Page 77Compound Time
In compound time a dotted note marks the beat, allowing it to be subdivided into three instead of two. This creates
an immediately recognisable "swing" feel. Like 4/4, 12/8 has four beats in a bar, but each one is a dotted quarter-
note/crotchet. This is the most popular compound time signature, especially in blues and blues-influenced songs.
After this, 6/8 is sometimes used, and others are possible. Notable songs in 12/8 include 'You Don't Have To Say
You Love Me', 'I Got You Babe', 'Just Like A Woman', '2000 Miles', 'I Go To Sleep', 'Yes It Is' and 'This Boy'.
At slower tempos, it's often difficult to distinguish 6/8 from 3/4. In 6/8, there should be a feeling of two beats to a
bar with each divided into three. Whether 6/8 or 3/4, the "three pulse" is felt in songs such as 'House Of The Rising
Sun', 'Nights In White Satin', 'Delilah' and 'Anyone Who Had A Heart'. Hendrix gave us 'Manic Depression' in
churning 9/8. Time signatures like 5/8 and 7/8 are rarely heard.
Contrasting Time Signatures
Just as changing the key can inject new dimensions into a song, so can contrasting time signatures. This is not
popular in dance-oriented music because it tends to embarrass the dancers, who may lose the beat. It was delightfully
mischievous of R.E.M. not only to start 'Shiny Happy People' in 6/8 and then go to 4/4, but to drop back into 6/8 for
an instrumental bridge halfway through.
Changing time has never been common in popular music, and the advent of the drum machine has made it even less
so. There is one time-change effect that you can use relatively easily with a drum machine, and that's "half-time" or
"double time", where instead of treating the quarter-note as the beat you take the quaver (eighth-note) or the minim
(half-note) as the beat. Note that the tempo does not change, only the rhythmic emphasis and the interpretation of the
pattern the drum machine plays. This is even more effective if 4/4 becomes 12/8. The machine maintains tempo, but
each quarter-note beat is divided into three. Therefore you have "slowed" the tempo by playing against it.
'Shout' and 'Suspicious Minds' mix 4/4 with 12/8. 'Dedicated To The One I Love' mixes 6/8 and 4/4. 'White Room'
has an intro and bridge in 5/4 while its verses are in 4/4. 'Kiss From A Rose' mixed 6/8 and 9/8. 'Those Were The
Days' has a verse in 4/4 and a chorus in 2/4.
Other Rhythmic Options
Rhythm can be altered without a change of time signature. In simple time, beats can be temporarily divided into
triplets or 16th-note triplets (grouped in six). Quarter-notes can be played three in the time of two, allowing six to be
played in a 4/4 bar. This is a common effect in Latin American music, and Madonna used it in 'La Isla Bonita'.
Springsteen has one of these on the word "edge" in the chorus of 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'. Conversely, you
can force compound into simple time by having four eighths (a quadruplet) on a beat – think of the chorus of
'Dedicated To The One I Love' after "baby" and before "whisper". Either of these can be melodically arresting or at
least hold up the relentless march of 4/4 for a bit.
Tempo
It is important to distinguish between tempo and time signature. A time signature does not specify the speed – the
fact that a song is in 4/4 doesn't tell you whether it is slow or fast. Only the tempo does that. Tempo is measured in
beats per minute. This is indicated on sheet music by the sign of [crotchet/quarter-note] = 120bpm. Anything under
roughly 90bpm can be thought of as on the slow side;