SteveW
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Runaway and rhythms 09-Oct-2022 13:41:15
| CorrsClub Time: 18-Apr-2024 21:05:10 |
I've always thought Runaway was in the 3/4 time signature. But the sheet music uses 6/8 time signature, which I never understood. What's the difference? Both time signatures have 6 eighth notes (quavers) per measure, but in 3/4 these are grouped in 3 groups of 2, whereas in 6/8 they are grouped in 2 groups of 3.
That is, in 3/4 the emphasis falls like this:
ONE two THREE four FIVE six
whereas in 6/8 the emphasis falls like this:
ONE two three FOUR five six
Another way to think about this is that if you tap your foot along to a song in 3/4, you'd tap three times per bar, whereas for a song in 6/8 you'd tap twice per bar.
Runaway has always sounded like 3/4 to me. Start listening at the beginning of the song; I don't know about you, but I instinctively tap 1-2-3, 1-2-3:
The fact that BBC Strictly Come Dancing used Runaway for a waltz seems to confirm that the song is indeed in 3/4, rather than 6/8 as the sheet music has it.
But... there is a moment in the song when the drumming switches from 3/4 to 6/8. Start listening around 2:50 and tap your foot along with Caroline. Notice how the beat shifts around 3:20. Here the rhythm changes from 3/4 to 6/8, and you start tapping twice per bar instead of three times. (Simon discusses this in his Corrscast podcast -- IIRC, it was the idea of the album's engineer.) The rhythm in the piano notes doesn't change, but the way the drums emphasize that rhythm shifts in a subtle way. I think this is a neat touch.
The Corrs use a similar shift in the early song Siog, which shifts back and forth between 3/4 and 6/8. Perhaps the most famous example of this kind of shift is in the song America from West Side Story. In the chorus, the line "I want to BE in a-" is in 6/8 (two beats), but the next line "ME-RI-CA" is in 3/4 (three beats).
Incidentally, the harmony also shifts near the end of the song. Note that Sharon's violin part sounds "brighter" at 3:10. She's playing her part with a B-natural instead of B-flat, which effectively changes the song from being in F major to the F Lydian mode. I like how the band added these small rhythmic and harmonic touches to what could have been a simple fade-out of the song.
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