Outstanding 3/4 song recomendations

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wanting to put a cd of 3/4 tunes together just for home/car listening...

...starting with

Paul Anka - Put your head on my shoulder
Beach Boys - Surfer girl

cheers...

― pollywog, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 20:03 (eighteen years ago)

Beatles - Baby's in Black

― darin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 20:07 (eighteen years ago)

aimee mann - amateur

― nonightsweats, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 20:10 (eighteen years ago)

todd rundgren - the night the carousel burned down

― nonightsweats, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 20:11 (eighteen years ago)

Avalanches - "Two Hearts in 3/4 Time"

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 20:12 (eighteen years ago)

Beach Boys "Cabinessence" - hilariously described by Brian as "the most rockinest waltz ever"

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 20:12 (eighteen years ago)

Bob Dylan - "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall"

― o. nate, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 20:53 (eighteen years ago)

that Unwound song
that Nation of Ulysses song

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 20:57 (eighteen years ago)

Elvis Costello - "New Amsterdam"

― mike a, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 20:58 (eighteen years ago)

todd rundgren - the night the carousel burned down

^^^I don't think that ones 3/4 eh ???

just realized unchained melody is and so is a whole heap of doo wop...

...good looking out all round though keep em coming

cheers...

anybody know off hand if prince did any 3/4 ???

― pollywog, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 21:56 (eighteen years ago)

Past, Present & Future

― Billy Pilgrim, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:05 (eighteen years ago)

Joy in Repetition (maybe? I'd have to listen to it)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:07 (eighteen years ago)

My Favourite Things

― Matt #2, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:09 (eighteen years ago)

title and artist if you would be so kind...

...thanx

― pollywog, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:12 (eighteen years ago)

Joy in Repetition = Prince. I think its on Graffiti Bridge

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:13 (eighteen years ago)

Miles Davis - Someday My Prince Will Come (or any other recording of that song)

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:22 (eighteen years ago)

Past, Present & Future (...by the Shangri-Las)

― Billy Pilgrim, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:28 (eighteen years ago)

For The Wars by Clinic and Waltz #2 by Elliott Smith are both 3/4 and great. Waltz #1 is in 3/4 too, of course, but isn't as good.

― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:32 (eighteen years ago)

Joy in Repetition = Prince. I think its on Graffiti Bridge

don't think thats 3/4 either

― pollywog, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:40 (eighteen years ago)

I would argue that "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" is actually 6/8. It's a subtle difference, but I always think of 3/4 as "El Paso" by Marty Robbins or "Lucille" by Kenny Rogers. 6/8 is all those doowop and R&B songs with triplets (think "Blueberry Hill.")

― Dan Peterson, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:40 (eighteen years ago)

cheers Dan...

...obviously way too subtle for my untrained ears

say, do you know that old slow rock n roll tune that was on 'la bamba' with the ghostly strings ??? It was used when ritchie was a kid daydreaming and looking up to see a sepia coloured plane flying over as a premonition ???

funny but just with this list and soulseek it makes for great listening so diverse yet so unified ???

props all round, much appreciated...

― pollywog, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:55 (eighteen years ago)

More Beatles songs to add to the list:

Yes It Is
This Boy
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Yer Blues
I Want You (She's so Heavy)
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (verses)
I Me Mine
Happiness is a Warm Gun (Parts 2 & 3)
She's Leaving Home

― darin, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 22:57 (eighteen years ago)

captain beefheart - glad

― davie, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 23:03 (eighteen years ago)

there has GOT to be a Prince waltz but damned if I can think of it (Joy in Repetition was kinda a guess - haven't listened to it in years)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 23:04 (eighteen years ago)

yeah i reckon prince had to have had done one...

