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 Works: Is This The World We Created

Is This The World We Created

Comoser: Freddie Mercury and Brian May
Album: Works, 9th track
Single (B-side of It's A Hard Life): 16 july, 1984
Meter: 4/4
Key: Db Major, bb-minor, (discussed as being in D/b)
Form:
 
Intro | Verse | Chorus |
      | Verse | Chorus |


This song was a product of a last-minute session of the Works album, and it took the place of "There Must Be More To Life Than This", maybe because it was a too close neighbour of "...We Created" in terms of lyrical message.
This is the first song on which May and Mercury share the songwriting credit. A classic Brian trademark is the pedal point that we can find in the intro figure, the other three were not keen in that kind of harmony. Except the intro motif we don't know what motifs and tunes came from Brian and what from Freddie.
While the accompaniment has even rhythm, the lead vocal has more rhythmic freedom and it has many dotted notes on the level of eighths as well.
  The holy grail of the collectors would be the lost tape of the piano accompaniment. Now this is the only studio song of Queen that is accompanied with only acoustic guitar, a twelve string tuned down by a halfstep. The picking style alternates (and occassioanly combines) fingerpicking and strumming. Several motifs from the lead tunes show up nicely in the fingerpicked guitarpart. The song became a part of the band's "unplugged" block on the last tours.
The songform is the ballad modell, a rare example in Queen's songbook in this clear and also short form. Note how the Intro takes the chord progression from the end of a later section (or vica versa). Queen examples of this: Scandal, I Want To Break Free single version.
Due the simple form and arrangement the analysis going to be one of the shortest piece in the series.


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

Intro
The intro starts with a simple one measure figure that exposes the tonic chord and closes with a fermata.

D:

m.1
| D   |
| I   |

The "body" of the intro consists of four measures dominated by the pedal point on D that I will transcribe below as bass. The phrase has a closed harmonic shape:

m.2
  D  C#     C    B    A#    (A)   : chromatic line
| D  A/D | Am/D G/D | A#   | D    |
| I  V   | v    IV  | bVI  | I    |

Beside the pedal point we have a chromatic descending line in measure 2-4 driving the harmony from the tonic down to bVI. The descending line alternated with the pedal point creates an oscillating tune. Note the overlapping echo-like motifs in measure 4, the second of these is the tune of the title phrase.
The last measure slows down but it is full 4/4 long.


Verse
Length: 9 measures, phrasing: AA'B (2+2+(2+2+1)). The song modulates from D to its relative minor key, b.

b:
/----- 2x -----\
| Bm   | A  G6 |
| i    |VII VI |


| Gsus2 D/F# | Em(sus4)| F#   | G    | Em   |
| VI    III  | iv      | V    | VI   | iv   |

The accompaniment rests for a moment in measure 8, but stays in tempo when the arpeggio introduces the next Chorus.
The melodic phrases start after the downbeat and have a descending shape. The last melodic phrase (m7-8) starts only on a downbeat, and has off-beat accents. Note the absence of the tonic chord in the last phrase.
Second Verse closes with natural harmonics (Em).


Chorus
It is eight measure long. The harmony of the first phrase and the first half of the repeated intro sequence has the pedal point on D.

D:
| D  (A/D)| A/D G/D |
| I       |  V  IV  |

| Bm  sus2| F#m  A  |
| vi      | iii  V  |

the last phrase is the same with the Intro sequence added lead vocal.

In contrast with the Verses the melodic phrases of the lead vocal start with upbeats throughout the section. The range of the lead vocal opens toward the higher range and peaks on B in measure 5-6.