📌📌A FEW SONGS I MISSED... - *Sulk* (from The Bends) is in 6/8 time. - *Subterranean Homesick Alien* (from OK Computer) is in 6/8 time. - *Where I End and You Begin* (from Hail To The Thief) has a one-off bar of 2/4 amongst the otherwise 4/4 meter. - *Life In A Glass House* (from Amnesiac) is a weird one... it can be notated in a fast , unchanging 4/4. However, perhaps the more accurate way of notating it would be at half-time, and that would involve occasional bars of 2/4 amongst the 4/4. Also, there is a moment after the first chorus where the tempo sort of swells/jitters which can be notated as a one off bar of 7/8 time + a bar of 3/16, however you could also notate this as a brief tempo change or fermata. Also, *Hunting Bears* is in free time, but I wouldn't really count "free time" as a meter; the song is still effectively in 4/4 but just with no fixed tempo. Thank you to the commenters that brought these omissions to my attention! Let me know if there are any others I missed! 💙💙
Pop is Dead is a perfectly fine, Pablo Honey-era track. I know the band hates it, but they hate Creep, too. I had to buy the Stop Whispering single just to be able to play it properly!
You will never work in television again 5/8 Panavision 7/4 Thin thing 6/8 Wave a white flag 11/8 Skrting in the surface 11/8 Wall of eyes 10/4? Teleharmonic ?/4 Read the room 11/8 middle section Under our pillows 5/8 5 bar phrase Friend of a friend 5/4 with the occasional 6/4 I quit ? Possibly a 5/8 then 7/8 phrase or just a 5 bar 8/8 phrase depending on how u hear it idk Bending hectic 4/4 but a couple different polymeters with the guitar 5/8 then 3/8 You know me! 5/4 Thats right. The e n t i r e album Wall of Eyes is odd ts or polymeters. I think. Foreign spies 5/4 Instant psalm 14/4 (4/4 + 4/4 + 6/4) Colours fly 10/8 Dont get me started 6/4 then some weird sh at the descending parts then 9/4 in the breakdown Tiptoe tbh i dont know if this has a time signature or what youd say for this No words 7/8 intro then 7/4 polymeter synth
Radiohead are good at riding the line between avant garde and accessible, so it might have been a conscious decision to keep the metres straightforward on those albums... or maybe to experiment more elsewhere since the songs they wrote were more rhythmically direct... or it's a coincidence, I dunno.
I noticed you included A Wolf at the Door, which was also in your previous video about Neapolitan chords. It's cool that not only does it have an unusual time signature, but it uses a Neapolitan chord as well! As always, keep up the great work mate!
I would love if you would talk about the smile as well, either on their own or adding them to Radiohead videos in the future, 3 solid albums made by half of radioheads members. Some of thoms solo work is also worth a listen
I'd love to see you do this for Soundgarden as well. Another band with lots of fun metres that was very inspiring to teenage me. (RIP Chris, you're still dearly missed)
There's a polymetre on 'In Limbo' as well - Phil is playing in 4/4 throughout! Jonny's guitar on 'Ful Stop' also superimposes 5/8 at points starting at 3:39. 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' finally has some 5/8 guitar lines beginning at 0:26 and 4:03.
As a fan of their many B-sides, EPs, and various oddball tracks I imagine there are more examples in their full catalogue but I appreciate the run through all the album tracks, thanks David, was a pleasure!
I'd love to see a part 2 video featuring the B-sides. My favorite one "Polyethylene" was actually the first song I thought of when I saw the title of this video! They didn't stop at the albums when it came to making rhythmically different music...
Let Down’ is such a brilliant track… One of the greatest feelings is playing it with your mates-what an amazing atmosphere it creates... My favourite Radiohead song ever!
Do it for Genesis. They are the master in making weird meters not sounding weird at all. Especially in the early period but still true for parts of collins hit songs like turn it on again .
Excellent video as always. Had a little trouble counting some of them :) I'd love to have a metre setter at the start. I know that'd slow down the snappyness of the info though.
