Counting past 4

Know of any good praise and worship music in odd meters? The answer is probably no. The conventional wisdom is "it's hard for people to worship God if they can't find the beat." But the problem is hardly ever with the listener finding the beat, it's the musicians who are dying! To prove my point, here are several "odd meter" songs that are very popular and people hardly ever lose the beat:

• Pink Floyd's "Money." The song is basically in 7/4... but some measures are in 6/4 and some measures are in 8/4. You never lose the beat... but as a casual, non-7/4 listener... there's something mysterious about the song that you can't quite grasp.
• Dave Brubeck's "Take Five." The whole song is 5/4. You don't get lost as long as you don't keep track.
• One reason Mat Kearney's song "Nothing Left to Lose" got so popular is the cadence at the end of the chorus when he sings, "...Push the pedal down / Watch the world around fly by us." He inserts a 2/4 measure in the 4/4 song to give the funny cadence. (Thanks, Courtney, for pointing that out to me!)
• Charlie Hall's "All We Need" is about as close as we get in praise and worship music. (Yes, I know there's a non sequitur 5/8 measure in Chris Tomlin's "Famous One.") The whole song is 4/4, but he sings the verses in 7-bar phrases to keep the song moving... giving you a slightly funny feeling when it happens. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
  

So why do it? It all comes down to your melody. What suits your melody well? Chances are, though... having been fed 4/4, 3/4, and 6/8 since you were a baby (for 3 square meals a day)... you brain just plain works in 4/4. Even worse: did you start with a beat/chord progression and use that to inspire a melody?

So, that's why I've been intentional about odd meters for the past few months. Recording 5/4 and 7/4 rhythms and improvising over them. Trying to get a feel for where the stresses can/could/should happen. Trying to write a song in 5/4 or 7/4 without it sounding like it's 5/4 or 7/4. One morning, I even woke up with a melody in my head. After I recorded it, I realized it was in 7/4.

What I've been finding is that you can evoke some different moods and funny feelings by doing this. Generally, it ends up working a little like "All We Need" where you've created a little extra anticipation because of the "dropped" beat. Nobody really notices it, but they get sort of a sense of yearning or desire.

So, what are you experimenting with these days?