“Fly me to the Moon” comes in two time signatures, I recently learned - the one which everyone knows (arranged by Quincy Jones for Frank Sinatra) in 4/4, and Bart Howard’s less familiar original in 3/4 waltz - which why the rhythms I now find in my book of piano jazz standards didn’t match what I’d grown up with!
(Meanwhile, my orange copy of Handel’s “Messiah”, now clearly well-used and with programmes and leaflets tucked inside from various performances over the years, had movements in alternative time signatures in the appendix - and the pencilled directions remind me that one conductor had decided to replace the 4/4 version of “Rejoice Greatly, Daughter of Zion” and send us flipping to the back for the 12/8 variation.)
Alternative openings of “Rejoice Greatly, Daughter of Zion” from Handel’s “Messiah” - New Novello Choral Edition (Shaw)
And that set me looking for other pieces with variant time signatures… Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” is famously in 5/4, but YouTube offers alternative arrangements in 4/4 like this (an interesting variation although it does continually feel like it’s always skipping something compared to the original):
And that led me to an edit which brings it into 6/4 (a shift which, repeating rather than skipping notes, feels less noticeable):But my favourite is this performance with variations in 2, 3, 4... and they go to eleven!