The lyrics to "Everything in its right place" is Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon??? I have been singing Yesterday I woke up soaking, all I want .... is everything in it's right place...
I had to count it as 4/4 and 2/4 to learn how to play it. Ultimately no problem w considering it 6/4, but just when I learned it I needed the breakdown to make sure I was landing everything in its right place.
Tut tut - All I Need from In Rainbows also has a interesting time signature in it - I count it as alternating bars of 4:4 and 6:4 as it's a pattern of 10 across two bars.
I don't think we can say Amnesiac is the only album that is completely in 4/4. Either its both Amnesiac and TKOL or no album because in I might be wrong I'm pretty sure there is a bar of 3/4 in Jonny's outro solo. (I might be wrong though :)
Good to know! I've been watching some of your Radiohead videos and they seem like a very interesting band! I'm becoming more interested in trying more of their albums. Also, the only full album from them I've really listened to is OK Computer. Do you have other album suggestions I should try next? I'm going to try The Bends next, and I'm considering Kid A and In Rainbows for sometime after that.
Maybe just listen to their entire discog from beginning to end. That's what I did, and found that each album I listened to next became my new favorite. My personal favorites at the moment are Kid A and Amnesiac, but that doesn't mean anything. Form your own opinions. Please though don't only listen to the more popular albums, like OKC and In Rainbows, which get a whole lotta hype from the media and whatnot. Not that they don't deserve the hype, just that you might be missing out on some of the most beautiful yet obscure tracks that could also really resonate with you or help you through something.
Hi David. Love the video/videos. I had an idea of a video, as a massive Radiohead fan like me, what would be in your opinion the “worst” Radiohead songs on each album? Very hard to pick I know. Keep up the fantastic content
"Worst" is highly subjective. Also, I don't think it would be a very respectful thing to declare that a piece of someone else's art that they worked very, very hard on is the "worst" of the bunch. David's already stated some of his least favorite tracks in probably a few q&a vids if your interested in his opinion.
@ admittedly a poor choice of wording from myself. What I meant is least favourite, because they’re all awesome imo. didn’t mean it in a negative way at all but more so out of curiosity really and a bit of insight into his perspective. But yeah I get your point, that is a fair one
Missed one on the Bends (but don’t feel bad- I always assumed it was 4/4 and only recently picked up why that’s not really what’s going on.) Sulk sounds like 4/4 (especially the lead guitar line) but if you follow the drums it is actually 12/8, with the guitar part that screams 4/4 all being dotted quarter notes, not quarter notes. Granted, you could still write this as 4/4 with a triple pattern in the drums, but to my mind it is simpler to write it as 12/8 with dotted quarters.
Exit music. A fake 4/4 all through the song, until the bass comes in, and the last chorus reveals the true nature of the rhythm, I think 12/8? Ramin Djawadi exploits it very well in its cover for Westworld, with the end in 12/8 reminding the series theme. One of their greatest to me. Check it Live at Bonnaroo, 2006.
Thank you for a fascinating vidéo - again ! I used to consider pulk/pull revolving door as an unusal meter song as well : the whole period sounds 20/4 to me, the intro suggest an alternance of 6/4 and 4/4 bars. Any specific reason you didn't incluse it in your list ?
Ed and Phil have been saying for a while that they want to get the band back together and that they don't think it won't happen. Colin said that they recently got together and had a rehearsal a few months ago, check out his interview with Keith Meredith. Thom seems thoroughly annoyed by all the talk and expectations about Radiohead getting back together, especially when The Smile just released.
I guess I don't know nuffin then because I would have bet that Weird Fishes/Arpeggi or Reckoner were good examples. But i guess what I hear as complexity of sound is not coming from time signature
Though I guessed Let Down and in that case it was. So I really genuinely don't know nuffin. I bet with Reckoner I was fooled by the "swing" of the beat
In both those songs the drum grooves are quite straightforward 4/4, but in Weird Fishes the guitars drift in and out of time with the drums, while in Reckoner the guitar part is quite syncopated. The interplay between the off-beat guitars and the on-beat drums is what's creating the rhythmic interest in both cases. That's probably what you're hearing.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but similar to "Let Down", "How to Disappear Completely" uses polymeter when you consider the bass; bass is 4/4 while the rest is 6/8... right?
