Songs About Time Signatures and Keys and Song Structures

[rcarlberg]

[Gravedigger]

It isn't the main point of the song, but:
Leonard Cohen- "Hallelujah"

"It goes like this,
the fourth (IV), the fifth (V),
the minor (chord) fall,
the major (chord) lift..."

[Zappathustra]

Apocalypse in 9/8

[walt]

[Mister Triscuits]

This song is in E...



I'm gonna have to write a chorus...

[alanterrill]

A Formal Horse - Made in Chelsea (Apocalypse in 15/8)

I don't think the lyrics are anything to do with time signatures, just the title and probably the actual time signature

[Cyberian Cat]

An obvious one about the song structure, even if it’s only in the title: ABACAB by Genesis!

[progmatist]

Let in Hollywood by Karmakanic:

"I can't hear a single, this song in 7/8
It's dead has passed its sell by date
There's no spark no jingle, nor hooks nor four on the floor
Kick out the Harvard preppy dudes, let in Hollywood"

[pb2015]

Elvis Costello, "Tears Before Bedtime":

"That's the problem and here's the hook" (last line of the first verse, leading to the chorus)

[calyx]

"A few 5s to take away the taste of all those 7s..." - Soft Machine "Out of Tunes" (R.Wyatt)

[GuitarGeek]

[moecurlythanu]

I don't think the song is actually about song structure, but I think Led Zeppelin is still looking for that bridge.

[Soc Prof]

Camel--Six Ate (which I assume is in 6/8 time, but I never bothered to listen for it)

[Zeuhlmate]

Instrumental album, but
Ali Neander feat. Hellmut Hattler ‎– "...This One Goes To Eleven."

[jake]

Frank Black song "Bullet" - lyric follows the chord sequence
"And if you don't like my melody
I'll sing it in a major key
I'll sing it very happily
Yeah, but if everybody is all aboard
Let's take it back to that minor chord"

Peter Hammill had one too called The Cut - from The Future Now - which deals with process of producing and recording a song

"Everything out of order
Everything too well produced
From the conjuror's hat –
Let's turn on the juice
To grind the cutting plane, the blade that gives an edge
To scale the mountain; to fail upon the mountain ledge

Half-way up is half-way peaking
The stroboscope locks the lathe;
I look around for a switch in phase...
The disco boom stands firm, the eight-track's in, the rage
Licks the present, quickly flips the future page

Check the deck: no marked cards
No sequentialled straight or flush...
The dice won't still the blood-line rush
Run the star-flood night, the cut-throat blade is stropped;
Race your shadow... race in case your shadow stops

Everything so out of order
No bias on the playback head;
Papers for the border –
All the tape is read
The future burns my tongue, the noise-gates all are shut
Breathe the vacuum, believe there's reason in the cut

Incipient white noise
The stylus barely tracks
The air controllers feed the stereo sonic smack"

[pulse]

Graham Nash - Blacknotes
(Just a little ditty about playing the black keys.)

[tdotdo]

IQ - 1312 Overture

[Paulrus]

Sting has dropped lyrical references to musical structures into his songs. For example...

The second track on the album (Ten Summoner's Tales), Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven), is titled after Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. According to the interview disc, the idea came to Sting when he wanted to write a song in the 7/4 time signature.

[mkewlms]

VDGG, 5533.

[LeFrog]

Is it me or has no-one mentioned Apocalypse in 9/8 yet?

[rcarlberg]

Is it me or has no-one mentioned Apocalypse in 9/8 yet?

Post #3

[LeFrog]

Post #3

I thought I must have missed it!

[pulse]

Toads of the Short Forest, in which Frank verbally identifies the time signatures.

[The Twickerman]

Apocalypse in 9/8

...which is surely in 9/4 really.

[starless and bible black]

Camel's "Song Within A Song" (from Moonmadness) says something about song structure in it's title.