Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2007 December 12

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December 12

Hit songs with odd time signtures

Has there ever been a Billboard 200 #1 hit in a time signature that is not 4/4? A top 10 hit maybe? NIRVANA2764 (talk) 00:30, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Take five? by Dave Brubeck quartet--TreeSmiler (talk) 01:59, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

All You Need Is Love hit #1 in both the UK and the US. -- kainaw™ 05:47, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

"El Paso" (January 1960) and "Time in a Bottle" (December 1973) are in 3/4. – I'll bet most of the answers are 6/8; if my aural memory is accurate, they include "To Know Him Is to Love Him" (December 1958); "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" (December 1958); "Runaround Sue" (October 1961); "Blue Velvet" (September 1963); "Chapel of Love" (June 1964); "Baby Love" (October 1964); "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" (May 1965); "Help Me Rhonda" (May 1965); "Penny Lane" (March 1967); "This Guy's in Love with You" (June 1968); "Wedding Bell Blues" (November 1969); "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (January 1970); "(They Long to Be) Close to You" (July 1970); "A Horse With No Name" (March 1972); "Song Sung Blue" (July 1972); "My Ding-a-Ling" (October 1972); "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (January 1975); "Call Me" (April 1980); "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (July 1980); "Kiss from a Rose" (August 1995). – What about "The Candy Man" (June 1972), "Alone Again (Naturally)" (July 1972), "Crocodile Rock" (February 1973)? I don't remember them well enough to be sure. —Tamfang (talk) 07:21, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Several of the songs listed by Tamfang have a 4/4 feel to my ear, even though the formal time signature might be 2/4 (Alla breve), which is really only a technicality. These include Penny Lane, Raindrops keep fallin' on my head, Close to you, and definitely Crocodile Rock. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 19:30, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Uh, 2/4 with lots of triplets, maybe ... Tamfang (talk) 21:48, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

That's not fair since 3/4 is hardly an odd time signature for pop music :) I think the questioner must mean "4/4 or 3/4". The usual answer is Money (Pink Floyd song), which unfortunately only hit #13 in the US. Adam Bishop (talk) 08:20, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

3/4 and 6/8 are not rare enough to be startling, but the great majority of #1s are in 4/4 (growing more so over time it seems), hence the question. —Tamfang (talk) 16:52, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Shoulda mentioned I made that list by looking through List of number-one hits (United States). And that I've been out of touch with current music since about 1983, so there are likely some that I didn't spot. —Tamfang (talk) 16:58, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

I've found a sortable list, searchable by time signature, here. Unfortunately you'd have to go through and pick out likely candidates for high chart placings, as it doesn't have any chart position references on it. Hassocks5489 (talk) 13:18, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Right, I've got a bit of my lunch hour left, so here goes ... Money, as above, is in 7/4, as is Solsbury Hill (great song, but not sure whether it was a US hit - I only know the UK charts). Radiohead have a few in 5/4 time. Huey Lewis & The News did some in 12/8. Thank U (Alanis Morissette) is in 6/8, as are We Are the Champions, Everybody Hurts, I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues, To Know Him Is To Love Him (or its original Teddy Bears version, To Know Her Is To Love Her), and When a Man Loves a Woman. Just picked out some of the "big name" 6/8 songs there. The song I would have said straightaway without looking anywhere is Daysleeper by REM, which is in 3/4. Really interesting question, by the way: has given me ideas for a quiz I'm setting at work next week! Hassocks5489 (talk) 13:30, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Are 'Friends' Electric? by Tubeway Army certainly sounds like it could be in an unusual time signature, but I am no musician and have no way of knowing. It was No.1 for five weeks as well. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 13:41, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

The sample in the article is definitely 4. —Tamfang (talk) 16:56, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

• Check out List of musical works in unusual time signatures. It doesn't provide Billboard numbers, but I didn't see any that I know to be Top 10. --M@rēino 19:15, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

• Tool use a lot of odd time signatures. I think they've had number ones in the rock charts, and definitely on the album charts, but not the overall singles chart. (I'm in the UK so I don't know for certain off the top of my head) MorganaFiolett (talk) 16:11, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

• FWIW, I actually did a radio show that consisted of songs that were not in 4/4 or 3/4 - possibly the biggest charting hit that I know of in that hasn't been mentioned above is Jethro Tull's Living In The Past, in 5/4. There are tons in 3/4 or 6/8 ("To know him is to love him", "Moon River", "House of the Rising Sun", "I got you babe", "Where do you go to my lovely"...etc, etc, etc), but songs in more unusual signatures are understandably rarer. Grutness...wha? 23:04, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
  • Okaaay - I've looked through the list of songs I had for my show - none of them reached no 1 in the US, but one or two of them may have charted moderately high. The list of possible charters includes: Up the hill backwards (David Bowie, 4/4 and 7/8); Solsbury hill (Peter Gabriel, 7/8); Love is only sleeping (The Monkees, 4/4 and 7/8); Light flight (Pentangle, alternating 5/4 and 7/8, bridge in 3/4); The man who sailed around his soul (XTC, 7/8); Money (Pink Floyd, 7/8); Last exit (Pearl Jam, 5/4); Three of a perfect pair (King Crimson, 3/4 and 7/8); Original "Mission Impossible" theme (Lalo Schiffrin, 5/4); Throwing back the apple (Pale Saints, 4/4 and 5/4); Cattle and cane (Go-Betweens, 11/8); Trampled Rose (Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, 4/4 and 5/4); What a bringdown (Cream, 5/4 and 3/4); Something (The Beatles, mostly 4/4, but bridge section in 14/8, 4/4 and 2/4); All you need is love (The Beatles, 7/4 and 4/4). BTW, most of Tamfang's list is definitely 4/4, as is "Are friends electric". As for 3/4, I'm mebarrassed that I missed one of my all-time favourites off that earlier list - "Norwegian wood". And another for the list of actual Billboard no. 1s, "We can work it out" - bridge in 3/4. Grutness...wha? 09:08, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

