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Originally Posted by elie
Forgive my ignorance, but I didn't really get it..
What is a "shuffle" (I know what it does on a mp3 player, but other than that I didn't get it- please keep in mind I 'm not a native english speaker!!
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"Shuffle" refers to the rhythmic characteristics of a song. It's a mostly up-tempo employment of what in meter & time signature is known as the dotted eighth. Shuffles are in duple meter, often found in blues & blues rock, which means they usually employ a blues or blues-derived chord progression. A shuffle gives a syncopated "swing" to the rhythm.
So, no, Songbird is not a shuffle, but Don't Stop is.
edit: The dotted-eighth pattern is key to the shuffle. It's hard to grasp unless you can look at the actual notation on paper. But I just recorded this MP3 to try to clarify it at least in aural terms. The first brief snippet indicates how the "shuffle" is actually notated on paper--eighth notes are played in a straight-ahead manner with no syncopation. The second snippet indicates how the shuffle is played--eighth notes are syncopated or "swung," as if the first eight note in the pair were a quarter note & the second were an eighth note & the two were played as if part of a triplet.
http://download.yousendit.com/A720E52E7F308F25
If it still isn't clear, I don't know how to clarify it & you'll just have to study a bit.