John "I Don't Believe in Time Signatures" Lennon. George Martin once said in an interview that John didn't care about time signatures -- he just put things wherever he liked best how the sounded and felt.
Folk musicians have been doing this sort of things for years and years, it's nothing special, it's just that the music follows the lyrics and not the other way around. You don't need to worry about time signatures and beats and bars and all that silly nonsense, you just play to the lyrics.
I honestly I think this video is really a credit to Ringo's drumming since its his drumming that really dictates the flow of the song makes its complex multi-time signature flowing run smoothly without people noticing. This is why I never really bought into the Ringo hate. Since this would be a complex task for even a skilled drummer and Ringo makes it sound effortless.
I think the Beatles relied on their intuition rather than knowledge of musical theory. I know someone who knows a lot about music theory, but has a limited sense of rhythm, and generally isn’t very musical.
Fair enough! Indeed it is an eminently tasteful solution to the musical puzzle posed by the songwriters. Even still I have trouble giving Ringo too much credit for ingenuity or resourcefulness in this case. I can also imagine that he really had no clue what to play, and just picked this ultra-simple drum pattern. But it is hip, there’s no denying that. Perhaps Ringo could be described as a “savant”. And then there is that big cymbal hit to mark the phrase at the end of the phrase, like a re-invented Buddy Bolden Big Four. Alright, alright! Ringo is hip. But I still think it’s Bernie Purdie on Rubber Soul.
@@DavidBennettPiano Love your channel David! Have you ever looked at Señorita by Justin Timberlake? I'd love to know the music theory logic behind the chord progressions (augmented/#5s etc).
@@DavidBennettPiano Another famous confusing time signature song is Led Zeppelin's the Crunge. Have you mentioned that in another videos yet? Part of it is in 9/8 but it changes in other measures
Actually none of the beatles know proper music theory. Paul McCartney once traveled to the other side of the country just to meet a guy that knows how to play B7
It's impossible for me not to adore David Bennett's videos. Deep knowledge, talented musical ear, sobriety (and yet enthusiasm), a knack to teach by transmitting ideas in a pleasant way...
That was my favorite song of all time in 7th grade. From Paul's blistering solo to the insane, "honking" horns, it was just unlike anything else I had ever heard, even thirty years after its release when I got into it. The Anthology version is just the band, no horns and no solo, and sounds amazing. Of course, running right under all the trappings is a great composition by John, who had rhythm in his bones but no understanding of time signatures. It's a testament to Ringo's oft-maligned skill and artistry that he could so easily follow such kooky compositions. Great analysis, as always. I even forgive you saying you'd do one of my questions in your Q&A and then (gasp!) not! Hahaha j/k PS Your song at the end is great!
As a drummer I can say lots of us do appreciate Ringo. Seems a lot of older drummers especially realize how creative what he was doing was at the time.
@@dallasstiles118 Glad to know it! Yeah, just this mythology of dunking on Ringo for no reason has sprung up. Same with Yoko. People who don't know the first thing about the Beatles knowingly make anti-Ringo or anti-Yoko comments, and act like they're special, and their opinions are usually just based on hearing an equally stupid joke on a TV show or from a friend and assuming that everyone agrees. Glad that smart people like yourself know better!
@@TroyBlackford Thanks much. There's been talk for years of Ringo not playing the parts on the records but of course I've seen him myself playing perfectly capably. Not only is he very musical but he has some chops too.
Yes! That would be great, and I think more challenging-- I think actually it’s mostly in 4/4 believe it or not. But very creative ways of breaking 8 beats up-. And later the triplets that come in - still in 4 or in 12/8 - (4 beats holding a triplet in the each)
I am indeed surprised to hear such a young person speak with great eloquence about time signatures... And, of course, The Beatles. Thank you very much for showing and explaining to us viewers, all the intricacies in these songs, i.e. Good Morning Good Morning. [Gracias, DBP].
I don’t even know if this is a compliment that people want to hear, but this is easily equal to or better than university level material on music. I also love how confident and effortless you are in your delivery. You make an interest in the Beatles seem anything but obsessive and feverish, and that is quite a feat!
I find it super interesting that you describe the changes in time signature in the first verse as being very smooth and unobtrusive as I was *just* thinking, “oh that’s why it sounds so off-kilter and strange to me.” Lovely video!
I actually hear "wife in" and "boy been" as measures in themselves. So I hear it as 3/4 followed by 4/4 followed by 3/4. Then the next time around it would be 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4.
