The Book

Introduction What is it all good for? Scope of work Project History

Music theory in nutshell Harmony Chord notation used in the analyses The degrees of notes Chord functions Keys, Sharps and flats, neighbour keys Guitar friendly and piano-friendly keys Modulations, key changes Parallel key modulations Relative key modulations Neighbour key modulations Combined modulations Step-up/down modulations Unusual modulations Key-shifts Pivot Modulation Borrowed chords Cliche chord progressions Modes Ambigous harmony Rhythms Exercies Syncopations Shuffle beat Metrical modulations, metrical anomalies Compound meters Disorienting Rhythms Songforms General aesthatics of popular and rock music

Repetitions and variants

Queen - The four of them as musicians Brian May Roger Taylor Freddie Mercury John Deacon

Songwriting Analyses Smile Ibex "No Synth" era Queen Keep Yourself Alive Doing All Right Great King Rat My Fairy King Liar The Night Comes Down Modern Times Rock'n'roll Son And Daughter Jesus Seven Seas Of Rhye Silver Salmon Hangman Mad The Swine Queen II Procession Father To Son White Queen (As It Began) Some Day One Day The Loser In The End Ogre Battle The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke Nevermore March Of The Black Queen Funny How Love Is Seven Seas Of Rhye See What A Fool I've Been Sheer Heart Attack Brighton Rock Killer Queen Tenement Funster Flick Of The Wrist Lily Of The Valley Now I'm Here In The Lap Of The Gods Stone Cold Crazy Dear Friends Misfire Bring Back That Leroy Brown She Makes Me In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited A Night At The Opera Death On Two Legs Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon I'm In Love With My Car You're My Best Friend Sweet Lady '39 Seaside Rendezvous The Prophet's Song Love Of My Life Good Company Bohemian Rhapsody God Save The Queen A Day At The Races Tie Your Mother Down You Take My Breath Away Long Away The Millionaire Waltz You And I Somebody To Love White Man Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy Drowse Teo Torriate News Of The World We Will Rock You We Are The Champions Sheer Heart Attack All Dead All Dead Spread Your Wings Fight From The Inside Get Down Make Love Sleeping On The Sidewalk Who Needs You It's Late My Melancholy Blues Feelings Jazz Mustapha Fat Bottomed Girls Jealousy Bicycle Race If You Can't Beat Them Let Me Entertain You Dead On Time In Only Seven Days Dreamers Ball Fun It Leaving Home Ain't Easy Don't Stop Me Now More Of That Jazz Live performances in the 70s Modern-era Queen The Game Play The Game Dragon Attack Another One Bites The Dust Need Your Loving Tonight Crazy Little Thing Called Love Rock It (prime Jive) Don't Try Suicide Sail Away Sweet Sister Coming Soon Save Me Human Body Sandbox Flash Gordon Flash's Theme In The Space Capsule Ming's Theme The Ring Football Fight In The Death Cell Execution Of Flash The Kiss Arboria Escape From The Swamp Flash To The Rescue Vultan's Theme Battle Theme The Wedding March Marriage Of Dale And Ming Flash's Theme Reprise Crash Dive On Mingo City The Hero Hot Space Staying Power Dancer Back Chat Body Language Action This Day Put Out The Fire Life Is Real Calling All Girls Las Palabras De Amor Cool Cat Under Pressure Soul Brother The Works Radio Ga Ga Tear It Up It's A Hard Life Man On The Prowl Machines (or 'Back To Humans') I Want To Break Free Keep Passing The Open Windows Hammer To Fall Is This The World We Created? I Go Crazy A Kind Of Magic One Vision A Kind Of Magic One Year Of Love Pain Is So Close To Pleasure Friends Will Be Friends Who Wants To Live Forever Gimme The Prize (Kurgan's Theme) Don't Lose Your Head Princes Of The Universe The Miracle Party Khashoggi's Ship The Miracle I Want It All The Invisible Man Breakthru Rain Must Fall Scandal My Baby Does Me Was It All Worth It Hang On In There Chinese Torture Hijack My Heart My Life Has Been Saved Stealin' New Life Is Born Dog With A Bone Guess We're Fallin Out Innuendo Innuendo I'm Going Slightly Mad Headlong I Can't Live With You Don't Try So Hard Ride The Wild Wind All God's People These Are The Days Of Our Lives Delilah The Hitman Bijou The Show Must Go On Lost Opportunity Face It Alone Self Made Man My Secret Fantasy Made In Heaven It's A Beautiful Day Made In Heaven Let Me Live Mother Love My Life Has Been Saved I Was Born To Love You Heaven For Everyone Too Much Love Will Kill You You Don't Fool Me A Winter's Tale My Life Has Been Saved It's A Beautiful Day (reprise) No-One But You Live performances in the 80s

