Take...Eleven?

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Take Five was one of the most unique and recognized songs in the jazz repertoire, mainly because of it’s awkward 5/4 time signature. You may or may not realize it, but Take Five isn’t the only well-known song with an time outside of the well known “common time”, or 4/4 time. As an echo to my previous post, this post desensitizes the idea of an uncommon time signature in our popular music realm, rather than focusing on one single song.

A quick briefing on time signatures! A time signature is a notation that helps a musician to read music by specifying how many beats go into a measure (the top number) and the value of a note (the bottom number) as a fraction. More often than not, a song will be in common time, where 4 beats are in a measure. However, on the rare occasion that this isn’t the case, as long as the composer is talented enough, an amazing song is produced with one of the strangest, yet genius, grooves possible.

In 1959, Paul Desmond and the Dave Brubeck Quartet released “Take Five” along with an introduction to the uncommon time signature. Before then, the United States had hardly even touched on the idea of straying from 4/4 time. All of this was the focus of my last post. What I left out was that the Dave Brubeck Quartet later released a song titled “Blue Rondo à la Turk”. Blue Rondo wasn’t created in 5/4 time, like “Take Five” was. It was created in 9/4. This means that each measure would be counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9! Counting in groups of nine isn’t something that the subconscious mind can easily do, especially when it’s focusing on playing and improvising, as all jazz musicians are required to do. Just because it’s interesting: They actually count 9/4 as 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, rather than 1 – 9. This allows them to be able to count subconsciously and worry about the music they are playing, rather than where the actual beat is. Oh, and to make the song even more difficult, they decided that once into the song, they’d alternate between 9/4 and 4/4 time. It almost sounds impossible, but it actually comes together in an incredible display of music.



Most likely inspired by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, from 1959 and on, songs utilizing awkward time signatures started sprouting up all over the place. They’ve even found their way into songs that we hear on a daily basis, but most don’t realize what it is that makes them so unusual. The most popular of all of these songs is the theme from “Mission: Impossible”. I’m assuming everybody has heard this song. Duh duh, DUH DUH, etc. The “Mission: Impossible” theme is in 5/4 time, yet this doesn’t prevent the song from creating an amazing groove beat that’s been known by the majority of the nation since its existence.

Pink Floyd’s most popular tune, “Money”, is also one of the most popular songs with an uncommon time signature. “Money” is in a very unusual 7/8 time, which can be awkward, seeing how it’s only one beat short of being 8/8 (which really is 4/4). However, if you just listen to the song how it was meant to be listened to, without worrying about what time signature it’s in and how to count it, the song makes perfect sense. It grooves hard, it sounds amazing, and the members of Pink Floyd all play their part to make it a memorable song.



Fans of Radiohead, Tool, Yes, and The Mars Volta (my all-time favorite band) might also recognize different time signatures. All three of these bands love to mix and match both new and old time signatures to create some of the most genius work I have ever heard in my life. This is blatant opinion, but I’m not alone on this one. I’ll definitely be talking about The Mars Volta later on, but for now I’d like you to listen to a sample of one of their songs. Warning: This song is not for the weak, it's insane. “Cygnus…Vismund Cygnus” contains 4/4, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8, 10/4,9/16, 6/8, 2/4, and 23/8 time signatures. That is absolutely incredible for one song. I don’ expect anyone to be able to identify any of these times in the song, but I’d like to demonstrate what a band can do with all these time signatures that I’ve been talking about.

Other well-known songs with uncommon times are “YYZ” and “Freewill” by Rush, “The Sound of Muzak” by Porcupine Tree, and “The Ocean” by Led Zeppelin. Next time you’re listening to a song, try counting with the beat and see if it would make sense to count in 4. If not, perhaps you’ve found one of these incredible songs!

Hmm... interesting

In last weeks post "Uh oh...", I talked about what happened to my car and what happened as I dodged a deer and went into a tree. Instead of making a post of what simply happened, I gave some detail on what songs were playing when the incident happened since this is a music blog and all...

I think it is a huge coincidence that I'm blogging on a music blog and listening to Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" as I wrecked my car. I had an inkling that there was more to my previous post, but I decided not to do anything more until I was told that there was really something more. After some time spent thinking about it... here is my conclusion of that event.