I've scanned it like this... Nothing to (3) do to (3) save his (3) life, call his (4) wife in (3) Nothing to (3) say but (3) what a (3) day, how's your (4) boy been (4)(4) Nothing to (3) do it's (3) up to (3) you, I've got (4) nothing to (3) say but (3) it's O-(3)-K... which seems to interpret it as a mix of 3:8 and 4:8.
One of my favourite tracks off Pepper!! The unique time signature or lack there of, being one of the reasons! Cracking tune and cracking video! Definitely more Beatles Vids please 🙏🏻👌
This was helpful and affirming for me. I struggle with time signatures in some of my own work and it just shows me I have to have the time signatures serve the song and not the other way around. I both love Good Morning and find your song very listenable and natural-sounding.
Other songs with changing time signature: All you need is love Lucy in the sky with diamonds For the benefit of mr kite Baby you're a rich man She said she said Within you without you Happiness is a worm gun The continuing story of bungalow bill Here comes the Sun Sun king Martha my dear ...
2020....Everybody knows there's nothing doing Everything is closed it's like a ruin Everyone you see is half asleep And you're on your own, you're in the street
One of the best known time-signature-changing songs (and seasonally appropriate) is The Twelve Days of Christmas, which switches between 3/4 and 4/4. So much so, the sheet music I had for it put both time signatures at the beginning and then you figured it out from the number of beats in each measure, rather than explicitly indicating each change,.
Love your videos. They are always informative and well presented. In this case, I also love the sweatshirt ... I used to live near the CIty by the Bay. Hawaii is nice, but I look forward to traveling back to The City.
I'd love to see you talk about more stuff from this album. Sgt Pepper has so many cool tricks that you just don't hear other places. Have you talked about She's Leaving Home, Being For the Benefit of Mr Kite!, or Because from Abbey Road? love all the stuff on those ones
The song "Bike" by Pink Floyd contains influences of "Good morning. good morning" by the Beatles and also switches the time signature often. Other challenging examples in which the time signature is often changed: - Almost the entire album "A passion play" by Jethro Tull (but also many songs on other 70's albums of Jethro Tull) - "The sleepwalkers" by Van der Graaf Generator
In contrast to the Beatles and Floyd, Jethro Tull's "Passion Play" and "A" sound merely clever or complicated (to my ears) in contrast to their great albums like "Stand up", " Songs from the Wood" or "Heavy Horses"
Another great video. I think it's interesting that it's primarily John Lennon who wrote songs in which one part of the song would be in 4s and another in 3s: Good Morning, Good Morning; She Said, She Said; Lucy in the Sky; Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite; I Want You (She's So Heavy); and Happiness is a Warm Gun. The only non-John example I can think of is George's: I, Me, Mine. I do think that the line "and of course Henry the Horse dances the Waltz" -- and then an immediate switch to Waltz time -- suggests that Lennon understood at some level what he was doing.
Dave, nice thoughtful analysis. You always manage to do a good job. This video should really be part of a rhythm 101 course. Like them or not, the Beatles are actually a great teaching tool for basic rhythm and harmony. Happy New Year Dave !!🥳
David - your videos are amazing and I love how much they prompt us to think about musical fundamentals in a relatable way. This video reminds me of retrofitting time signatures to the intriguing rhythms of early music.
The “where the beats are” argument is why I say that the mission impossible theme, and take 5 are actually in 10/8. Because they aren’t “using” five beats, but four uneven ones.
you do this briliantly this analazing. Your last sentence gives it away they do it with the sounds or songs they hear in their heads. And thats the brilliance of Ringo as a drummer he just knows hoe to fill this in with his drums. And of course John Lennons song is also very good. Your videos make me admire the Beatles more than before. Thanks man
My take, FWIW: Line 1: 4/4, 4/4, 2/4 Line 2: 4/4, 4/4, 4/4 Line 3: 5/4, 4/4 Line 4: 3/4, 3/4, 4/4, 4/4 *or* 4/4, 2/4, 4/4, 4/4 This way the first verse centers around the basic 4/4 pattern with additions / subtractions noted. :-)
David, "Clap" sounds to me like Indonesian gamelan music. Was that intentional? FWIW, I finally subscribed. Been meaning to for a while now but I often watch on Roku where it's not so easy to do the clicky thing. Really enjoy these videos!