As a UK band with Beatles inspirations: Radiohead is forever > Oasis. Somebody let Oasis & their fans know just in case they dont lol. Somehow it seems they never get the memo.
📌📌A FEW SONGS I MISSED...
- *Sulk* (from The Bends) is in 6/8 time.
- *Subterranean Homesick Alien* (from OK Computer) is in 6/8 time.
- *Where I End and You Begin* (from Hail To The Thief) has a one-off bar of 2/4 amongst the otherwise 4/4 meter.
- *Life In A Glass House* (from Amnesiac) is a weird one... it can be notated in a fast , unchanging 4/4. However, perhaps the more accurate way of notating it would be at half-time, and that would involve occasional bars of 2/4 amongst the 4/4. Also, there is a moment after the first chorus where the tempo sort of swells/jitters which can be notated as a one off bar of 7/8 time + a bar of 3/16, however you could also notate this as a brief tempo change or fermata.
Also, *Hunting Bears* is in free time, but I wouldn't really count "free time" as a meter; the song is still effectively in 4/4 but just with no fixed tempo.
Thank you to the commenters that brought these omissions to my attention! Let me know if there are any others I missed! 💙💙
treefingers...
@@yoink364 also free time 4/4 😊
Lucky?
"Pop is Dead" has a main guitar riff in 10/4!
We must not speak its name.
emi studios wants to know your location
you son is dead
Pop is dead doesn't exits, it's a story to scare children
Pop is Dead is a perfectly fine, Pablo Honey-era track. I know the band hates it, but they hate Creep, too. I had to buy the Stop Whispering single just to be able to play it properly!
Now let’s see all The Smile songs that ARE in 4/4
At this point they have more songs in 5/4 lmao
all I could think of is Free In The Knowledge
@@crepequeen643 Even the ones in 4/4 are subdivided like a polyrhythm
Bodies Laughing
Eyes and Mouth?
there's also:
Sulk (3/4)
Subterranean Homesick Alien (6/8)
Spectre (6/8 with a bit of 9/8 in the chorus)
If you do this for The Smile, it will be pretty much their whole catalogue, lol.
Man I’d love to see him talk about The Smile in a video
This comment should be at the top so that David doesn't miss it.
The metres of some of The Smile's songs are absolutely bonkers!
You will never work in television again 5/8
Panavision 7/4
Thin thing 6/8
Wave a white flag 11/8
Skrting in the surface 11/8
Wall of eyes 10/4?
Teleharmonic ?/4
Read the room 11/8 middle section
Under our pillows 5/8 5 bar phrase
Friend of a friend 5/4 with the occasional 6/4
I quit ? Possibly a 5/8 then 7/8 phrase or just a 5 bar 8/8 phrase depending on how u hear it idk
Bending hectic 4/4 but a couple different polymeters with the guitar 5/8 then 3/8
You know me! 5/4
Thats right. The e n t i r e album Wall of Eyes is odd ts or polymeters. I think.
Foreign spies 5/4
Instant psalm 14/4 (4/4 + 4/4 + 6/4)
Colours fly 10/8
Dont get me started 6/4 then some weird sh at the descending parts then 9/4 in the breakdown
Tiptoe tbh i dont know if this has a time signature or what youd say for this
No words 7/8 intro then 7/4 polymeter synth
@@travismaenle9416 wall of eyes is 5/4, you can literally hear Thom counting “one, two, three, four, five” in the song
I find it crazy that the 2 strangest Radiohead albums (Amesiac and TKOL) are actually fully 4/4
Radiohead are good at riding the line between avant garde and accessible, so it might have been a conscious decision to keep the metres straightforward on those albums... or maybe to experiment more elsewhere since the songs they wrote were more rhythmically direct... or it's a coincidence, I dunno.
