I forgot all about it. Thanks for reminding of it! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/3 "2021-05-14T14:14:54Z")
It’s basically a cumbia, I think: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0TxFj_EGkcQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Baila mi cumbia I Cumbia song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TxFj_EGkcQ) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/4 "2021-05-14T14:20:13Z")
Is it the same rhythm as Barracuda: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PeMvMNpvB5M/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGH8gMCg4MA8=&rs=AOn4CLB9IN2ZkZ9O02p9KTJVlspl2qtLMw "Heart - "Barracuda" (1977)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeMvMNpvB5M) I’m just seeing if I’m identifying what you’re talking about. If it is simply eighth note followed by two sixteenths, then that’s a good question. It’s such a common rhythm that I never thought of researching whether it has a name or not – it’s used all the time on the hi-hat on the drums. If you’re not playing eighths (straight or swung) or constant sixteenth notes on the hi hat, that’s one of the next most common patterns to play. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/5 "2021-05-14T14:23:19Z")
Poking around the net, I see that referred to as “the gallop rhythm” and the reverse (two sixteenths followed by the eight) as, well, “the reverse gallop rhythm.” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/6 "2021-05-14T14:33:05Z")
Get back, Loretta. Your mama’s waiting for you. Wearing her high-heel shoes and her low-neck sweater. ---
**Author:** ![thdudescar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thdudescar/32/4638_2.png) [@thdudescar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thdudescar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/7 "2021-05-14T14:47:30Z")
Just to change to topic, but wasn’t there another video of Valerie that had Jenny Agutter in it? I can’t find it anywhere or am I mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/8 "2021-05-14T16:35:17Z")
Still don’t know how to reply to multiple posts, so I’ll just name you individually: **TRC4941** : Yeah, me too. At some point, I started to love that song, but I didn’t realize until I forgot about it and went looking online a few years ago. It’s surprising because I can’t quite put my finger on what I like about it. It could so easily end up being insubstantial fluff, but there’s something about it. Steve never sounded so youthful and optimistic when he sings, “_I’m the same boy I used to be_.” **pulykamell** : Barracuda!!! Yeah, that’s it! Gallop and reverse gallop? Thank you pulykamell; I knew you’d have something to say about it. This morning, I had a look online and didn’t find anything, and I listened to a few tracks that I thought had that rhythm, but they don’t. **JKellyMap** : Cumbia sounds very similar (first time I’ve heard that, I think), although the “digga” part (see OP) seems to be more implicit than explicit. **burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt** : It’s close, like many other tunes (as I discovered this morning; see my reply to pulykamell), but it doesn’t really have the “digga” part (see OP), does it? Ringo and the others add it sometimes to what they’re doing, but it doesn’t seem to me that it’s an integral part of the rhythm in that recording. Thanks yet again, Dopers! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/9 "2021-05-14T21:33:10Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > **pulykamell** : Barracuda!!! Yeah, that’s it! Gallop and reverse gallop? Thank you pulykamell; I knew you’d have something to say about it. This morning, I had a look online and didn’t find anything, and I listened to a few tracks that I thought had that rhythm, but they don’t. I don’t know if it’s a widely known name or not. There’s also the “boom chicka” strum pattern, which is the same rhythm: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1JkAf37HlNw/maxresdefault.jpg "Learn the "Boom-Chicka" Rhythm / Country & Bluegrass Strummin'") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JkAf37HlNw) But it’s defined enough, I guess, that it has a Wikipedia entry for “metal gallop” (which would be a particular use of this rhythm in metal or hard rock music): > **[Heavy metal gallop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_metal_gallop)** > > A gallop is a beat or rhythm typically used in traditional heavy metal songs. It is created by playing an eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes (), usually on rhythm guitar, drums, or bass. > One technique on guitar involves strumming palm muted power chords in an up-and-down motion with a pick, thereby creating an ostinato. > Variations include the triplet gallop and the reverse gallop. > On drums, the technique often uses a double kick pedal. A typical drum gallop is formed around this skel... Plus, like I said, I hear this pattern a lot on the drums, especially in the hats, or even in tambourine on house/dance type music, but I’m blanking on examples at the moment – there’s some examples of counting it out here, but no songs that you hear it in. It’s such a back rhythmic way of breaking up a 16th note rhythm: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGyz-2qbO1E&t=34) ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/10 "2021-05-14T22:18:47Z")
Same feeling in lots of songs with fills that sometimes complete the pattern. I’ve looked for it in a few places where I thought I’d find it: earlier today, Peg by Steely Dan and Go Home by Stevie Wonder, and just now I Feel for You by Chaka Khan. It’s mostly there in the busier moments, but not all the time. I guess that’s easy with synths or sequencers or whatever, so there must be plenty more examples that aren’t coming to mind just now. I interpret the boom-chuck thing as a quarter note and two eighths (same thing twice as fast). In “country” sounding music, it’s a faster tempo. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2021, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/11 "2021-05-16T11:31:37Z")
Did anyone mention Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”? Galloping, indeed. And there’s this bit of ‘90s Mexican teen dance pop: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCR-K2e-sQ8) ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rhythm-of-steve-winwood-s-valerie/942063/12 "2021-05-16T19:53:05Z")
> And there’s this bit of ‘90s Mexican teen dance pop: Two sixteenths and an eighth (digga-dum, digga-dum) so reverse gallop. Thanks, but it’s not exactly what I’m looking for. In addition to an exact match, older references would be nice. It’s going to be all over electronica and metal. > Did anyone mention Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”? Galloping, indeed. Good one!