To me I think the time signature is structured around the vocals in the verse, the beatles probably never planned this and just felt there way through it it just happened to be progressive.
Great video. I've always really liked Good Morning, Good Morning, and now I like it even more. I've never understood why so many people have it as their least favourite song on Sgt Pepper.
This is a great analysis and, as always, in depth. Being both a musician and Beatles fan for several decades, I have pondered many hours on this same 'Good Morning' musical conundrum. Whilst we have no proof of how the melody was originally phrased in the mind of John Lennon when being composed, it occurred to me that there are several rhythmic patterns that may hold a clue. If we were to remove the crotchet pulse rhythm tracks and isolate the melody, it reveals that the melody could have originally been conceived not in simple time but rather compound duple time. ie 6/8 rather than a mixture of 3/4, 5/4 etc. This would make it 3 bars of 6/8 with the lone crotchet beat at the end of line, which is indeed accented as an isolated beat. It is almost like a full stop at the end of a sentence. The simple crotchet pulse, driving through underneath the melody, may have come about later in the song's compositional journey as a result of Ringo hearing the phrasing implied differently. Therefore, influencing how we hear it today. To hear the phrasing in 6/8 juxtaposed against the 3/4, 5/4, 2/4 may have fascinated Lennon into wanting to keep it that way.
What can we learn from this song aside from the time signature question? Interesting how you say none of the beats sounded emphasized - how that gives a certain monotonous feel to a song that is in a way about monotony. What does the way the time signatures shift throughout the song do? That to me helps give it a sense of drifting aimlessly again what the song is about. The beats themselves give a sense of monotony and aimlessness to the music. Thank you for pointing out these music theory aspects that to me give new insight as to what was.
A great example of time signature changes is famous Saetia's "Some natures catch no plagues" which starts with 11/4, and then 5/4, 6/4 and ends with rushed 4/4.
This video is a big discovery for me David and made for a better understanding of the confusion. Great work. I'm currently working on a bass chart for 'GMGM' and found it difficult to organise the bars. I used the prominent snare beat as my guide and have four beats to each bar (in spite of time sig.). It resolves itself overall but with some strange bars, seeming to end half way through the bar. I'm adding the lyrics to each bar on the chart. To get accuracy, I slowed down the recording, watched bass covers, found tabs and eventually used Audacity to isolate each 'bar' so bass notes and lyrics (and four beats) fitted adequately. Playing bass to the chart proved effective and the song and it's rhythm flow nicely once you are able to ignore the complexity.
Really good vid and explanation. It follows from your starting point about assisting the performer, that if you are doing your own transcriptions, for example, on GuitarPro, then you choose whatever time signatures you need to do to help you learn and play the song to the best of your abilities. Can't help thinking that in the first example ("Nothing to do...") that there is a balancing act between allocating separate bars to the G (5/4) and A (2/4), and splitting the G bar because there appears to be another accented note around the 4th beat. In the end, do it whichever way suits whatever it is you want to achieve.
I clicked thinking I would listen to the video while cleaning, what a fool I was. I ended up staring at the monitor the whole time, trying to absorb all the interesting information in the video. These videos are usually quite difficult for someone who understands little about music like me, but also fascinating!
It's admittedly a small point, but I doubt the narrator really means “redundant". More likely he means something like "superfluous". Changing time signatures, however, could only make "the entire concept of a time signature" superfluous for someone who doesn't really understand time signatures. It is important to stress that no matter what time signatures you choose with which to notate your piece, arrangement, or transcription, you will not affect the sound when played. Some choices will make it easier to read, and that is really the only valid consideration. Time signatures suggest groupings, but they don’t dictate groupings. Unlike a key signature or a dynamic mark or a note, etc., a time signature is not telling the performer to do anything. The term “beat” is a sort of reification of an inverse reification. It originally meant something concrete and palpable. When you “beat time” (think of the tea party in “Alice in Wonderland”), you literally beat something; you hit a hard surface with your hand. Eventually conductors began to “beat the air”, so to speak, with their batons, which is a slightly more abstract usage. Later the term was completely abstracted, and then, still later, people began to speak of the abstraction as if it were a concrete thing, which, of course, it isn’t and couldn’t be. A “beat” as a concrete thing is a striking and that’s all it ever was (as a concrete thing, that is) and all it ever could be. The reason we think of the first “beat” or pulse in pulsed music (remember that not all music is pulsed) is that the first pulse of every group (when we hear music in groups) announces that we’re starting over. We don’t need to play it louder; the grouping itself automatically emphasizes it. There’s more to say about this, but I’ve gone on long enough.
