Earth Angel to Good Timin’: doc’s pick of 12/8 and 6/8 time songs, 1954-1978

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Selected 12/8 and 6/8 time* popular songs and recordings**, 1954-1978

12/8 and 6/8 time songs: part 1, 1954-1959 – “Earth Angel” to “Put Your Head on My Shoulder”

1954 – Earth Angel, Sincerely
1955 – The Great Pretender, Only You
1956 – Blueberry Hill (Fats Domino version), In the Still of the Night, My Prayer (Platters version), One Night (Smiley Lewis), A Thousand Miles Away***, The Way You Look Tonight (Jaguars version)
1957 – Dedicated to the One I Love, Maybe, Over the Rainbow (Echoes version), Silhouettes
1958 – 16 Candles, Donna, Ebb Tide (Avalons version), I’m So Young, It’s All in the Game (Tommy Edwards version), It’s Only Make Believe, One Summer Night, Since I Don’t Have You, Tears on My Pillow, To Know Him Is to Love Him
1959 – I Only Have Eyes for You (Flamingos version), Put Your Head on My Shoulder

12/8 and 6/8 time songs: part 2, 1960-1963 – “At Last” to “Surfer Girl”

1960 – At Last (Etta James version), Get Well Soon, P.S. I Love You (Starlets version), White Christmas (Statues version), You Belong to Me (Santo & Johnny version)
1961 – Can’t Help Falling in Love, Come Home Soon, Daddy’s Home, House of the Rising Sun (Bob Dylan version), I Love How You Love Me, A Moment Ago, My True Story, A Sunday Kind of Love (Mystics version), Till (Angels version), Tragedy (Fleetwoods version)
1962 – Bring It On Home to Me, Cry Baby Cry, Don’t Make Me Over, The End of the World, Surfer Girl, You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me
1963 – Anyone Who Had a Heart, I’d Die, In My Room

12/8 and 6/8 time songs: part 3, 1964-1978 – “The Warmth of the Sun” to “Good Timin’”

1964 – The Warmth of the Sun
1965 – Didn’t Want to Have to Do It, It’s Gonna Take a Miracle, Unchained Melody (Righteous Brothers version), Yes, I’m Ready
1966 – Please Stay (The Cryin’ Shames version)
1967 – I’ve Gotta Be Me, What a Wonderful World
1969 – Hot Fun in the Summertime
1970 – Colour My World
1973 – Sail On, Sailor
1974 – Good Timin’ (unfinished version)
1976 – Always and Forever
1978 – Good Timin’

12/8 and 6/8 time were so ubiquitous in songs and recordings of the late 50s and early 60s that I’ve no intention of trying to compile a comprehensive list. However, the above list may be added to from time to time.

I’ve decided to limit the songs included to those written by American songwriters, as I’ve generally done (with few exceptions) throughout this site. This decision eliminates from part three such Beatles songs as “This Boy,” “Yes It Is,” “Norwegian Wood,” “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” and “Oh! Darling,” as well as the Moody Blues song “Nights in White Satin.” One exception: “Always and Forever,” written by Rod Temperton.

For now I plan to exclude folk songs in 12/8 time, and folk-style songs in that meter written by Bob Dylan and by others, including John Lennon doing Dylan. Examples of songs to be excluded:

1962 – Masters of War
1963 – The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, North Country Blues, Only a Pawn in Their Game, The Times They Are a-Changin’, With God on Our Side
1965 – Norwegian Wood, You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
1966 – Just Like a Woman

One exception is Dylan’s 1961 recording of “House of the Rising Sun,” which I’ve decided to include.

Also omitted will be the 1971 John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band single “Happy Xmas (War is Over),” the main melody of which can be traced to that of the 1961 Greenbriar Boys version of the traditional song “Stewball,” a recording which features the lyric sung in earlier versions of the song by Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston but with a different melody. The “new” melody used by the Greenbriar Boys may have been adapted from the 1954 song “Pledging My Love.” The 1970 Lennon/Ono side even features guitars played to resemble the mandolin in the Greenbriar Boys version of “Stewball.”

Stewball (traditional)

The Greenbriar Boys, with Pete Seeger on flute — during a 1966 episode of Seeger’s Rainbow Quest

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* selected articles, forum threads, and videos on 12/8 and 6/8 time:

counting time

12/8 Like 4/4 but each beat is divided into three eighth notes… (YouTube)
How to: count out triplet time signatures by Guitar Techniques, January 17, 2012 (@musicradar.com)
Should I count aloud to 12 in 12/8 time? Or count aloud to 6 in each measure? (@wyzant.com)

6/8 vs. 12/8 time

Difference between 6/8 and 12/8? (@reddit.com)
How to differentiate between 12/8 vs 6/8 timing (or hemiola) – (@music.stackexchange.com)
6/8 vs 12/8 (forum thread @drumchat.com)
Is the song “House of the Rising Sun” in 6/8 time or 4/4 time? Why is there a controversy over this question? Isn’t the answer definitive? (@Quora.com) — includes discussion on 6/8 vs. 12/8 time
- from popular post by Curtis Lindsay, pianist, composer: “I have seen printed arrangements in 4/4, with The Animals’ guitar strumming notated as triplets; I’ve also seen it in 6/8 and, less often, in 12/8 — which is actually the most logical choice to my mind, given the phrase structure, harmonic rhythm, and typical groove family.”

Part 3: Time Signatures Explained, Writing Songs in 12/8 by David Bawiec, 7 November 2018 (@izotope.com)
Need Help Understanding 12/8 Time (forum thread @The Gear Page)
Is 12/8 just 4/4 but with triplets instead of eighth notes? (reddit thread)
Is there a specific time signature that pop songs from the 50’s that would use other than 4:4? (reddit thread)

other

Simple and Compound Meter (@musictheory.net)
12/8 Rhythm (@Feel the Beat, a musicology course for dancers)

** For items in the list in which a specific recording of a song is indicated, in each case this marks the first recording of the song in 12/8 or 6/8 time that I’ve identified. For all other songs in the list, the original recording is in 12/8 or 6/8 time.

*** The Hull Records sides “A Thousand Miles Away” by the Heartbeats, “Get Well Soon” by the Elegants, and “Daddy’s Home” by Shep and the Limelites were each produced by Blanche “Bea” Kaslin. Her last name is spelled thus in assorted bios, Hull Records histories and discographies, legal documents, and in an obit, but variously spelled Caslin, Casalin, and Caslon in other bios, histories, and discographies.