> All these decades later, I’m still amazed by how well the 4/4 lyrics of “The Marines’ Hymn” fit the 3/4 meter of “Clementine.”
Meter is a fun thing to play around with. One very common one, used for all sorts of songs, is known as Ballad Meter. It goes 8, 6, 8, 6, 8, 6, 8, 6. And any song in Ballad Meter will fit the tune of any other such song. (Try singing America The Beautiful to the tune of Gilligan's Island sometime, for example.)
Interesting! And I do get that. I hadn't heard the term "ballad meter" before, though I certainly know what a ballad is. And, now that I know the term, I realize that I've written music in ballad meter. An example is my "Laurelyn," a ballad I wrote about the firefighters of 9/11. (And yes, I did use the term "ballad" when I wrote it.) I guess that in writing a ballad, the use of that meter was just instinctive for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbUu99IXxqA. Thanks for the music lesson. And, now that you have, I'll likely do something with this when I write my Bastiat's Window piece for 9/11/23.
Because the United States had an undeclared naval war in the Atlantic before Pearl Harbor and because the oceans of the world still contained many naval mines after the war ended, the Merchant Marine suffered casualties for a longer period than any other service.
You can also sing either of those to the tune of the "Ode to Joy" in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. I'm not sure that that would be as provocative, though . . .
Thanks! Not as provocative, nor as surprising, given that both "Ode to Joy" and "The Marine's Hymn" are in 4/4 meter, with one beat silent at the end of the fourth measure. It's really just a slight variation on the "ballad meter" described in the comment above by Bob Frank.
My son was a SpOps Marine. He brought his team home on a pre-deployment leave and we were eating steak and drinking beer and I ask one of them, "What's the quickest way to pick a fight with a bunch of Marines?" I immediately got seven 1,000 yard stares and one finally said, "Mess with our Doc." He said it in a quiet, measured way that said, "You won't survive it."
I've shared that story with maybe 100 Corpsmen and every one of them laughed and said, "Oh yeah. I was the safest guy in any bar anywhere in the world."
> All these decades later, I’m still amazed by how well the 4/4 lyrics of “The Marines’ Hymn” fit the 3/4 meter of “Clementine.”
Meter is a fun thing to play around with. One very common one, used for all sorts of songs, is known as Ballad Meter. It goes 8, 6, 8, 6, 8, 6, 8, 6. And any song in Ballad Meter will fit the tune of any other such song. (Try singing America The Beautiful to the tune of Gilligan's Island sometime, for example.)
Interesting! And I do get that. I hadn't heard the term "ballad meter" before, though I certainly know what a ballad is. And, now that I know the term, I realize that I've written music in ballad meter. An example is my "Laurelyn," a ballad I wrote about the firefighters of 9/11. (And yes, I did use the term "ballad" when I wrote it.) I guess that in writing a ballad, the use of that meter was just instinctive for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbUu99IXxqA. Thanks for the music lesson. And, now that you have, I'll likely do something with this when I write my Bastiat's Window piece for 9/11/23.
Because the United States had an undeclared naval war in the Atlantic before Pearl Harbor and because the oceans of the world still contained many naval mines after the war ended, the Merchant Marine suffered casualties for a longer period than any other service.
Interesting. Thanks. I’m leaning a lot about them.
You can also sing either of those to the tune of the "Ode to Joy" in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. I'm not sure that that would be as provocative, though . . .
Thanks! Not as provocative, nor as surprising, given that both "Ode to Joy" and "The Marine's Hymn" are in 4/4 meter, with one beat silent at the end of the fourth measure. It's really just a slight variation on the "ballad meter" described in the comment above by Bob Frank.
My son was a SpOps Marine. He brought his team home on a pre-deployment leave and we were eating steak and drinking beer and I ask one of them, "What's the quickest way to pick a fight with a bunch of Marines?" I immediately got seven 1,000 yard stares and one finally said, "Mess with our Doc." He said it in a quiet, measured way that said, "You won't survive it."
I've shared that story with maybe 100 Corpsmen and every one of them laughed and said, "Oh yeah. I was the safest guy in any bar anywhere in the world."
That's fantastic. I had never heard the expression, but it certainly makes sense. A quick Google search suggests that it's a popular saying.