Interesting question! My initial answer is that all music needs repetition to sound satisfying and structured... and a "chorus-verse" structure, or put more simply a "A-B-A-B" structure, is the most basic, accessible repeating structure you can have (beyond just repeating the same section on loop, known as "strophic form"). Of course, in practice, most songs are rarely a pure "chorus-verse" structure and will usually include various other sections and variations.
good analysis! as a drummer i think the time changes are very noticeable, and I definitely feel a stop-start element to it. The first eight bars are pretty obviously 4/4 like you said, so i feel grounded in that groove, but the cymbal hit on the off beat of that 2/4 i feel off kilter and then it only get weirder from there
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John "I Don't Believe in Time Signatures" Lennon. George Martin once said in an interview that John didn't care about time signatures -- he just put things wherever he liked best how the sounded and felt.
WOW ONLY A GENIUS COULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT
John Lennon: "I just believe in ME...Yoko and me...and thats reality!" 🙂
@@Barrycomedian1 Had that album.
Folk musicians have been doing this sort of things for years and years, it's nothing special, it's just that the music follows the lyrics and not the other way around. You don't need to worry about time signatures and beats and bars and all that silly nonsense, you just play to the lyrics.
@@TheLambLive to be fair, this is a channel for normie musicians that care about this sort of technical fluff.
I honestly I think this video is really a credit to Ringo's drumming since its his drumming that really dictates the flow of the song makes its complex multi-time signature flowing run smoothly without people noticing. This is why I never really bought into the Ringo hate. Since this would be a complex task for even a skilled drummer and Ringo makes it sound effortless.
I think the Beatles relied on their intuition rather than knowledge of musical theory. I know someone who knows a lot about music theory, but has a limited sense of rhythm, and generally isn’t very musical.
I keep reading about Ringo haters. Where are they? Ringo appears to be the most beloved drummer.
@@georgeliv8021 a lot of people think ringo isn’t that good, and didn’t really contribute to the beatles success. However, he clearly did
Fair enough! Indeed it is an eminently tasteful solution to the musical puzzle posed by the songwriters. Even still I have trouble giving Ringo too much credit for ingenuity or resourcefulness in this case. I can also imagine that he really had no clue what to play, and just picked this ultra-simple drum pattern. But it is hip, there’s no denying that. Perhaps Ringo could be described as a “savant”. And then there is that big cymbal hit to mark the phrase at the end of the phrase, like a re-invented Buddy Bolden Big Four. Alright, alright! Ringo is hip. But I still think it’s Bernie Purdie on Rubber Soul.
When Ringo join the group. That's where the magic start
More Beatles analysis plz this was amazing work
Thank you! I have no problem at all with making more Beatles videos!
Seconded!
@@DavidBennettPiano Love your channel David! Have you ever looked at Señorita by Justin Timberlake? I'd love to know the music theory logic behind the chord progressions (augmented/#5s etc).
@@DavidBennettPiano Another famous confusing time signature song is Led Zeppelin's the Crunge. Have you mentioned that in another videos yet? Part of it is in 9/8 but it changes in other measures
“What time signature are we using John?”
John: “Yes.”
😂
Yeah all of them and some new ones
“I don’t give a ....”
Actually none of the beatles know proper music theory. Paul McCartney once traveled to the other side of the country just to meet a guy that knows how to play B7
"stfu" -John Winston Lennon (1967)
Presumably, George Martin wrote out a score for the horns. It would be interesting to see how he notated it.
That’s a very good point!
It's impossible for me not to adore David Bennett's videos. Deep knowledge, talented musical ear, sobriety (and yet enthusiasm), a knack to teach by transmitting ideas in a pleasant way...
Wow! Thank you! 😀😀😀
My god this just shows how much of a genius Ringo is... it’s sounds impossible to maintain a rhythm for a song like this
I love this song, and you did an awesome job with this video!
More Beatles, please!!
Thank you 😃
She Said She Said is one of my favorites and also has some great incorporation of shifting time signatures
She Said She Said is also one of Ringo's best drum tracks!
@@gerryondrums6180 For sure
Yes! I read George helped with that, he called it "a real weld job" 😅
As always, crystal clear. Totally agree with your approach and reasoning
Thank you! 😃😃
i can't use the like button, but i like it.
