Green mojo for (patriotic) music nerds

[YYZ Skinhead]

What do all of these songs have in common with each other, and what do they have in common with July 4th (I think this only works in North America, but I may be incorrect)?


Time Stand Still
Limelight
Red Barchetta
The Spirit of Radio, all of the above by Rush

Midtown, Robin Eubanks

Spoonman, Soundgarden

Unsquare Dance, Dave Brubeck

Seventh Avenue, Justo Almario

Guiltless, Spyro Gyra

Jive Talkin', Bee Gees

Money, Pink Floyd

Tattooed Love Boys, The Pretenders

Seven, Dave Matthews Band

Solsbury Hill, Peter Gabriel

Heart of Glass, Blondie

Them Bones, Alice in Chains

Diary of a Madman, Ozzy Osbourne

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

M e t h / H e r o i n / C r a c k (coke) ?

That's the only thing that comes to mind.. granted I don't do any of this stuff (anymore), I'd say it's all based on it yes?

 

[YYZ Skinhead]

I think most of them were probably weed-inspired (especially because a lot of them are jazz songs), though Pink Floyd, AiC and Ozzy may well have had something harder in mind. Clue: it is a number.

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Spoonman, Heart of Glass, Diary of a Madman.. Pretty sure those were based around what I mentioned lol.

Alright.. it is a number. 420?

 

[YYZ Skinhead]

It is a time signature (as well as a day of the year).

 

[Rosebud]

Four or 4/4.

 

[YYZ Skinhead]

Close. Month/day. :bongin:

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

6/4

Happy 4th


Spoonman isn't in 6/4 is it? 6/4 is a time signature?! lol

 

[Rosebud]

Oh geez, how much easier could you make it. 7/4. Is that a time sig? Are we talking in music the very common 4/4 time only 7/4? I have never heard of that. Maybe i am guessing all wrong.

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

Whoops.. yeah 7/4 dur me.. either way I've never recognized that time signature. I play piano and create electronic music... maybe I've never had a need, but I am aware of a lot of odd time sigs :confused2:

 

[Rosebud]

YYZ, only you would have me up looking thru my sheet music to find a 7/4, at 5:am....

 

[Dr. Green Fang]

hxxp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Video-for-7o4.theora.ogv

Such a silly signature! hah 7 beats over a measure is awkward. I still don't count Spoonman as 7/4 :confused2:

 

[YYZ Skinhead]

I am addicted to music in 7/4 time, which probably stems from being a jazz geek. :afroweed: :beatnik: One of the reasons I started digging Rusn was that they have a gazillion songs in 7/4 (and possibly 7/8--sometimes it is hard to tell). I cannot think of another non-jazz band who has as many 7/4 tunes as Rush have. Limelight was my fav Rush for years, but meeting the director of the Time Stand Still video is most likely what bumped Time Stand Still to my Rush #1.

I grew up liking Dave Brubeck's Unsquare Dance and I always thought there was something odd about it but I could never decipher precisely what. When I was a kid it never occurred to me that a song could have 7 beats per measure. Nowadays having been a jazz musician for 20something years I think my heart beats in 7/4 time.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septuple_meter
youtube.com/watch?v=_yExwkQYcp0 (the dancers are Canadian)

 

[YYZ Skinhead]

Soundgarden is another band with a lot of oddball time signatures. Spoonman and Outshined are both in 7/4. Fell On Black Days is 6/4. My Wave is in 5/4.

Most of the songs I listed are partially in 7/4 and partially in a different meter, usually 4/4. The main repeated groove in Limelight is in 7/4, but the verses are in 6/4 and the chorus is in 4/4. Jazz songs (including Unsquare Dance) are more likely to be in 7/4 all the way through.