Jon Gallant writes:

>In regard to the endless discussion of what distinguishes "classical"
>from "popular" music, a thought occurred to me the other day.  For family
>reasons, I have recently enjoyed unusually frequent exposure to radio
>stations which broadcast "golden oldies", meaning older (mostly soft)
>rock music.  What struck me is that the beat in this music is ALWAYS
>an absolutely invariant 4/4, in every single song, no exceptions.
>
>Thinking it over, I could recall only a single popular number I have ever
>heard which was in triple time: it was "Good Night Irene", fifty years
>ago, and that one was smuggled into the pop scene via folk music.  Can
>anyone think of another such example?

If you remember the songs of Bacharach, Rodgers, Sondheim, and the Beatles:
"Wives and Lovers," "She's Leaving Home," "That Was a Real Nice Clambake,"
the entire score of A Little Night Music, "It's a Grand Night for Singing,"
"Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk." One can also cite examples by Gershwin,
Lane, Styne, and Duke.  There's even rock in triple time - NYRE's "Better
Not Wait Too Long," for example.

During the 1960s, there was also a brief fling with mixed meters in pop
music.  "Promises, Promises," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," and
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun," for example.

But the out-of-common-time stuff mostly does seem like the exception.

Steve Schwartz