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 - Hot Space: Back Chat

Back Chat

Composer: John Deacon
Meter: 4/4
Key: a-minor
Form:

      Intro I - II (A) - III (B) |
      | Verse (BB)  | A |
      | Verse'(BBB) | AA |
      | Verse (BB)  | interlude | B'B' |
      | Solo  (BBAA)| A |
      | Verse"(BBBB)| A |
      | Verse (BB) - outro (CCCC CCCC CCCCC...)


"Back Chat" with its disco beat repetitive backing track and square phrasings is a tipical trendy song of the "Hot Space" album. The form is tad difficoult to analyse. There is mainly one vocal type section, five verses which also feature the title phrase. Four of the five verses are followed by semi-instrumental connectors creating together a cyclic songform. There is a synth-drum interlude which works like a contrasting bridge.
There's a slightly sped up extended mix of this song. The points of extension: intro and but mostly the outro section which switches back to the fourth Verse. The live version they also played faster.
The drumtrack is dominated by synth drums andfeature also some wooden-percussion.

Intro
The intro consists of three subsection the second and third of which is exposing the main hooks of the song.
The first subsection is purely on drums. It starts with a Queen-esque rhythmic twist with two possible interpretation:
1) the song starts on the second beat and the 2nd and 4th beats are stressed.
2) the song starts normally on downbeat but the second measure is only 3/4 long.

This analysis goes with the second interpretation:

| 4/4 | 3/4 |

The second subsection is four measure long building up from five ascending triadic arpeggio fragments, the last four of which start on the third degree of the chord. On the other hand the later incarnations of this figure are added power chords that set all these chords in their root position.

a:
| Am    | C     | D     | F   G   |
| i     | III   | IV    | VI  VII |

The first four chords are mainly the legendary "House Of The Rising Sun" chord progression. In the live version these arpeggios were played on piano. This figure is recycled further seven times, usually as semi instrumental connector. The added vocals are different each time, not even variants of eachother. In the second cylce there are two of this figure pieced together the second of which featuring lead vocals.


Verse
We have five verses that are backed with a variant of the intro progression. They are added a thin-toned guitar riff doubled by bass. The lead vocal also borrows motifs from this riff eg. the title phrase.

| Am  | Am7/C  | Dm   | F    |
| i   | "III"  | iv   | VI   |
| i   |   -    | iv   | -    | : simplified

The even numbered verses (ie. the 1st 3rd 5th) consist of two harmonic phrases each consisting of two melodic subphrases (2+2 + 2+2) AB AC.
The second verse is a extended by one harmonic phrase: AD AD ED
The third and fifth verse is a close variant of the first.
The fourth verse is an extension of the second. Its phrasing is: AD 'A'D' ED FG. There is an interesting short "general pause" in the backing track in m.4.


Interlude:
The five measure synth drum (plus hi-hat) interlude is built up of two and a half cycles of the same two measure figure. On the Hot Space tour they put a "B"-type connector before this interlude.


Solo
The solo section is roughly substitutes one complete cycle. The form of its backing track is BBAA and it is followed by a single "A" connector. The solo is preceded by two instrumental "B"-type phrases added a slowly descending figure played on synth. Its fourth note (in m.4) fades into a guitar feed-back which is sustained through the remining four measures where the descending figure goes on.
The solo itself is a classic three-fingered solo closing with a descending blues scale run. There is a crossfading additional guitar repeating a double stop in triplets starting on the downbeat of the last phrase.


Outro
The outro is developed from the verse. The originally two measure guitar/bass riff is reduced to its first two measures and repeated roughly 13 times while fading out. This riff is altered several times during the outro and added adlib vocals and lead guitar. Mercury uses 3+3+3+3 syncoptaion starting on the 3rd beat of the 10th measure.
In the live version they played 26 cycles of the riff, but they closed the song with two "B"-type cycles followed by a fermata-like closing sőiced with Piquardy third.
In the long version the Outro is extended. The point of departure for the lead guitar is around 11 measure. Instead of fade out the backing track is stripped down step by step to just the hi-hats that opened the song.