I did wonder if he would highlight the polyrhythms on some of the TKOL tracks like the claps in Lotus Flower
Amnesiac has Pyramid Song which isn’t in 4/4 (unless idk what that means)
@@ronintheebarbarian2041pyramid song is in 4/4!
Amnesiac has Hunting bears, which is in freetime, and TKOL has codex which is mostly 4/4, but has I think one bar in 5/4
I noticed you included A Wolf at the Door, which was also in your previous video about Neapolitan chords. It's cool that not only does it have an unusual time signature, but it uses a Neapolitan chord as well! As always, keep up the great work mate!
6/8 isn't that unusual
@@chedmcgiannis9003 thank you 😊
@@grahamdowney5550 You’re right it’s probably the second most used time signature can think of many examples
Radiohead has that knack of making normal times sound weird and odd times sound normal
I would love if you would talk about the smile as well, either on their own or adding them to Radiohead videos in the future, 3 solid albums made by half of radioheads members. Some of thoms solo work is also worth a listen
Do this for the Smile!! Their excellent catalogue is mostly in odd time signatures…
One of the interesting things about Radiohead is that it sounds so natural that I barely even notice it, weird how they do that.
I'd love to see you do this for Soundgarden as well. Another band with lots of fun metres that was very inspiring to teenage me. (RIP Chris, you're still dearly missed)
And far more accessible than Radiohead imo
Yes! Soundgarden needs to happen
Unbelievable These Are My Twisted Words slander
One of their best
There's a polymetre on 'In Limbo' as well - Phil is playing in 4/4 throughout! Jonny's guitar on 'Ful Stop' also superimposes 5/8 at points starting at 3:39. 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' finally has some 5/8 guitar lines beginning at 0:26 and 4:03.
Let down Underrated
The Radiohead subreddit is leaking again
THE CIRCLEJERK UNITES!
As a fan of their many B-sides, EPs, and various oddball tracks I imagine there are more examples in their full catalogue but I appreciate the run through all the album tracks, thanks David, was a pleasure!
Pretty sure Where I End and You Begin has a singular bar of 2/4 during a 4/4 song
The creativity to keep coming up with musical subjects to keep talking about radiohead!
I'd love to see a part 2 video featuring the B-sides. My favorite one "Polyethylene" was actually the first song I thought of when I saw the title of this video! They didn't stop at the albums when it came to making rhythmically different music...
I love your channel, keep it up bro!
I also love that The Smile has a lot of songs in non-conventional time signatures
Hunting Bears on Amnesiac is in free time though right? :D
life in a glasshouse has bars of 2/4? Hunting bears in free time?
Let Down’ is such a brilliant track… One of the greatest feelings is playing it with your mates-what an amazing atmosphere it creates... My favourite Radiohead song ever!
DBP doing a video about Radiohead? I don't believe it!
Do it for Genesis. They are the master in making weird meters not sounding weird at all. Especially in the early period but still true for parts of collins hit songs like turn it on again .
I really do need to dig my Radiohead vinyl out, its bin a while.
Now do this with King Gizzard XD
That would be fun, but King Gizzard has an even longer song catalog than Radiohead.
Thanks David!
Excellent video as always. Had a little trouble counting some of them :) I'd love to have a metre setter at the start. I know that'd slow down the snappyness of the info though.
I love your videos! Keep it up.
How many songs by the Beatles are in an odd meter?
Might be worth doing such a video for the Beatles, agree
0:07 NO SURPRISES MENTIONED 🗣️🗣️🔥🔥💯💯
Wow, a video about my specialist special interest (Radiohead songs that have unusual time signatures)???? Christmas came early this year ☺️
Best album by Radiohead
How Am I Driving
The lyrics to "Everything in its right place" is Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon??? I have been singing Yesterday I woke up soaking, all I want .... is everything in it's right place...
yes
@@jiweh I was convinced the lyrics to The Eraser were "Please excuse me but I've got two eyes" until earlier this year.
for the black star intro/riff i like to think of it as 4/4 + 2/4 as theyre quite distinct
That's kinda how I hear it, but with a triplet feel.