That was my favorite song of all time in 7th grade. From Paul's blistering solo to the insane, "honking" horns, it was just unlike anything else I had ever heard, even thirty years after its release when I got into it. The Anthology version is just the band, no horns and no solo, and sounds amazing. Of course, running right under all the trappings is a great composition by John, who had rhythm in his bones but no understanding of time signatures. It's a testament to Ringo's oft-maligned skill and artistry that he could so easily follow such kooky compositions.
Great analysis, as always. I even forgive you saying you'd do one of my questions in your Q&A and then (gasp!) not! Hahaha j/k
PS Your song at the end is great!
As a drummer I can say lots of us do appreciate Ringo. Seems a lot of older drummers especially realize how creative what he was doing was at the time.
@@dallasstiles118 Glad to know it! Yeah, just this mythology of dunking on Ringo for no reason has sprung up. Same with Yoko. People who don't know the first thing about the Beatles knowingly make anti-Ringo or anti-Yoko comments, and act like they're special, and their opinions are usually just based on hearing an equally stupid joke on a TV show or from a friend and assuming that everyone agrees.
Glad that smart people like yourself know better!
@@TroyBlackford Thanks much. There's been talk for years of Ringo not playing the parts on the records but of course I've seen him myself playing perfectly capably. Not only is he very musical but he has some chops too.
Did you already talk about "Happiness is a Warm Gun"?
I certainly will soon!
Happinnes is peak John
@@DavidBennettPiano Hell yeah the BEST Beatles song
Yes! That would be great, and I think more challenging-- I think actually it’s mostly in 4/4 believe it or not. But very creative ways of breaking 8 beats up-. And later the triplets that come in - still in 4 or in 12/8 - (4 beats holding a triplet in the each)
Beautiful example of time being completely bent by them for a song
You say your song “Clap” isn’t so adventurous, but I think it does sound adventurous! It also sounds very joyful and wondrous!
Thank you! 😃😃
PS I don’t know if you’re aware, but “Meet the wife“ was a TV situation comedy in the 60s!
Well done, Steven. I did not know that.
I like how the recent videos end with an original composition.
Thanks 😊
I'm really impressed by your knowledge
Thank you!
ive been hoping you would make a video on this! excited to watch, and happy new year when it finally comes!
Thank you! And happy new year 😃😃
I am indeed surprised to hear such a young person speak with great eloquence about time signatures... And, of course, The Beatles. Thank you very much for showing and explaining to
us viewers, all the intricacies in these songs, i.e. Good Morning Good Morning. [Gracias, DBP].
I don’t even know if this is a compliment that people want to hear, but this is easily equal to or better than university level material on music. I also love how confident and effortless you are in your delivery. You make an interest in the Beatles seem anything but obsessive and feverish, and that is quite a feat!
I love when a new David Bennett piano video comes out, partucularly when it's about my favourite band. Yaayyyy!!! Happy 2021, David & everybody!
Happy New Year! 😃😃😃
I find it super interesting that you describe the changes in time signature in the first verse as being very smooth and unobtrusive as I was *just* thinking, “oh that’s why it sounds so off-kilter and strange to me.”
Lovely video!
Thanks Caitlin! I’ve been listening to this song since I was 11 so perhaps I’m just used to it!
@@DavidBennettPiano might be because I first learned how to sing it, and the breathing spots are a little strange 🙂
I actually hear "wife in" and "boy been" as measures in themselves. So I hear it as 3/4 followed by 4/4 followed by 3/4. Then the next time around it would be 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4.
I've scanned it like this...
Nothing to (3) do to (3) save his (3) life, call his (4) wife in (3)
Nothing to (3) say but (3) what a (3) day, how's your (4) boy been (4)(4)
Nothing to (3) do it's (3) up to (3) you, I've got (4) nothing to (3) say but (3) it's O-(3)-K...
which seems to interpret it as a mix of 3:8 and 4:8.
I didn't see your comment and I posted the same above. Perhaps we'll agree to disagree with David on this one.
Exactly right -well done
Great job explaining this. All these years n niw because if thus video I understand. Thank you
Here's another example of a song that shifts meter it makes it redundant: 12 days of Christmas
This was great. I took 7 years of concert band and no one explained time signatures as well as you do
Thank you! 😃😃😃
Another great element of John's songwriting. She Said She Said and Strawberry Fields also have this. That's why he's the man!
