Songwriting Structure, Stealing ideas, time signatures

Stealing Ideas from Outkast’s ‘Hey Ya’.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvIw5ZqC1ms&feature=related]

Even the silliest pop song can have an idea worth stealing.

In this case I’d like to point out the time signatures at use in this song. Three bars 0f 4/4, one of 2/4, another two of 4/4, looped over and over for the whole song.

Adding in the occasional half bar is quite a common technique, Outkast certainly didn’t invent it, and clearly it wasn’t enough to make this song listenable for more than about thirty seconds.

However, it can be effective, and it’s certainly an idea worth trying out yourself.

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