The fact that "Big Girls Don't Cry" was playing was to some extent ironic. The song is about having to leave someone (or something in this case) that you really love. However, you don't want to just leave and let go, but you can't do anything about it because it has already happened and you know it. It is time to face the facts, it's over. O well... I'm going to miss my car "like a child misses their blanket", "but I've got to get a move on with my life." It certainly will be hard to move onto a new car, but like the song suggests... I should take the opportunity and see what else is out there. Maybe I'll find something better, but it wasn't the cars fault that I wrecked it.

"It's time to be a big girl now
And big girls don't cry..."

Although you might have heard it 50 times today, here is the song if you are interested...

Jakatta ft. Seal - My Vision

This is called "My Vision" By Jakatta featuring Seal. This song dates back to 2002 when it was associated with being timeless because it is one of those songs you can play at a dance floor many years after the production and it is still not old or boring. The sleek and simple piano melody combined with the gentle voice of an RnB artist makes this track very stylish.

This is a very chilled out song and laid back dance song or just a normal song to listen to to relax. It is very laid back because of the slow tempo and allows a person to either cool down from the blissful dance vibe or to recover from a stressful day. For the duration of the song, the listener should feel very light and free due to the piano mixed with a mellow beat. In addition, the lyrics are very reassuring and are sung by a very soothing voice that has that soul touching element. From the sound of it, the piano piece by itself would be very slow and would be a very depressing song by itself. However, anything that is somber by itself is immediately transformed into something upbeat and joyful when it is tranced up.

Whenever RnB is merged with trance, the result is generally very satisfying. I believe it is that melodic element and simple, yet catchy beat of trance that creates an upbeat feeling which adds to RnB, consisting of blues and jazzy elements.

In the video, various elements make it very emotional and lively. One of them is the shots of Seal singing. You can see his facial expressions that show that he is really into the moment while singing the song. Everyone have the natural tendency to associate with the feelings and opinions of others, as a result; the viewer and listener takes on the mood of the video, which is very soulful, yet laid back.

Gouryella - Ligaya

This is a song by Gouryella called Ligaya (2002), one of many trance tracks created almost 5 to 7 years ago. The cool thing about this music video is that it gives an idea of what people see the digital and futuristic as.

Let's focus on the music and the concept of a digital word where anything is possible, your imagination is the limit. Listening to trance, everyone tends to temporarily dive into their own imaginary world that is also a place of sanctuary. For the length of the track, the person feels relieved and unattached to the real world. How? The long string melodies and the wavy hoovering sounds along with a very strong and heavy beat characterizes this track. This track is categorized under dream house which is categorized by very dreamy elements which consist of repeating string-like melodies or piano melodies. Combined with images of a depicted digital world and hoovering elements in the video, the audience really feels some relief. There is some comfort achieved from the mysterious elements that are constantly moving in the video because it keeps everything going. Most of the time, a negative mood is imposed by the lack of ability to keep moving ahead, but this video delivers nothing but happiness by propelling the viewer forward by having constant movements that match the hovering sound and beat in the background.

There is also an uplifting aspect to this video. The listener should be absorbed in the video and the song is arranged and created so that the build up to the climax is subtle and unimportant.
When it finally hits you, happiness and bliss is thrown in your face. This is actually one of few songs I can listen to when I'm blue and make me into a more joyful mood. This song is very harmonious and mellow. I would consider this one of the best trance songs of all time because it conveys a lot of dream-like emotions that enlivens its audience.

Here is a remix.

This is an alternative version or the remix to 'Ligaya' as you can tell. In general, a remix consists of added elements such as more beats, different sounds using different instruments, and a change in the tempo, pitch, or volume of the song. In this remix of 'Ligaya' the intro has added elements such as loops of drum beats and hovering sounds that fades into the melody of the original song but the instrument sound is different. An addition to the original is that there are some string-like melodies that are played in sets of fives which is quite catchy. The original song was already very melodic, but this song is even more tuneful. Another addition is that there is a cymbal crash every time the melody loops in the body that gives the illusion of the volume increasing every time the melody repeats.

Remix or not, both of these songs bring joy and happiness to the listener despite the listener's former mood because there is a great chance that you will end up happy after you are done with the song.