This song analysis left me with a much greater appreciation for Ringo.
One of my favourite tracks off Pepper!! The unique time signature or lack there of, being one of the reasons! Cracking tune and cracking video! Definitely more Beatles Vids please 🙏🏻👌
This was helpful and affirming for me. I struggle with time signatures in some of my own work and it just shows me I have to have the time signatures serve the song and not the other way around. I both love Good Morning and find your song very listenable and natural-sounding.
Love this song!
Classic track!
I could listen to you talk about this stuff 24/8. Because, as we all know, there are eight days a week.
_Eight days a week, you LO-o-O-o-OVE it_ ?
I wouldn't like to be the drummer playing 24/8 😀
Other songs with changing time signature:
All you need is love
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
For the benefit of mr kite
Baby you're a rich man
She said she said
Within you without you
Happiness is a worm gun
The continuing story of bungalow bill
Here comes the Sun
Sun king
Martha my dear
...
Good list!
worm gun
worm gun 😭
Clap is beautiful.
Thanks John! 😃😃
David this is an EXTRAordinary work. Very meticulous. You always blow my mind.
Brilliant analysis, thanks!
Excellent, thank you, David.
Well done, David.Always thoroughly immersive AND entertaining.Thanks
Thank you! 😃
I learn so much from this channel!
I learn a lot from your videos. They are very well produced. You do a great job on these.
I have always loved this song, it’s fabulous how, they use so many changes. Wow, the Beatles were astounding.
This song is totally underrated! So good.
I love the way the last 3 tracks of this album flow into each other. Pure class.
I agree. It's one of the best songs on Pepper.
Beautiful original song! And great video as always.
Thank you! 🙂🙂🙂
2020....Everybody knows there's nothing doing
Everything is closed it's like a ruin
Everyone you see is half asleep
And you're on your own, you're in the street
Sums it up pretty well.
One of the best known time-signature-changing songs (and seasonally appropriate) is The Twelve Days of Christmas, which switches between 3/4 and 4/4. So much so, the sheet music I had for it put both time signatures at the beginning and then you figured it out from the number of beats in each measure, rather than explicitly indicating each change,.
this is the beauty of instruments and live music, you dont have to care about any time signature, just do what feels good
David, I so enjoyed this presentation and am looking forward to many more!
-Dianne
Thank you!
¡Happy new 2021 year! We always find something new about old things that make us like it even better.
Happy New Year David thank you for your contents^^
Thank you! Happy new year!
"Clap" is a wonderful piece.(bow) The tutorials are great also ,thx 😊
Great video, as usual!
I'd like to see a video on BPM changes in songs, and how that's different from time signatures.
Thanks! I am actually planning a video on tempo changes in songs 😃
don't forget it also has an amazing guitar break from paul!
Yeah! Amazing solo!
Very interesting, I also never realised how often this song changed time signatures! Thanks for a great video
Thanks Sophie 😃
Wow, that was one of the clearest tutorials on basic time signatures I’ve ever heard. You are a talented teacher and composer.
Mind blowing stuff
Love your videos. They are always informative and well presented. In this case, I also love the sweatshirt ... I used to live near the CIty by the Bay. Hawaii is nice, but I look forward to traveling back to The City.
Many thanks!
Happy new year David! Great video! I didn't even realise how many time signature changes "Good Morning, Good Morning" had.
your song, David, is really lovely actually, so calming
Thank you! 😃
I dont even know how to read music like at all but you make it so interesting jn how you show it in analysing the Beatles work i love it
I'd love to see you talk about more stuff from this album. Sgt Pepper has so many cool tricks that you just don't hear other places. Have you talked about She's Leaving Home, Being For the Benefit of Mr Kite!, or Because from Abbey Road? love all the stuff on those ones
The song "Bike" by Pink Floyd contains influences of "Good morning. good morning" by the Beatles and also switches the time signature often.
Other challenging examples in which the time signature is often changed:
- Almost the entire album "A passion play" by Jethro Tull (but also many songs on other 70's albums of Jethro Tull)
- "The sleepwalkers" by Van der Graaf Generator
In contrast to the Beatles and Floyd, Jethro Tull's "Passion Play" and "A" sound merely clever or complicated (to my ears) in contrast to their great albums like "Stand up", " Songs from the Wood" or "Heavy Horses"
great vid david!
Thanks Ben!
Another great video.