dummy language in Coupling

(Or does this belong on Language Desk?) In Coupling episode 1x05 "The Girl with Two Breasts", we see a conversation between Jeff and a mystery woman who speaks only Hebrew; then the conversation is repeated with the woman speaking English and Jeff speaking what sounds vaguely like Spanish but isn't. (I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't Welsh.) So – was it a real language? —Tamfang (talk) 05:07, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

(If it were a real Romance language I'd have understood at least some of it.) —Tamfang (talk) 00:04, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

[1] says no. However, the IMDB's trivia and other fan-fed areas aren't generally regarded as reliable, so instead of giving you a definite "no", I'll give you a "probably not". EvilCouch (talk) 11:45, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

It's not Spanish, and I'm pretty sure it's not Portuguese, though it's similar to them to the untrained ear. Unless it's something like Catalan, I assume it's "mock-Spanish" (like the Beatles used in the song "Sun King"). Oh, and be careful when calling a woman "Shadayim" :) Grutness...wha? 22:57, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Searching for a very famous song

Soul/jazz song. Something with 'evening' in the lyric or perhaps "sitting here' 'as the evening goes. A guy whistle in the song. Is more a good mood song. Very famous. Probably older than 30 years. 217.168.0.203 (talk) 08:08, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, by Otis Redding? Adam Bishop (talk) 08:16, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

I think so. Listen to this. Is this the song? Oda Mari (talk) 16:06, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Exactly! Thanks217.168.0.203 (talk) 16:20, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Beepers

Just watching a late-series episode of Friends (Series 10, 2003/4) and there is someone being 'beeped'. Does this really still happen? I mean over here in the UK beepers are pretty much unused and text-messages are the way to get in contact - be it personal or work. Just wondering if this is a silly tv show thing that's not changed yet or still common-place in the US? ny156uk (talk) 21:24, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

While not as commonplace as it once was, I do know of a few people that still carry a beeper. They have various niche-type reasons for carrying them. One person I know who until they quit the job a year ago, carried a beeper for her work since she sometimes was the on-call person for a veterinary clinic. Dismas|^(talk) 21:34, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Surely SMS messaging is just as viable as a beeper though? I mean obviously they won't just disappear in a year, but certainly text-messaging in the uk has been huge for a good 5 years now at the very least (i've been texting for a good 10 years). Cheers for the info though!ny156uk (talk) 21:51, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

I have noticed the doctors on House (TV series) (starring your Hugh Laurie) have pagers. But then again, I have not seen realistic defibrillation on any show. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 22:06, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

About a year or so ago, there was concern that the phasing out of pager services in the UK would impair the RNLI's ability to respond to emergency calls. Most lifeboatmen work full-time in other jobs, and respond to emergency calls. SMS is not reliable enough for this - there is no guarantee that a text message will be delivered, or even if it is delivered, it is not unusual for it to take a long time (hours or even days) to arrive. I do not know what the outcom ewas. DuncanHill (talk) 22:55, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Pagers are still used rather a lot within hospitals, because mobile phones might just possibly interfere with important equipment (the risk is small but if it causes a person to die it isn't worth it). How different a pager is to mobile phones I don't know, but I know they are still in use even in UK hospitals TheGreatZorko (talk) 08:48, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Our article Pager has quite a lot on this. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 09:09, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Kalan Porter's Single Music Video

[2]

This is the music video for Canadian Idol winner Kalan Porter's single, Single.

My question is, who is the girl in the video doing the puzzle? She is the single most gorgeous girl I have ever seen in a music video.

Thanks

Romeo, in search of Juliet

129.100.207.226 (talk) 22:12, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

French sailor in Dead Man's Chest

In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the man who rows Will close to Cannibal Island says something to him in rapid French. I speak a little French, but not enough to catch anything more than "beaucoup dangereux" at the end. Does anyone out there who is fluent in French know what he says? (Doesn't matter if you give me the English translation or the literal French, I'll take either.) Thank you. 131.162.146.86 (talk) 22:49, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm... no answer. Perhaps I should try the language desk? I just thought it'd be easier to find a French-speaker among movie people who have likely seen Pirates, than to find someone who's seen Pirates among people who likely speak French. If that makes any sense... 131.162.146.86 (talk) 17:40, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

"Beaucoup dangereux" doesn't really make sense gramatically speaking but it would be like saying "very dangerous". If you have a site or a clip that you can show me i can tell you the rest of what he says but i do not own Dead man's chest. -Yamanbaiia (talk) 17:46, 15 December 2007 (UTC)