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 - Flash Gordon: Flash's Theme

Flash's Theme

Composer: Brian May
single:
Meter: 4/4, slow down for Bridge 2
Key: a minor / C Major
Form:

  Intro | Chorus (AAAA) | Bridge 1 ||
        | Chorus  (AA)  | Bridge 2 (Bridge 1) | Outro

The harmony of the song reveals this song was written by May. Note the extensive use of pedal bass and the chord progressions with chromatic ascending inner voice.
The form is simple, but also strange: we don't have a proper verse and also the first Bridge sounds like an alternate chorus. While the opening chorus iterates the title phrase four times (with variants) the second chorus consists of just two in order to prevent the song turning too repetitive.
The rhythm makes use of some disorienting accents. The last Bridge slows down.
The arrangement dominated by piano and pumping bass and vocal and guitar harmonies also play important roles. The lead vocal is harmonized throughout except the Bridge 2. There is a special instumental noise which sounds like slowed down piano but the speed-up check reveals that it's not piano.

Intro
On the album the track starts with a dramatic quote from the film. The GH version skips it and starts with the music.
The intro is built on a the slow crescendo of pumping A note. In the first two meausres only the drums can be heard, then the joins bass guitar and the piano in octaves respectively.


| drums | -    |


| A1  | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   |  
| 1st | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   | -   |

Chorus
The opening chorus consists of four cycles of close variant refrains each with two melodic phrases. The melodic phrasing of the firts part of the cycles is 1+2+1+2 with overlapped transition between the last vocal phrase and the guitar harmony-phrase and also at the end of this guitar phrase. The guitar phrase in the last cycle is extended by one measure.

a:
| Am   | Am G/A | G/A   |
| i    | i VII  | VII   |

| F9/A | D  A/C# | D  G/B || Am...
| VI   | IV V/IV | IV VII || i  


It's worthy to look at the rhythmical design:

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1  
*           * *           * * *****                       : lead vocal
*             *     *   *       *     * *   *   *         : piano and guitars 1st and 3rd time
                                *     *   *   * *         : guitars 2nd time, and 1st time in second chorus
                                *     *   *   * *   *   * : guitars 4th time, and 2nd time in second chorus

The cycles are intervened by spacers of pumping bass (A-nat) of varying length: 4, 11, 4 measures respectively in the first Chorus, four measures in the second Chorus. These long spacers provide the background of more quotes off the movie. The second chorus has only two cycles. Four would result in a more repetitive feel.


Bridge 1
After the first chorus we have Bridge with climactic rising lead vocal. The phrasing is 2+2+4. The phrases parallel eachother with the third phrase being extended. The start of the section has a weak feel of modulation to C which is more strongly established in the second Bridge.

| C   | G/B  |
| III | VII  |

| Dm  | A/C# |
| iv  | V/iv |

| F   | C/E  | Fmaj7 D/F# | G E7/G# || Am 18 measures  
| VI  | V    |  VI    IV  |VII  V   || i

The chord progression in m6-9 is a cliche that was a favourite of Antonio Vivaldi (eg. "Mandolin Concerto")
The section is followed by a re-intro like long (20 measures) spacer with more film quotes and a dissonant oscillating sirene-like guitar harmony.


Bridge 2
The second Chorus is followed by a concluding slow down Bridge 2 which harmonically a close variant of the first, mood-wise it is close to "Play The Game". It starts in the relative Major key shortly it modulates back to the home-key. The vocals are not harmonized here. The second half of the section is sung by May (double tracked). The guitar in the first two phrases doubles the bassline in octaves. The second half of the section adds harmony guitars.
The fourth phrase stops with a fermata chord.

|   C  | G/B  | C   | G   |
C:  I  |  V   | I   | V   |
a: III | VII  | III | VII |

| Dm   | A/C# | Dm   | A/C# |
a:iv   | V/iv | iv   | V/iv |

| F    | C/E  | Fmaj7 D/F# |  G E7/G# |
| VI   | V    | VI     IV  | VII  V   |

| Am   | G(sus4)| F    | -    |...
| i    | VII    | VI   | -    |...

Outro
The fermata ending of the Bridge 2 section fades briefly to a brief A-nat note switching to pulse mode. Similarly to the intro we have a crescendo pulse exploding into a single "Flash" after which the pulsing A-note fades out with more quotes off the film and also the bass piano-like noise is dropped in.