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: Body Language

Body Language

Composer: Freddie Mercury
Album: Hot Space
Single:
Meter: 4/4, shuffle beat
Key: Eb mixolydian,Bb-mixolydian, Ab minor pentatonic
Form:
 
      Intro (AAB) | Verse | Chorus |
      Intro (AB)  | Verse'| Chorus |
      Intro (AB)  | Verse"| Bridge (CCCCCCCCCC')|
      Intro (B)   | Verse | outro (AABBBBBBBBB...)

This toe-tapper disco-influented song is one of the most criticized singles Queen ever released. Like many of the Hot Space tracks, the backing thrack of this one is also dominated by synth bass hooks.
The form relatively straightforward with four cycles each opened by a variant of the Intro (see also "Staying Power" or "Was It All Worth It". The third cycle features a predictable Bridge. The Verses vary melody-wise for each cycle.
Lyrically "Get Down Make Love" is a close precedessor.

Walkthrough

Intro
Synth hooks open each four cycles of the song. There are two riffs backing it, the first of which is pentatonic (without 3rd). The later variants of the intro are shortened and serve for setting the tonal centre form Eb back to Bb. In the last cycle the A figure in Eb is dropped, because the preceding Bridge is in Ab pentatonic.

Verse
The first Verse doesn't have chordal backing only the synth riffs. The second Verse adds stray fadein-out guitar chords which help our ears getting oriented still the harmonic functions are fading out toward the end of the section.
The way how the sythn-bass track is constructed from descending three note fragments (8th > M6th > 5th ) is reminiscent of "A Kind Of Magic" (1986).

| Bb  | -   |
| I   | -   |

| Ab  | -   |
| bVII| -   |

| Bb  | -   |
| I   | -   |

| Ab  | -   |
| bVII| -   |

| Db  | -   |
| bIII| -   |

| Cb  | -   |

| Eb1 | -   | -   |     |

The last phrase closes with general pause and uses the familiar 3+3+3+3+2+2 rhythmic pattern. This is a rare example where this gambit is applied in shuffle beat environement resluting a bit of distorsion:

1 .2 .3 .4 .1 .2 .3 .4 .1
* *  **  * *  **  *  *  *

Try to find another example!

The lead vocal of the first Verse is whispered. The second and third verse is sung, and the lead melody roughly follows the synth. The ending of the last verse borrows the synth chord glissando from the Chorus. This quote turns the return of the intro hook (ie outro hook) more expectable.

Chorus
The chorus is minimalistic in both length, and melody-content. We have three phrases the last of which is overlapped by the next re-intro resulting in the first chorus lasting 4 and half measure long (2 + 2 + 1/2, AAA). Second phrase adds a synth glissando starting on F#6 chord.
Check out the drum-track! It starts like this:

1 .2 .3 .4 .1
*  *  *  * **...

But the first 4 and a half measure Chorus turns it for the rest of the song like this:

1 .2 .3 .4 .1
*  * **  *  *... (see this pattern also "Personal Jesus" - Depeche Mode)


/-------- 2x --------\   half
| Db-Eb-Db-Eb | -    | Db-Eb-Db-|Eb...
|           I | -    |          |

The second chorus alters the vocal harmony : the top line which originally moved in parallel fiths with the bass-line is lowered here by a halfstep. For the third phrase they throw in a really crazy harmony:

              Eb
        ... C
        ... A
Db  Eb  F   F#
            F#dim7



Bridge
The purely pentatonic bridge has six melodic phrases (AAAABB) where the tag-extension-like B phrases are identic with the second half of the A phrases. The A phrases are accompanied by two two measure synth figure, the B phrases by only one. The fragments of the synth-bass are ascending here (5th > m7th > 8th). Another contrasting element in the music is the rhythm department is stripped down to fingerclicks.


/----- 2x5 -----\
| Ab1   | Db1   | Ab1   | -    |


Outro:
The outro is an extended variant of the intro with the title phrase repeated which is taken from the chorus.
The title phrase is altered both rhythm- and melody-wise. Rhythm wise it is displaced by one beat backwards. Melody wise the leap in the middle is changed from whole step to half (Bb > A > Bb).


1 .2 .3 .4 .1 .2
         * ** *...

After 9 repetition of the title phrase the song fades out while Brian on guitar plays some m7th (Ab) notes.