Pyramid Song
OK I am supposed to be writing a training session on coding text-based data. But it is Friday afternoon and my concentration is wavering. So I put on my MP3 player and put on "Amnesiac", the "inebetweeny" album by Radiohead which arose from the same sessions as "Kid A". Probably the most memorable song on this album is "Pyramid Song". It is not one to listen to if you are feeling depressed!
Probably the most remarkable aspect of the song is it time signature. An earlier entry on Wikipedia claimed that the song has no time signature. Other sources claim it to be 16/8. Wikipedia currently lists another theory. All I know is it is impossible to follow. But when I tried I found much of the song followed the pattern of 8+4+8+12 - using simple arithmetic I am guessing that it is 16/8, although putting my musical head on, I am completely baffled!
posted by Rish @ Friday, June 15, 2007
2 Comments
2 Comments:
The best way is to count it in sub divisions of quavers in the following way:
123 12 123 123 12 123 making the timing 16/8. You will also see that the groupings have symmetry as alluded to in the title of the song. I am a drummer and a 4/4 is of no help in interpreting the feel of thios song.
Sorry -just to expand on what I left before. A time signature needs to have some practical value in helping you to interpret the music. Mathematically there may be a case for arguing that it is 4/4, but I cannot count it in 4s and play what Phil plays. Hope this helps.
Cheers James
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