Today is March 4 or 3/4 (as we write in America). I like keeping time and, though rock and pop is mostly in 4/4, I like 3/4 and 6/8 as well.

For those who are a little confused. Basically, most music has stressed notes at regular intervals and a stronger stress on one of those. If the strong stress is every three notes, it’s (probably) in 3/4. This is what waltzes are in. The 6/8 time signature is related. It is sort of like two 3/4 bars put together, but has one note that’s stressed strongly every 6 beats and another that’s semi-strong halfway in between. Jigs are in 6/8. Time signatures, or meters, like 6/8 that have multiple smaller beat patterns are called compound meters. (You could count all six beats in the bar or you could just tap your foot on 1 and 4.) Check this out for a more technical explanation.

Sometimes I like a song and much later I’ll notice it happens to be in 3/4. Other times I love a song for its 3/4ness, how well it uses the particulars of the time signature.

So, without further delay, I’d like to give you my favorite 3/4 (and 6/8) songs [1] on this day, 3/4:

1. Romulus Sufjan Stevens (med-slow 6/8[2])
   One of my favorite songs and a crushingly beautiful song if there every was one.
   Sufjan Stevens - Romulus (mp3)
   
2. I Found a Reason Cat Power (slow 3/4)
   I go in phases with Cat Power–old guitar rock, newer souly stuff, not feeling like listening to her much at all, but this song is always in phase. It was a nice surprise that it was in three–I’d never heard it before.
   Cat Power - I Found a Reason (mp3)
   
3. A Change is Gonna Come Sam Cooke (med-slow 6/8)
   Sam Cooke is the man who invented soul. I’m the biggest fan of him and his voice and this is his epic masterpiece. I didn’t realize it was in 6/8 but it’s got that telltale lilt to it and that lilt works so well with his vocal inflections.
   Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come (mp3)
   
4. Saturday Night Waltz (Introduction, Slow Waltz) Aaron Copland (slow 3/4)
   Somehow I forget how much I love Copland sometimes and then I’ll go back and listen and it’s a revelation every time. It’s simple and melodic but also complex and always interesting as well.
   New York Philharmonic - Saturday Night Walks (Introduction-Slow Waltz) (mp3)
   
5. Mount Wroclai Beirut (fast 3/4)
   … Fun track, engaging. It makes me smile. Uses the stilted feel of stiff waltzes to great effect.
   Beirut - Mount Wroclai (mp3)
   
6. The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton Mountain Goats (med-slow 6/8)
   One of the best Mountain Goats songs ever. Just brilliant lyrics. I never realized it was in 6/8 until I saw it being played live over the weekend. “Huh, that’s in 6/8. Cool!”
   the Mountain Goats - Best Every Death Metal Band out of Denton (mp3)
   
7. I Saw Kevin Jay Walk Snail (mid tempo 3/4)
   Possibly the song on the list whose 3/4ness I love the best. Besides that, lovely orchestration and melodies.
   Jay Walk Snail - I Saw Kevin (mp3)
   
8. With Whom to Dance Magnetic Fields (mid tempo 6/8)
   A longtime favorite. I embarrassingly used to send friends these lyrics so they could understand me better. (It should be noted I don’t really dance either…) ANYWAY, great song that has that lovely swinging 6/8 thing going on.
   the Magnetic Fields - With Whom to Dance (mp3)
   
9. Where Gravity is Dead Laura Veirs (fast 3/4)
   Laura Veirs is one of the best at making very good rhythmic loops and then added layers on top of them and this is one of her best at that.
   Laura Veirs - Where Gravity is Dead (mp3)
   
10. My Name is Jonas Weezer (med-fast tempo 3/4)
    One of my favorite Weezer songs. This is the most straight up rock song in three that I know. Usually the feeling of three asserts itself stronger than any inclination to rock, but Rivers found a way to make them work together.
    Weezer - My Name is Jonas (mp3)
    

Other favorites:

• Waltz #2 Elliott Smith (med-slow 3/4)
• Chumming the Ocean Archers of Loaf (slow 3/4)
• Long Way Around the Sea Low (sloowwww 6/8)
• You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away the Beatles (mid tempo 6/8)
• The Times They Are A Changin’ Bob Dylan (slow 3/4) [3]
• Two Sisters Horton Barker (mid-tempo 6/8 with rubato)
• Stick to the Craytur Green Fields of America (med-fast 6/8 with rubato)
• Green Hills of Tyrol Rossini, arr for bagpipe by MacCloud

What are some of your favorite 3/4 (or related meter tunes)?

[1] I called this post the “top” songs and later said “my favorite” and I could possibly also say “best”. It’s a pretty egotistical thing to equate my opinions with something’s absolute position in the heirarchy of music and I only do this self-consciously.

[2] Sometimes it fools me into thinking it’s simply in 3/4 as well.

[3] How can I leave some of the best songs of all time off of my main list? I don’t know–I just went through and listened to all the songs and this was how the order came out.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 12:56 am Posted by adrian in SF bay area, lists, mp3s. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.