@@Jaspertine the 2/4 bit is in a tresillo rhythm, which is the closest to a triplet you can get with straight quavers
@@decentsingersclub I'll go ahead and pretend like I know what those words mean... but I trust that you're right.
I had to count it as 4/4 and 2/4 to learn how to play it.
Ultimately no problem w considering it 6/4, but just when I learned it I needed the breakdown to make sure I was landing everything in its right place.
I always felt it was just a 3-bar loop of 4/4...
Tut tut - All I Need from In Rainbows also has a interesting time signature in it - I count it as alternating bars of 4:4 and 6:4 as it's a pattern of 10 across two bars.
@@danielburges8176 I can see how you’re cutting it up that way, but I would say “All I Need” is just based on a 5 bar loop in 4/4 time.
You could do this with The Smile, or even with Thom Yorke solo career, and Atoms For Peace.
I don't think we can say Amnesiac is the only album that is completely in 4/4. Either its both Amnesiac and TKOL or no album because in I might be wrong I'm pretty sure there is a bar of 3/4 in Jonny's outro solo. (I might be wrong though :)
In this video, David owns the Radioheadhead persona. 😂
Great content. Adding a click would help us to better understand the measures.
I always thought some black magic of odd rythm was happening on Morning Mr Magpie. And yeah, ofc its just 4/4...
Good to know! I've been watching some of your Radiohead videos and they seem like a very interesting band! I'm becoming more interested in trying more of their albums.
Also, the only full album from them I've really listened to is OK Computer. Do you have other album suggestions I should try next? I'm going to try The Bends next, and I'm considering Kid A and In Rainbows for sometime after that.
Maybe just listen to their entire discog from beginning to end. That's what I did, and found that each album I listened to next became my new favorite. My personal favorites at the moment are Kid A and Amnesiac, but that doesn't mean anything. Form your own opinions. Please though don't only listen to the more popular albums, like OKC and In Rainbows, which get a whole lotta hype from the media and whatnot. Not that they don't deserve the hype, just that you might be missing out on some of the most beautiful yet obscure tracks that could also really resonate with you or help you through something.
I thought Hunting Bears off Amnesiac was in free time?
1:52 for those who want to skip pable honey
cool
you should do a video about
is sulk not in 6
I love this channel
B-sides omitted to prevent this video from being an hour?
Seriously :)
I see what you did there 0:08
Hi David. Love the video/videos. I had an idea of a video, as a massive Radiohead fan like me, what would be in your opinion the “worst” Radiohead songs on each album? Very hard to pick I know. Keep up the fantastic content
"Worst" is highly subjective. Also, I don't think it would be a very respectful thing to declare that a piece of someone else's art that they worked very, very hard on is the "worst" of the bunch. David's already stated some of his least favorite tracks in probably a few q&a vids if your interested in his opinion.
@ admittedly a poor choice of wording from myself. What I meant is least favourite, because they’re all awesome imo. didn’t mean it in a negative way at all but more so out of curiosity really and a bit of insight into his perspective. But yeah I get your point, that is a fair one
I expected this video to be 10 seconds long "There are no RadioHead songs in 4/4. Good night!"
Really sad that the 5/4 polymeter at the end of Ful Stop wasn't mentioned! One of my favourite parts of that song.
Great video!
Can you perhaps do the same concept for MUSE?
Now do this for Tool
basically every radiohead song.
I think this guy likes Radiohead
Madlad.
I don’t know if it’s a good topic, but what about finding punk/hardcore songs in odd time signatures?
you can hear it in 90s post hardcore like fugazi, drive like jehu, nomeansno
I love this legendary band
Pablo Honey underrated
This video was an inevitability.
"If for some odd reason you're not content just playing Radiohead songs... They also have Beatles songs!" 😂😂
Awesome video. Now do The Smile 🙃
Missed one on the Bends (but don’t feel bad- I always assumed it was 4/4 and only recently picked up why that’s not really what’s going on.)
Sulk sounds like 4/4 (especially the lead guitar line) but if you follow the drums it is actually 12/8, with the guitar part that screams 4/4 all being dotted quarter notes, not quarter notes.
