Duration
Duration refers to the lengths of sounds and silences in music and includes the aspects of beat, rhythm, metre, tempo, pulse rates and absence of pulse.
Device |
Song |
Artist |
Time of Event |
Listen Now |
Album |
Publisher/Label |
Explicit Lyrics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anacrusis | Ray Charles Submitted |
Chiddy Bang |
Beginning of the song |
Breakfast |
Virgin / I.R.S |
N (Clean Version) |
|
| Backbeat | Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? |
The Beatles |
Throughout |
The Beatles |
Apple |
N |
|
Saturday In The Park |
Chicago |
Throughout |
Chicago V |
Columbia |
N |
||
Bad Submitted |
Michael Jackson |
You can hear the backbeat enter about 20sec in… |
Bad |
Epic |
N |
||
| Break (Rhythmic) | Hotter Than That |
Louis Armstrong |
After an exchange between the vocal and electric guitar |
Hotter Than That |
Documents |
N |
|
| Diminution | My Apocalypse |
Escape The Fate |
Start of guitar solo |
Dying Is Your Latest Fashion |
Epitaph |
N (sounds like it, but no!) |
|
Yeah 3X |
Chris Brown |
Intro – After 4 bars of crotchets, the snare then plays quavers, semiquavers etc… |
F.A.M.E |
Jive |
N |
||
| Hemiola | Happiness Is A Warm Gun |
The Beatles |
Can be heard in the ‘mother superior jumps the gun’ section |
The Beatles |
Apple |
N |
|
America |
Bernstein/Sondheim |
“I want to be in A-mer-i-ca”. The perfect example! |
N |
||||
| Ostinato | Hollaback Girl (Clean Version) |
Gwen Stefani |
Throughout. No melodic content in verses, very little in choruses |
Love. Angel. Music. Baby |
Interscope |
N (Clean Version) |
|
Drop It Like It’s Hot |
Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell |
Throughout. Ostinatos galore! Percussion, vocal noises, melodic material etc. |
R&G (Rhythm and Gangsta): The Masterpiece |
Doggy Style / Star Trak / Geffen |
No, but questionable content (Clean Version) |
||
On Call |
Kings of Leon |
Bass guitar plays repeated pattern throughout |
Because Of The Times |
Columbia |
N |
||
House Of The Rising Sun |
The Animals |
Guitar plays same rhythmic pattern throughout |
The Animals |
Columbia Graphophone |
N |
||
Bolero |
Ravel |
A snare drum rhythm is repeated throughout in a gradual crescendo |
N |
||||
Mars |
Holst |
A 5-beat repeated rhythmic pattern |
From ‘The Planets’ |
N |
|||
| Ritardando | House Of The Rising Sun |
The Animals |
Last 10-15 seconds of song |
The Animals |
Columbia Graphophone |
N |
|
| Rhythmic Unison | If You Have To Ask Submitted |
Red Hot Chilli Peppers |
All instruments combine rhythmically to play two predominantly downward phrases |
Blood Sugar Sex Magik |
Warner Bros |
Y – It’s NOT advised you play this one in class! |
|
| Straight Feel | See You Again |
Miley Cyrus |
Throughout |
Meet Miley Cyrus / Breakout |
Hollywood |
N |
|
| Shuffle vs Straight | Fire |
Kasabian |
Verses use a shuffle feel, while the chorus uses a straight feel |
West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum |
RCA/Columbia |
N |
|
Funhouse |
P!nk |
After the 2nd chorus and countdown, the straight feel changes to a dotted, shuffle feel |
Funhouse |
LaFace / Zomba |
N |
||
| Syncopation | (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction |
The Rolling Stones |
“I Can’t Get No…” |
Out Of Our Heads |
London |
N |
|
Sex On Fire |
Kings Of Leon |
Electric guitar plays off-beat quavers throughout most verses |
Only By The Night |
RCA / Sony |
N |
||
Maple Leaf Rag (Or any ragtime piece!) |
Scott Joplin |