I think it's interesting that it's primarily John Lennon who wrote songs in which one part of the song would be in 4s and another in 3s: Good Morning, Good Morning; She Said, She Said; Lucy in the Sky; Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite; I Want You (She's So Heavy); and Happiness is a Warm Gun. The only non-John example I can think of is George's: I, Me, Mine.
I do think that the line "and of course Henry the Horse dances the Waltz" -- and then an immediate switch to Waltz time -- suggests that Lennon understood at some level what he was doing.
My favorite song on Sgt. Peppers. And yes, that includes A Day in the Life.
Dave, nice thoughtful analysis. You always manage to do a good job. This video should really be part of a rhythm 101 course. Like them or not, the Beatles are actually a great teaching tool for basic rhythm and harmony.
Happy New Year Dave !!🥳
Songs like this make you really appreciate how on top of things Ringo is
Awesome video as usual 👍🎹
Thank you! 😃😃😃
David - your videos are amazing and I love how much they prompt us to think about musical fundamentals in a relatable way. This video reminds me of retrofitting time signatures to the intriguing rhythms of early music.
I, too, have asked myself that question many times
who hasn't?
Love your videos
Thanks! 😃😃
The “where the beats are” argument is why I say that the mission impossible theme, and take 5 are actually in 10/8. Because they aren’t “using” five beats, but four uneven ones.
"Everybody's got something to hide except from me and my monkey" has an interesting time change!
Great song 👍
This is the first video I'm watching this year..lol
Btw Happy New year ❤️
you do this briliantly this analazing. Your last sentence gives it away they do it with the sounds or songs they hear in their heads.
And thats the brilliance of Ringo as a drummer he just knows hoe to fill this in with his drums. And of course John Lennons song is also very good.
Your videos make me admire the Beatles more than before. Thanks man
I love your work, you really help me understand music theory and inspire me to make my own songs :)
A good illustration of the ill-suited nature trying to relate written encodings (of any kind) to music. A recording is the best document.
My take, FWIW:
Line 1: 4/4, 4/4, 2/4
Line 2: 4/4, 4/4, 4/4
Line 3: 5/4, 4/4
Line 4: 3/4, 3/4, 4/4, 4/4 *or* 4/4, 2/4, 4/4, 4/4
This way the first verse centers around the basic 4/4 pattern with additions / subtractions noted. :-)
David, "Clap" sounds to me like Indonesian gamelan music. Was that intentional?
FWIW, I finally subscribed. Been meaning to for a while now but I often watch on Roku where it's not so easy to do the clicky thing. Really enjoy these videos!
Every time I listen to this song I think about how you would explain its time signature in one of your videos and now I know.
Your videos are amazing! Cheers from Rio 🇧🇷
Thank you! 😃😃
To me I think the time signature is structured around the vocals in the verse, the beatles probably never planned this and just felt there way through it it just happened to be progressive.
i like these kinds of songs, the changes make the song so hard to understand i love it
Somebody needs to know the time, glad that I'm here 🎶
Great video. I've always really liked Good Morning, Good Morning, and now I like it even more. I've never understood why so many people have it as their least favourite song on Sgt Pepper.
This is a great analysis and, as always, in depth.
Being both a musician and Beatles fan for several decades, I have pondered many hours on this same 'Good Morning' musical conundrum. Whilst we have no proof of how the melody was originally phrased in the mind of John Lennon when being composed, it occurred to me that there are several rhythmic patterns that may hold a clue.
If we were to remove the crotchet pulse rhythm tracks and isolate the melody, it reveals that the melody could have originally been conceived not in simple time but rather compound duple time. ie 6/8 rather than a mixture of 3/4, 5/4 etc. This would make it 3 bars of 6/8 with the lone crotchet beat at the end of line, which is indeed accented as an isolated beat. It is almost like a full stop at the end of a sentence.
The simple crotchet pulse, driving through underneath the melody, may have come about later in the song's compositional journey as a result of Ringo hearing the phrasing implied differently. Therefore, influencing how we hear it today. To hear the phrasing in 6/8 juxtaposed against the 3/4, 5/4, 2/4 may have fascinated Lennon into wanting to keep it that way.
If my college had used the Beatles to teach music theory, I might've actually understood it! This is a great explanation of one of my favorites!
What can we learn from this song aside from the time signature question? Interesting how you say none of the beats sounded emphasized - how that gives a certain monotonous feel to a song that is in a way about monotony. What does the way the time signatures shift throughout the song do? That to me helps give it a sense of drifting aimlessly again what the song is about. The beats themselves give a sense of monotony and aimlessness to the music. Thank you for pointing out these music theory aspects that to me give new insight as to what was.
