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: Sail Away Sweet Sister

Sail Away Sweet Sister

Composer: Brian May
Album: The Game, track 8
Meter: 4/4
Key: b-minor, D-Major
Form:
 
Intro | Verse | Verse'| Chorus (AA') |
      | Solo 1 (Verse)| Verse'| Chorus | Bridge |
      | Solo 2 (Chorus)| Chorus - Outro (fade out)|


This song is one of Brian May's classic ballads. The form is simple: I-AAB-AAB-CBB-O including two instrumental solo sections, and one "traditional" Bridge. The Chorus modulates to the relative Major key (D) of the Verse (b) which is a Brian May ballad trademark ("All Dead All Dead" "Is This The World We Created"). The accompaniment of the Verses is dominated by piano while the rocking Chorus is guitar driven similraly to "Save Me". The harmony is rich in chromatic notes and stepwise walking basslines, creating lots of inverted chords. The piano is played by Mercury for May's request, who wanted a more percussive playing than his (especially for the more syncopated chorus - probably).


Walkthrough
------------

Intro:
The four measure intro exposes the tonic chord with simple chord-bass alternating piano playing (plus synth chord and bass).  

| Bm   | -    | -    | -    |
| i    | -    | -    | -    |


Verse:
We have four verses two in the first cycle two in the second one of which is instrumental (Solo 1). The first Verse and the Solo 1 has closed harmonic shape as it starts and end on the tonic chord. The altered Verse' closes on A chord in order to help to establish the key change. The phrasing is four-squared (4+4, melody-wise 2+2+2+2 AA'BC). The harmonic rhythm is much faster in the second phrase.

b:
| Bm   | -    | -    | F#m  |
| i    | -    | -    | v    |

| G/B  |Esus4>3| G F#m | Bm   |
| VI   | IV    | VI v  | i    |

altered ending for Verse':
... | G F#sus4 | Bm  A/C# |
    | VI v     | i    VII |
                 D:   V   |

The second Verse adds drums. For the solo 1 and the third verse during the first measures the pulsing bassline uses the weak 2nd and 4th beats then plays triplets (m.3). The first guitar solo which is an instrumental Verse is done on acoustic guitar played with sweet vibratos and bendings. The tune of it closely follows the original lead melody with altered ending. The acoustic guitar returns for a short figure in the next Verse.


Chorus
The 16 measure "double" Chorus (AA') has foursqared phrasing (B B'B"C - B B'B"'D,  2+2+2+2 + 2+2+2+2). The opening motif of the lead melody (3-2-1-2-3) is a majorized re-rhythmized variant of the beginning of the Verse.

Similarly to the verse-pairs the second subsection has altered ending: the tonic followed by the dominant of the relative key. The second chorus closes on the tonic as the next coming Bridge strat also on D chord.

D:
| D     | D/F#  |
| I     | -     |

|G(maj7)| E9/G# |
| IV    | V/V   |

| D/A   | G/A   |
| *     | IV    |

| A     | (D/A) |
| V     | -     |

The D/A chord in m.5 sounds at last as much dominant-like as tonic-like.
Altered ending for the A':

m.7
| A     | D  F# |
| V     | I V/vi|


The 5.1 DVD-A mix (Center channel) reveals a lovely additional guitar track beside the usual double-tracked rhythm guitars which is combining more approaches: chords, melodic figures and "bass" notes. In m.14-16 it extends the ascending inner line: ...  > B > C# > D. This guitartrack changes much for the second chorus and it is dropped for the last one.
The lead vocal is harmonized for most of the time. In the second subsection in m.11-12 they swithed to chordal "ooh" harmonies.

The second guitar solo (this time on the Red Special) is cleverly arranged for 3-4 guitars. The ending is altered/extended:

m.7
| A     | D  F# | Bm A |
| V     | I V/vi| vi V |


Bridge:
 The Bridge creates contrast by several factors:
- Freddie singing lead, instead of Brian (in "I Want It All" it is inverted)
- the relative absence of the drums
- the characteristic sound of the  bells (see also in "...Black Queen" and "Don't Stop Me Now")
- uneven phrase lenghts
The key remains D Major, the phraing is 4+3+3. Similarly to the chorus the backbone of the harmony is an ascending semichromatic bassline:

D:
| D   | E    | F#  | G   |:bass
| D   | Em7/D| D   | G   |:harmony
| I   |  ii  | I   | IV  |

| G#  | A A#  | B   |
| E   | A F#  | Bm  |
| V/V | V V/vi| vi  |

              E   F  | F# : chromatic inner vocal
| C   | D B | G#  F  |
| D 7 | G   | G#dim7 |
| I   | IV  | IV#dim7|

S- the ascending semichromatic bassline that drives its harmony
In the first two phrases we have chordal backing harmonies. The rich sounding lead-harmonizing harmonies in m.9 are style-wise foreshadowing the "Breakthrou" intro. The bass line in the last two measures outline a diminished 7th chord (see also in "The Prophet's Song")


Outro:
The last chorus in m.8 closes on Bm instead of D creating an overlapped section transition where m8 is also m.1 of the outro. The lead instrument is the bass guitar (a rare example), the backing track is mainly the same is that of the intro. It consists of vamping piano, romantic sheeshore-noise, hi-hat figures (open-closed) figures and single note guitar picking. The bass solo starts in m.5, its melodic phrasing is 4+4+4+4+2+2+3+... John plays triplets in m.16.
For the last measures the piano steps one octave higher in contrast with the bass solo that starts on the treble frets then switches to lower octaves. The last measures are fading out.

b:
| Bm   | ...
| i    | ...