Appendix Special instruments Special effects Special playing techniques Classical quotes Musical terms Index References

Path: Queen Songs - The Book - Songwriting Analyses - A Kind Of Magic - A Kind Of Magic - A Kind Of Magic: Pain Is So Close To Pleasure

Pain Is So Close To Pleasure

Composer: Freddie Mercury & John Deacon
Meter: 4/4, shuffle beat
Key: C-Major, d-minor, F-Major, (D-Major, b-minor)
Form:

      Intro (AA) | Chorus I - I' |
       | Verse 1 | Chorus I - instr. | Solo 1 (AA) -| Bridge |
       | Verse 2 | Chorus I - I" | AAAAAA Outro Solo 2 (AAAAAAA...)


This song can be nicely pigeonhole into the motown genre. Diana Ross's voice would fit it perfectly, just like Freddies actual falsetto singing (see also "Cool Cat" another Deacon-Mercury contribution in 1982).
In terms of formal cleverness "Pain..." goes beyond the usual motown songs. We have two verses with completly different lead vocal tune. This is something we saw first from Roger in the seventies ("...Funster", "Drowse") but in the eighties Freddie and John also used this trick ("Breakfree", "One Year Of Love"). With this alternate verse we have four different vocal sections, which results in long built in lead vocal melodies compared to more repetitive songs.
The harmony spends most of the time in C-Major one borrowed chord (bVII) and without the iii chord. The end of the Verses take an excursion to the neighbor F/d tonality.
The arrangement is dominated by synths and bass. The bassline is predominantly walking (see also "Crazy Little Thing").


Intro:
The intro suggest different key where the first verse starts. Retrospectively it can be threateted as ii chord, a relatively rare way to start a song. The bassline is played on synth (see also "Body Language", "Breakthrou")

/---- 2x ----\
| Dm  | C/D  |
| ii  | I    |

The Outro with a long guitar solo and whispered title words prolongest this hook throughout (shifted up a whole note) resulting in a b-minor feel supported by the guitar solo played in minor mode pentatonic mode.


Chorus:
We have three choruses with AA' subsections setting certain level of repetition that is well-needed in pop-songs. The 8 measure subsections show a 4+4 phrasing.

C:
|C(6>5)| -    | G    | Am   |
| I    | -    | V    | vi   |

| Dm   | Am   | G    | -7   |
| ii   | vi   | V    | -    |

The arrangement is added reagge-esque guitar chords on the even numbered beats more clear to hear toward the end of the song.
The second half of the second chorus is instrumental except some backing vocal harmonies.
The second half of the third chorus and the rest of the song shifted up a whole note. Note the short blues "piano" lick at its end.


Verse 1
We have two melody and lyrics-wise different 13 measure verses with two measure phrases except the ending with a pivot modulation back to C-Major. The first 4 measures make use of the "Doing All Right riff" progression with chromatic descending inner line. The next two phrases change the last chord, but the chromatic inner line remains. This change provokes a modulation to d-minor which shortly afterwards fades to F-Major without strong V > I cadence.

C:
| C   | G/B  |
| I   |  V   |

| Bb  | F    |
|bVII | I    |

| C   | G/B  |
| I   |  V   |

 | Bb  | A   |
 |bVII | V/ii|
d: VI  | V   |

| Dm  | Gm   |
| i   | iv   |

 | F   | Bb   |
d: III | VI   |
F: I   | IV   |

 | F   | G    | -7   |
F: I   | V/V...
C: IV  | V    | -    |
 
The arrangement of the second half adds chopped synth chords in m.8 instead of 9. This makes the transition less contrasting.

Verse 2
the backing track is mainly the same except the backing vocals and other changes (eg. Dm/G in m.8, F/A in m.9 and m.11 ). The lead vocal in the second half of the section makes frequent use of triplets (hemiolas?).


Bridge:
The Bridge grows out from the first minimalistic solo backed by the intro hook. The bridge itself consists of two phrases (4+4 AA'). The vocal phrases are attached a guitar hook. The key seems to be F Major making the preceding Dm hook acting like vi in this context. The harmony is driven by step-wise bass movement.

F:
| Bb   | F/A  /G | F    | G1  Bb1 C1|
| IV   |  I      | I    | 2...      |

| Bb   | F/A  /G | F    | G   Bb1 B1|
| IV   | I       | I    | V/V       |
                C: IV   | V         |

The first vocal subphrases are harmonized.