The Appeal of Irregular Time Signatures: A Collection of Songs in 5/4 Time

People who listen to music while consciously thinking “What time signature is this?” are most likely those with experience playing instruments.

That said, even without any knowledge of music theory, everyone has probably had at least one or two moments when a song just felt hard to catch the rhythm of.

That song might be using an irregular time signature.

So this time, I’d like to introduce songs in 5/4 time—a meter you don’t often encounter—across various genres, and compare it with commonly used meters in popular music such as 4/4, the waltz’s 3/4, and 6/8 (often called “hachi-roku” in Japanese).

You might even discover that a song you love actually uses 5/4 time!

If you’re interested in the world of odd meters, read on!