...thats gonna bug me for ages now :)

― pollywog, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 23:16 (eighteen years ago)

David Bowie - Five Years

― p-dog, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 23:21 (eighteen years ago)

Broadcast 'Message From Home'

― blueski, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 23:25 (eighteen years ago)

Better yet "Look Outside"

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 23:27 (eighteen years ago)

Dan Perry is correct. 3/4 songs will have a more clear ONE-two-three ONE-two-three pulse, whereas songs with the feel of "When a Man Loves a Woman" are better labeled 6/8. There's not always a clear line between the two - for example the way Coltrane plays "My Favorite Things" sort of weaves back and forth between 3/4 and 6/8 -- on the melody the band is clearly marking out the 3/4 waltz feel, but on the piano vamps it feels more like 6/8/

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 23:35 (eighteen years ago)

surfer girl = 6/8

― Steve Shasta, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 23:35 (eighteen years ago)

Johnny Cash - Dark as a Dungeon

― Hurting 2, Wednesday, 14 March 2007 23:40 (eighteen years ago)

Billy Joel - Piano Man

― o. nate, Thursday, 15 March 2007 00:07 (eighteen years ago)

Leonard Cohen - Take This Waltz

― o. nate, Thursday, 15 March 2007 00:08 (eighteen years ago)

Must be tons of Tom Waits waltzes. "In the Neighbourhood" is the first that springs to mind. Gosh I love that song.

― Noodle Vague, Thursday, 15 March 2007 00:13 (eighteen years ago)

Little ol' wine drinker me - Dean Martin
Funny how time slips away - Elvis Presley
Hey Paula - Paul & Paula
Sukiyaki -Kyu Sakamoto
Summer Place - Percy Faith Orchestra

Very hard to stop here....

― roger whitaker, Thursday, 15 March 2007 00:25 (eighteen years ago)

is that 'sukiyaki' the same one 'a taste of honey' covered ???

...so 6/8 is just double time 3/4 or is 3/4 like halfstep 6/8 and what about 12/16 ???

sorry but i'll settle for 3/4 or 6/8...

...hehe

cheers

― pollywog, Thursday, 15 March 2007 00:38 (eighteen years ago)

I think it has more to do with which beats are emphasized and the rhythmic feel - not the tempo.

― o. nate, Thursday, 15 March 2007 00:44 (eighteen years ago)

Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - The Taking of Peckham 123

― ledge, Thursday, 15 March 2007 00:47 (eighteen years ago)

I've always loved Sunken Waltz by Calexico and Sleep in Perfection by Augie March.

― Drooone, Thursday, 15 March 2007 00:48 (eighteen years ago)

Kate Bush - "Army Dreamers"

Perhaps any of the various versions of "I Put A Spell On You", but all of this 6/8 talk has me doubting myself.

― sleestak, Thursday, 15 March 2007 02:26 (eighteen years ago)

I was contemplating the 3/4 vs. 6/8 thing a lot last night. I'm no music theorist, but Hurting and O. Nate nailed it, I think: that pronounced "ONE" is what makes it 3/4 and makes it a waltz. Totally agree that the line is blurry; in fact, I wrote a song for my band modelled after Joe Ely's "West Texas Waltz," but when I brought my "waltz" in to the band, drummer said, "That's 6/8."

"I Put A Spell On You" = 6/8 to these ears, and "Surfer Girl" too.

― Dan Peterson, Thursday, 15 March 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

Um, Blur have loads. Lot 105?

― CharlieNo4, Thursday, 15 March 2007 14:12 (eighteen years ago)

Theme from The Godfather (Nino Rota)
Theme from Rosemary's Baby (Krzysztof Komeda)

― Matt #2, Thursday, 15 March 2007 14:17 (eighteen years ago)

Country & Western to thread

― Tom D., Thursday, 15 March 2007 14:21 (eighteen years ago)

faith no more - caffeine
obscene - rollins band

― m the g, Thursday, 15 March 2007 14:22 (eighteen years ago)

"Concrete and Barbed Wire," Lucinda Williams

― Jazzbo, Thursday, 15 March 2007 14:26 (eighteen years ago)

Kate Bush 'Suspended In Gaffa'?

― blueski, Thursday, 15 March 2007 14:29 (eighteen years ago)

Jimi Hendrix, "Manic Depression"

LOCK THREAD

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Thursday, 15 March 2007 14:32 (eighteen years ago)

That is a good one, but I also like

Hüsker Dü- "She Floated Away"

6/8 is all those doowop and R&B songs
I thought all those doowop songs were in 12/8, because there are 12 triplet 8th-notes to a bar.