Cheers for this clear analysis. I don't feel so bad now about struggling to parse the time on this one.
You produce great analysis & very well presented. Thanks. One of the best thing on youtube
A great example of time signature changes is famous Saetia's "Some natures catch no plagues" which starts with 11/4, and then 5/4, 6/4 and ends with rushed 4/4.
i can't believe you didn't find this sound jarring, that's what i liked about it
This video is a big discovery for me David and made for a better understanding of the confusion. Great work.
I'm currently working on a bass chart for 'GMGM' and found it difficult to organise the bars. I used the prominent snare beat as my guide and have four beats to each bar (in spite of time sig.). It resolves itself overall but with some strange bars, seeming to end half way through the bar. I'm adding the lyrics to each bar on the chart. To get accuracy, I slowed down the recording, watched bass covers, found tabs and eventually used Audacity to isolate each 'bar' so bass notes and lyrics (and four beats) fitted adequately.
Playing bass to the chart proved effective and the song and it's rhythm flow nicely once you are able to ignore the complexity.
Really good vid and explanation. It follows from your starting point about assisting the performer, that if you are doing your own transcriptions, for example, on GuitarPro, then you choose whatever time signatures you need to do to help you learn and play the song to the best of your abilities. Can't help thinking that in the first example ("Nothing to do...") that there is a balancing act between allocating separate bars to the G (5/4) and A (2/4), and splitting the G bar because there appears to be another accented note around the 4th beat. In the end, do it whichever way suits whatever it is you want to achieve.
I clicked thinking I would listen to the video while cleaning, what a fool I was. I ended up staring at the monitor the whole time, trying to absorb all the interesting information in the video. These videos are usually quite difficult for someone who understands little about music like me, but also fascinating!
It's admittedly a small point, but I doubt the narrator really means “redundant". More likely he means something like "superfluous". Changing time signatures, however, could only make "the entire concept of a time signature" superfluous for someone who doesn't really understand time signatures. It is important to stress that no matter what time signatures you choose with which to notate your piece, arrangement, or transcription, you will not affect the sound when played. Some choices will make it easier to read, and that is really the only valid consideration. Time signatures suggest groupings, but they don’t dictate groupings. Unlike a key signature or a dynamic mark or a note, etc., a time signature is not telling the performer to do anything. The term “beat” is a sort of reification of an inverse reification. It originally meant something concrete and palpable. When you “beat time” (think of the tea party in “Alice in Wonderland”), you literally beat something; you hit a hard surface with your hand. Eventually conductors began to “beat the air”, so to speak, with their batons, which is a slightly more abstract usage. Later the term was completely abstracted, and then, still later, people began to speak of the abstraction as if it were a concrete thing, which, of course, it isn’t and couldn’t be. A “beat” as a concrete thing is a striking and that’s all it ever was (as a concrete thing, that is) and all it ever could be. The reason we think of the first “beat” or pulse in pulsed music (remember that not all music is pulsed) is that the first pulse of every group (when we hear music in groups) announces that we’re starting over. We don’t need to play it louder; the grouping itself automatically emphasizes it. There’s more to say about this, but I’ve gone on long enough.
His choice of words struck me as odd too, but I attributed to being an interpretation between original the English and American english translation…
Excellent breakdown as usual! Potential video idea - do you know why the chorus-verse style of music is so popular even outside western music?
Actually a good question. Maybe it has something to do with a need to hear repetition/variations on a theme.
Interesting question! My initial answer is that all music needs repetition to sound satisfying and structured... and a "chorus-verse" structure, or put more simply a "A-B-A-B" structure, is the most basic, accessible repeating structure you can have (beyond just repeating the same section on loop, known as "strophic form"). Of course, in practice, most songs are rarely a pure "chorus-verse" structure and will usually include various other sections and variations.
Could you make videos about songs like “Echoes” by Pink Floyd, “The musical box” by Genesis or “Lazy” by Deep Purple?
This song was in my head this morning 😅
good analysis! as a drummer i think the time changes are very noticeable, and I definitely feel a stop-start element to it. The first eight bars are pretty obviously 4/4 like you said, so i feel grounded in that groove, but the cymbal hit on the off beat of that 2/4 i feel off kilter and then it only get weirder from there