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 - The Game: Don't Try Suicide

Don't Try Suicide

Composer:  Freddie Mercury
Meter: 4/4, shuffle beat with occassional 3/4 bars.
Key: D-Major, G-Major
Form:  

       Intro - Verse 1 (AABBB')| Chorus |
             | Verse 2         | Chorus | Bridge |
        | alt. Verse 3 (handclaps)| Solo (Bridge') |
             | Verse 4         | Chorus'| Outro (AAAA) fade out

This song is frequently criticized by its lyrics, and admired for its memorable tunes. The sections are contrasting eachother in terms of arrangement style and key. The economic arranged verses are bluesy, the chorus is catchy rock, the bridge and the solo has great rockabilly feel (> "Crazy Little Thing").
The form consists of four cycles and can be simplified to an AB-ABC-AC-AB pattern. The first half of the verses are all differently melodized. The third verse is completly different one goes with stripped down arrangement.


Intro
The song starts with an count-in syncopated at its end as the last "one" falls on the eight before the downbeat.
Following the count-in enter the two bar handclap motif backing of the verses. After two cycles enter the bass which marks the beginning of the verses.


Verse
The verses (except the third one) consist of two subsections the first of which is changing almost entirely melody-wise. In the first subsection beside the chromatic bassline there is no chordal backing except a crazy Dm7/A chord dropped in m.2 and m.6. I doesn't sound like a part of the backing harmony. Without alternate tuning or capo this chord (A-C-D-F) cannot be played on guitar. The modal center is definitely D but the modes are mixed. The tunes are in a dorian mode (1-b3-4-5-6-b7) with blue thirds and without the second degree.

/-------------- 2x -------------\
| B1... |(D1)   | B1... |(D1)   |  
| 6th   | 1st   | 6th   | 1st   |


The beat map:

.1 .2 .3 .4 .1 .2 .3 .4  
    *     *     * *   * : handclaps
x*  x x*  * *           : bass 1st phrase
x*  *  *  * *           : bass 2nd phrase
                  *     : guitar chord

In the second verse the first two melodic phrases roughly follow the bassline the second time an octave higher. An acoustic guitar also doubles the bassline, also in the fourth cycle. In the fourth cycle the crazy guitar chord occurs only once, right before the start of the section.


In the second subsection the bass motif is doubled by piano and unisono vocals the latter antiphonally alternated with single track lead vocal. The handclap motif is completed with hi-hats. The modal center moving down to "A" (b7-1-b3-4-b5). The m.5-6 are 3/4, but the handclaps keep their original beat. For the last measure the returning snare drums are softening the transition to the chorus.


/--------- 2x ----------\
| A1 G1 A1   |          |


3/4         3/4        4/4
| A1 G1 A1 | -       | A1 G1 A1 C1 A1 |


In the third cycle the Verse alteres also backing wise, as only the handclaps remain. The modal center is "A" (5-6-1-(2)-b3). Most of the phrases are double-tracked, some fragments are harmonized. We have a tritone harmony in m.9 and a A7 harmony in m.11-12.


Chorus
The catchy chorus uses six Major chords, the three basic ones and three borrowed ones. The ending is unresolved. The title words are unisono sung the rest of the phrases are sigle tracked.

D:
| D  G | G  A  |
| I IV | IV V  |

| D  G | C   A |
| I IV |bVII V |


| D  G | G  A  |
| I IV | IV V  |

| D  G | Bb  F    | G     | (G)(F)|
| I IV | bVI bIII | IV    |       |
                G:| I     |   bVII| : before the bridge.


In the last chorus is altered using a triple-tag-like subphrasing and the closing is on the tonic this time.

| D  G | Bb  F    | Bb  F   | Bb    | D    | (-)   |
| I IV | bVI bIII | bVI bIII| bVI   | I    |       |



Bridge
The harmony of the bridge as usual in pop/rock music is centered around the dominant chord. The lead vocal uses some triplets in m2 and m.6. Deacon plays some speedy runs on bass in m6

G:
| C    | -    | G    | -    |
| IV   | -    | I    | -    |

| C    | -    | A7-G#7 | -    |
| IV   | -    | II     | -    |


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

The guitar solo uses the harmonic backing of the bridge altered from m.7:

| A7-G7 | -    | C7-B7 | C7 Dm7 |


It's crazy chromatic harmony thus no functional analysis here.

Outro
The outro keeps repeating the two-phrase hook of the verse four time while fading out gradually.