Granted, you could still write this as 4/4 with a triple pattern in the drums, but to my mind it is simpler to write it as 12/8 with dotted quarters.
Please do a video on the smile, their time signature fuckery is their signature
I still have no idea how time signatures work
9:00 the lyrics are actually "you have not been"
As much as I love Radiohead, they're not even close to Gentle Giant in the complexity stakes. I'd love to see a reaction/analysis to that stuff.
Exit music. A fake 4/4 all through the song, until the bass comes in, and the last chorus reveals the true nature of the rhythm, I think 12/8?
Ramin Djawadi exploits it very well in its cover for Westworld, with the end in 12/8 reminding the series theme.
One of their greatest to me. Check it Live at Bonnaroo, 2006.
I might be wrong, please tell!
i find it so annoying that im so interested in this
Thank you for a fascinating vidéo - again ! I used to consider pulk/pull revolving door as an unusal meter song as well : the whole period sounds 20/4 to me, the intro suggest an alternance of 6/4 and 4/4 bars. Any specific reason you didn't incluse it in your list ?
C natural in the vocal melody at 5:17 should be a B sharp
Still waiting for “Every time Radiohead plays the same notes as the Beatles”
Thanks!
Thank you 😊
0:07 nice
Wow. That wore me out! :-)
It’s always troubled me that 2+2=5 isn’t in 5.
the sulk disrespect 😔
Isn‘t subterranean homesick alien in 3/4 or something of that sort?
I hope the rumors that the band is on permanent hiatus aren’t true (no one was expecting more from The Smile.)
Ed and Phil have been saying for a while that they want to get the band back together and that they don't think it won't happen. Colin said that they recently got together and had a rehearsal a few months ago, check out his interview with Keith Meredith. Thom seems thoroughly annoyed by all the talk and expectations about Radiohead getting back together, especially when The Smile just released.
Oh boyyyyyyy
no sulk?
Thom has said that music is basically math.
One of my favorite quotes of all time, as a Radiohead obsessive and math nerd.
Do The Smile next plzzzzz
keren
I see Thom Yorke. I click.
oh boy this is gonna be a long video lol
I guess I don't know nuffin then because I would have bet that Weird Fishes/Arpeggi or Reckoner were good examples. But i guess what I hear as complexity of sound is not coming from time signature
Though I guessed Let Down and in that case it was. So I really genuinely don't know nuffin. I bet with Reckoner I was fooled by the "swing" of the beat
In both those songs the drum grooves are quite straightforward 4/4, but in Weird Fishes the guitars drift in and out of time with the drums, while in Reckoner the guitar part is quite syncopated. The interplay between the off-beat guitars and the on-beat drums is what's creating the rhythmic interest in both cases. That's probably what you're hearing.
In reckoner, i think it's not the lenght of the bar themselves that are odd, But how they are packed - in packs of 5
Aren't the guitars in arpeggi weird fishes making polirythmic riffs in 3/4 (main riff) and 5/4 (backgroud riff)?
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but similar to "Let Down", "How to Disappear Completely" uses polymeter when you consider the bass; bass is 4/4 while the rest is 6/8... right?
I'm pretty sure the bass is in 6/8 just with dotted quarter notes.
“How to disappear completely” has a polyrhythm, rather than a polymeter. 😃
No mention of the controversy surrounding Videotape's time signature?
Yeah! I mean, c'mon David, jeez. :))
You could have just called the video
Every radiohead song
As a UK band with Beatles inspirations: Radiohead is forever > Oasis. Somebody let Oasis & their fans know just in case they dont lol. Somehow it seems they never get the memo.
I think you forgot Sulk from The Bends, that’s in 6/8 I think
I’m not huge on the first two albums, but otherwise, are Radiohead just the perfect band? I mean let’s be honest with ourselves
Do the same thing with the Beatles, would be much appreciated ❤
Too bad you didn't talk about Polyethylene. the times signatures are pretty interesting there imo.
And how could you forget Pop is Dead.
still waiting for every beatles song NOT in 4/4 👀