We had a thread on this once before and I think it came up, and I think Alan W Pollack discusses this in his Beatles notes, that there are some songs that SWITCH between 6/8 and 3/4- "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" and "America" from West Side Story being the two that I know.

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 15 March 2007 15:01 (eighteen years ago)

this gonna be one hell of a diverse CD...niiiice

so is all 3/4 or 6/8 swung ???

― pollywog, Thursday, 15 March 2007 20:16 (eighteen years ago)

Elliott Smith - Waltz No. 2 (XO)

― G00blar, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:09 (eighteen years ago)

im sure there s a jesus lizard song in watlz time, but im too hungover to remember which one.

― UncleTomfly, Friday, 16 March 2007 01:35 (eighteen years ago)

"only love can break your heart"

― William Selman, Friday, 16 March 2007 02:18 (eighteen years ago)

todd rundgren - the night the carousel burned down

This switches back and forth between four and three. I wish I could say Magazine- "The Great Beautician in the Sky," but it's only in three for the first couple of minutes.

― Beep, Friday, 16 March 2007 02:27 (eighteen years ago)

Siouxsie and the Banshees-The Staircase (Mystery)

― nerve_pylon, Friday, 16 March 2007 03:14 (eighteen years ago)

One of my fave tunes is in whatever/something: The Young Gods - C.S.C.L.D.F.

― blunt, Friday, 16 March 2007 04:07 (eighteen years ago)

think Alan W Pollack discusses this in his Beatles notes, that there are some songs that SWITCH between 6/8 and 3/4

Quite a few Beatles songs that alternate 3/4 and 4/4 (or 6/8 or something): "Mr. Kite", "We Can Work It Out", "L.S.D.", etc.)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 16 March 2007 14:42 (eighteen years ago)

...as darin already sufficintly mentioned xpost

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 16 March 2007 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

Inspiral Carpets 'Biggest Mountain'

― blueski, Friday, 16 March 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

Cocteau Twins 'Blind Deaf Dumb'

― blueski, Friday, 16 March 2007 14:56 (eighteen years ago)

As far as Beatles songs go, "She Said She Said" has some metric hanky-panky that has yet gone unmentioned.

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 16 March 2007 16:04 (eighteen years ago)

Waltz for Debby by Bill Evans

― Billy Pilgrim, Friday, 16 March 2007 16:17 (eighteen years ago)

Geraldine Fibbers' "Get Thee Gone" (and many others)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 16 March 2007 16:19 (eighteen years ago)

here is the thread I was thinking of

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 16 March 2007 16:51 (eighteen years ago)

I thought all those doowop songs were in 12/8, because there are 12 triplet 8th-notes to a bar.

I would think of the classic doo-wop I vi IV V progression as being in 12/8, but I think the difference between 12/8 and 6/8 is less pronounced than between 3/4 and 6/8.

3/4 is one two three, one two three
6/8 is one two three two two three

In 3/4 you feel one emphasis per bar, in 6/8 you feel two. Try tapping out the beats and alternating between the two meters while keeping the measure the same length to feel the difference.

e.g., as mentioned, "I like to be in America" goes 6/8 to 3/4, "one two three two two three ONE two three"

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:49 (eighteen years ago)

And I meant to say that it's also a function of tempo for convention's sake. If you were writing a fast waltz you'd probably write it in 3/8 (or 6/8) because it's more natural for a player to see eighth notes than very fast quarter notes.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:51 (eighteen years ago)

I've spent a long time trying to get my head round time signatures and I think that's the most lucid thing I've ever read on the subject. Cheers!

― ledge, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:59 (eighteen years ago)

As far as Beatles songs go, "She Said She Said" has some metric hanky-panky that has yet gone unmentioned.

Yeah, that was one of my "etc."s. (Not to mention my alltime favourite beatles track.)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 19 March 2007 09:19 (eighteen years ago)

LUAU, LUAU, LUAU, LUAU!

Also 'Ditch Digger' by RFTC.