Syncopated melody (Right Hand) |
N |
||||
Oh, Lady Be Good |
Count Basie |
Throughout melody, then clearly heard in chordal stabs during piano accompaniment of solos |
Count Basie and the Kansas City 7 |
Impulse! |
N |
||
The Fallen Interlude |
Blink 182 |
Throughout, but most obvious in repeated, looped chords |
Blink 182 |
Geffen |
N |
||
Am I The Same Girl |
Barbara Acklin |
Throughout. About the only thing that isn’t syncopated is the tambourine! |
Seven Days of Night |
Brunswick |
N |
||
Viva La Vida Submitted |
Coldplay |
Varied Syncopation. 4 bar chord progression. Bars 1 and 3 are relatively straight and bars two and four have emphasised syncopation. |
Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends |
Parlophone / Capitol |
N |
||
| Swing Rhythm | Just Haven’t Met You Yet |
Michael Buble |
Throughout |
Crazy Love |
143 records / Reprise |
N |
|
| Tempo Changes | Take Me Out |
Franz Ferdinand |
Fast to slow |
Franz Ferdinand |
Domino |
N |
|
Come on Eileen |
Dexy’s Midnight Runners |
Slows suddenly, then gradually speeds up |
Too-Rye-Ay |
Mercury |
N |
||
| Triplets | Phantom Of The Opera |
Iron Maiden |
Main riff after intro |
Iron Maiden |
EMI/Capitol Records |
N |
|
Right Round |
Flo Rida feat. Ke$ha |
Throughout – in almost all instruments. Triplets are characteristic of almost every song Flo Rida has ever released |
R.O.O.T.S |
Poe Boy/Atlantic |
N, but questionable content |
||
Mountain Song |
Jane’s Addiction |
Drum fills between most sections |
Nothing’s Shocking |
Warner Bros |
N |
||
Hold The Line |
Toto |
Throughout. The whole song is based on triplets! |
Toto |
Columbia |
N |
||
La Grange |
ZZ Top |
Drum groove is based on triplets throughout – most obvious during fills. This is more of a shuffle (triplet with the middle note left out) |
Tres Hombres |
London |
N |
||
Good Vibrations |
The Beach Boys |
During Chorus |
Released as a single |
Capitol |
N |
||
| ‘Two-Step’ | Two-Step Submitted |
Dave Matthews Band |
As the name suggests, it’s just a simple two step rhythm. It’s in 4/4, but has an accent on the ‘and’ of each beat |
Crash |
RCA |
N |
|
| Complex/Multimetre | Schism |
Tool |
Changes time signature up to 47 times! |
Lateralus |
Volcano |
N |
|
America |
Bernstein/Sondheim |
“I want to be in A-mer-i-ca” This phrase is split into a bar of 6/8, followed by a bar of 3/4 |
N |
||||
Bastard |
Ben Folds |
Uses 4/4, 3/2, 7/4, 6/4, 3/4, and 5/4. |
Songs For Silverman |
Y |
|||
Diary of a Madman |
Ozzy Osbourne |
Intro in 4/4, a theme in 9/8 and 8/8, ending in 6/8. Verse is in 7/4 & chorus in 6/8. |
Diary of A Madman |
Jet/Epic |
N |
||
Here Comes the Sun |
The Beatles |
The bridge can be heard as 11/8 + 4/4 + 7/8 |
Abbey Road |
Apple |
N |
||
Hey Ya! |
OutKast |
Verses – has three 4/4 bars, a 2/4 bar, and two 4/4 bars. |
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below |
LaFace |
Spoken Intro has censored language, but none in song |
||
I Say a Little Prayer |
Dionne Warwick |
Verses have 2 bars of 4/4, a bar of 10/4 and 2 bars of 4/4. The chorus is in 11/4 (4/4 + 3/4 + 4/4). |
The Windows Of The World |
Scepter |
N |
||
A Mind Beside Itself: II. Voices |
Dream Theater |
Opening riff in 9/8 broken down as 4/4 + 1/8 |
Awake |
East West |
N |
||
Charlie Brown Submitted |
Coldplay |
8 bar chord progression in 4/4 although the 2nd bar of the progression is 2/4 in the verses. |
Mylo Xyloto |
Parlophone |
N |
||
Stay Or Leave Submitted |
Dave Matthews |
Change from 3/4 to 4/4 |
