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 Miracle - The Miracle - The Miracle: Party

Party

Composer:
Meter: 4/4
Key: C Major mixolydian, A Major mixolydian,
Form:

  | Intro I - II | Verse       | Instr. I-II-II'-II" |
                 | Verse' ext. | Instr. I - Outro


"Party" opens the Miracle album segued into Kashoggy's ship without which the track sounded very incomplete. The credits and the interviews give no information on the exact songwriting credits, but considering the formal and harmonic details we can assume the dominance of Freddie in the songwriting process.


Intro
The intro starts with two cycles of synth drum hook which keeps played with microscopic changes throughout the whole intro.
The vocal intro starts with an upbeat before the downbeat of m.5. The first 10 measure subsection has five acapella  phrases (A A'A"B (b) B) except the rhythm track. The first three of them is sung in tight harmonies (5-7-1) by Mercury, the last two in solo except an exho like subphrase (b).

m.5
/----- 3x ----\
| G7   | -    |

/----- 2x ----\
|      |      |

The next harmony blocks are sung mostly by May in multitrack harmony with himself. The pitch set here suggests C-mixolydian mode.

| C7   | -    | -    | -    |

Then we have a two block harmonies the first of which is also sung by Brian. It is simple parallel harmony with exclusively step motions and instrumental pedal bass on D. The pitch set suggests here D mixolydian (C=b7).

  3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4 = two measures
| F#  G   A   B   C | top
| D   E   F#  G   A | middle
| A   B   C   D   E | bottom
| D   Em  D7  G  Am | "vertical" chords

The next one measure block of harmony steers the harmony away by three flattened notes compared to the previous block  (F, Bb, Eb). It is sung by more of them.
  
  3 + 3 + ...
| C   D   Eb | S
| A   Bb  C  | A
| F   G   A  | T
| F   F   F  | B
| F   Gm  F7 | "vertical" chords


We can see the whole intro is built around the  G7 > C7 > D > F7 chord progression where the chords change the modal center. Functional analysis does not really make sense in this an ambigous harmonic and modal environement thus no roman numerals.


Verse 1
We have two verses the first of which is much shorter. We have two variant phrases (4+5) with repetitive inner phrasing (AAB - AAAA'  1+1+2 + 1+1+1+2). The static harmony suggests a C-Major key with mixolydian mode. The arrangement is economic: drums and bass while the vocals are harmonized most of the time.

C:
| C   | -   | -7   | -7   |
| I...

| C   | -   | -    | -    | -    |
| I

The last subphrase is extended by using the 3+3+3+3 lick this time started on the 3rd beat:

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1
    *  *  *  *  gtr

The second Verse starts with new phrases in A Major mixolydian. Vibraslap is hit on the opening downbeat. The bent harmonies in m7-8 are very interesting.

| A    | Em/G A |
| I    |  v   I |

| A    | G   A |
| I    |bVII I |

| A    | -   | B >  C  | A   |
| I    | -   |II > bIII| I   |

After this starts a variant of the first verse modulating to C.
The second phrase is developed differently after the first 1-2 measures, but the harmony keeps dominated by the pumping pedal bass.

| C   | -    |

| C   | -    |

| C   | -    |

| C   | -    |

The 2nd, 3rd and 4th phrases rhytmically parallel eachother. The short vocal phrases are followed by guitar glissandos harmonized with harmonizer.
The section closes with vocal harmonies applyining the 3+3+3+3+4 pattern of punctuation.

   two measures
| C  C  Fsus4 F    |



Instumental section
Following the  Verse we have a guitar-oriented section which starts with guitar power chords over pedal bass. The preceding verse still orients our ears to feel the harmony is in C but for just the first phrase.


| G5  | -   | F5/G | -    |
| V   | -   | IV...

From here the riffs vreat a G minor pentatonic modal feel. The main part of the section consists of three variant cycles of a guitar riff (with AAA'A" inner form) over pumping pedal bass. The second cycle adds octave harmonies, the third cycle features already three part guitar harmonies. Lots of stereo trickery is applied in the mix.

/---------- 3x ---------\
| G*  | -   | -   | -   |


After the second verse we have a shorter version of this intrumental section this time in e minor pentatonic. This new tonal center is exposed by a four measure phrase with power chords and also by some Deacon-esque guitar picking.
Only one four measure cycle of the riff is played with always varying ending of the riff fragments.
The song closes with vocal harmonies segued right into the next track.

 3+3+3+3+4 = two measures
| E        | Edim/Bb

a short voice leading.
F# > G  > (G#)
E  > E  > (F )
B  > Bb > (C )
          Kashoggys Ship starting on Fm