― myopic_void, Monday, 19 March 2007 10:32 (eighteen years ago)

"Norwegian Wood"

"4th Time Around"

― M.V., Monday, 19 March 2007 15:11 (eighteen years ago)

Elvis Costello - "New Amsterdam"

add that one to the 6/8 pile, too, along with many of the beatles songs mentioned, including but not limited to "norwegian wood."

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 19 March 2007 15:37 (eighteen years ago)

including but not limited to "norwegian wood."

In my defense, the sheet music I had in high school said 3/4.

― M.V., Monday, 19 March 2007 15:47 (eighteen years ago)

Radiohead - "Subterranean Homesick Alien"
Skeeter Davis - "The End Of The World"
Elvis Presley - "Can't Help Falling In Love"

― souldesqueeze, Monday, 19 March 2007 16:43 (eighteen years ago)

R.E.M. - "Everybody Hurts"

― souldesqueeze, Monday, 19 March 2007 16:44 (eighteen years ago)

Agreed that "New Amsterdam" is 6/8, and that "Waltz #2" is quite fine.

I also have a soft spot for the deeply sweet and sad Richard Thompson song "Waltzing's for Dreamers."

― The Mad Puffin, Monday, 19 March 2007 22:10 (eighteen years ago)

the intro to Jordan Knight's 'Give It To You'

― blueski, Monday, 19 March 2007 22:14 (eighteen years ago)

DJ Shadow 'Dark Days'

― blueski, Monday, 19 March 2007 22:15 (eighteen years ago)

Sukiyaki -Kyu Sakamoto

that's 4/4, wtf?

"Luau" is one of two 3/4 epics on YankCrime.

― Steve Shasta, Monday, 19 March 2007 22:16 (eighteen years ago)

"I Put A Spell On You" is 3/4 rather than 6/8 imo. 3/4 with swung eighths.

― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 19 March 2007 22:20 (eighteen years ago)

esp. since there is a definite emphasis on the one in *every* bar.

― Curt1s Stephens, Monday, 19 March 2007 22:22 (eighteen years ago)

The Byrds! 5D!!! Best 3/4 EVAH!!!!!

― Veronica Moser, Monday, 19 March 2007 22:24 (eighteen years ago)

how fast can 3/4 get before it becomes/sounds like 4/4?

― blueski, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 10:59 (eighteen years ago)

Elliott Smith - Waltz No. 2 (XO)
This is the saddest song ever.

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 14:20 (eighteen years ago)

how fast can 3/4 get before it becomes/sounds like 4/4?

Infinitely?

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 14:44 (eighteen years ago)

steve otm

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 14:45 (eighteen years ago)

If the question was how fast can 3/4 get before it would be better written as 3/8, there isn't really a hard line - the composer may make a different choice depending on how he wants the players to interpret it. Here's a relevant bit from the wikipedia entry on time signatures:

There is a sense in which all simple triple time signatures, be they 3/8, 3/4, 3/2 or anything else, and all compound duple times, such as 6/8, 6/16 and so on, are equivalent – a piece in 3/4 can be easily rewritten in 3/8 simply by halving the length of the notes. Sometimes, the choice of beat unit is simply down to tradition: the minuet, for example, is generally written in 3/4, and though examples in 3/8 do exist, a minuet in 3/2 would be highly unconventional.

At other times, the choice of beat unit (the bottom number of a time signature) note can give subtle hints as to the character of the music: for example, time signatures with a longer beat unit (such as 3/2) can be used for pieces in a quick tempo to convey a sense of the time flying by. This may be counter-intuitive, but in the Baroque and Classical periods, typically meters with long note values (such as 3/2) were fast tempos, while slow movements were typically written with the eighth note as the beat.

Similarly, a piece in 2/4 can often sound as if it is in 4/4 (or vice versa) and a piece in 3/4 can sound as if it is in 6 or 12 compound time, particularly if the former is played quickly or the latter slowly. The distinction may be a matter of notation.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Tuesday, 20 March 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)

...any more going round ???

am up to 27 tunes from various genres and eras so far...

― pollywog, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:03 (eighteen years ago)

Ray Charles - "I Can't Stop Loving You"

― souldesqueeze, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:08 (eighteen years ago)

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