Some Devil |
RCA |
N |
||
| Polymetre | Touch and Go |
The Cars |
Verses – drum and bass play in 5/4 while guitar, synth & vocals in 4/4 (verse) chorus is in 4/4 |
Panorama |
Elektra |
N |
|
Happiness Is A Warm Gun |
The Beatles |
“When I hold you…” Drums are in 4/4, rest of band in 6/8. Good example of multimetre too! |
The Beatles |
Apple |
N |
||
La Mer |
Nine Inch Nails |
Throughout. Piano is in 3/4, Drums in 4/4 |
The Fragile |
Nothing/Interscope |
N |
||
| 2/2 | When I’m Sixty-four |
The Beatles |
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band |
Parlophone |
N |
||
Purple Rain |
Prince |
Purple Rain |
Warner Bros |
N |
|||
| 5/4 | Sickfest |
Grinspoon |
Intro and breaks are in 5/4 and rest of song is in 4/4 |
Green Album |
Oracle Records (Re-released by Universal Records) |
N (sounds like it, but no!) |
|
Take 5 |
Dave Brubeck |
Throughout |
Time Out |
Columbia/Legacy |
N |
||
The Missing Piece |
Faraquet |
Throughout |
The View From This Tower |
Dischord |
N |
||
| 7/4 | Times Like These |
Foo Fighters |
Mostly in 4/4 but main guitar riff is in 7/4 |
One By One |
Roswell / RCA |
N |
|
Outshined |
Soundgarden |
Verses are in 7/4 |
Badmoterfinger |
A&M |
N |
||
| 7/8 | Unsquare Dance |
Dave Brubeck |
Throughout |
Time Further Out |
Columbia/Legacy |
N |
|
Money |
Pink Floyd |
Throughout, except for guitar solo in 4/4 |
The Dark Side of The Moon |
Harvest/EMI |
N |
||
160 BPM |
From ‘Angels and Demons’ (Hans Zimmer) |
Throughout |
Angels and Demons: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack |
Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. |
N |
||
Ruby Love |
Cat Stevens |
Throughout |
Teaser and the Firecat |
A&M / Island |
N |
||
| 9/8 | Broken Toy |
Keane |
First and second verses are 9/8 (chorus uses 6/8 or 3/4) |
Under the Iron Sea |
Island |
N |
|
| 10/4 | Just Like You Imagined |
Nine Inch Nails |
Intro is in 4/4, the rest of the song is 10/4 |
The Fragile |
Nothing Records |
N |
|
Everything in Its Right Place |
Radiohead |
Most obvious during chorus |
Kid A |
Parlophone / Capitol |
N |
||
Go to Sleep |
Radiohead |
Acoustic guitar riff intor is in 10/4 (4/4 + 6/4). Second half of song heads back to 4/4. |
Hail To The Thief |
Parlophone |
N |
||
Playing in the Band |
Grateful Dead |
10/4, notated as 4/4 + 4/4 + 2/4 |
Grateful Dead |
Warner Bros |
N |
||
| 10/8 | Memory |
Andrew Lloyd Webber |
In 12/8 except for bar 7 of every verse, which is 10/8 |
From ‘Cats’ |
N |
||
| 11/8 | Eleven |
Primus |
Mainly in 11/8, the chorus has a bar in 9/8, and after two bars of 11/8 a bar in 12/8 |
Sailing The Seas Of Cheese |
Interscope |
N |
|
Blockhead |
Devo |
Verses are in 11/8 time, chorus in 4/4 |
Duty Now For The Future |
Warner Bros |
N |
||
| 12/8 | Memory |
Andrew Lloyd Webber |
In 12/8 except for bar 7 of every verse, which is 10/8 |
From ‘Cats’ |
N |
||
Out of my Head Submitted |
John Mayer |
Throughout |
Try! |
Columbia |
N |
||
| 13/8 | Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper |
Dream Theater |
Beginning of instrumental section in 13/8, broken down as 6/8 + 7/8, and later as 4/4 + 5/8. |
Images and Words |
Atco |
N |
|
Skimbleshanks from ‘Cats’ |
Andrew Lloyd Webber |
Intro & chorus are in 13/8 (3+3+3+4). Verses in 4/4 |
N |
||||
Starless |
King Crimson |
Red |
Atlantic |
N |
|||
Turn It on Again |
Genesis |
Verses & choruses are in 13/8. Other parts are in 8/8, and 5/8. |
Duke |
EMI |
N |
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