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

'39

Composer: Brian May
Album: A Night At The Opera (1975)
Single (B-side of You're My Best Friend): 18 June, 1976
Key: Ab Major, (f minor), B Major, (ab, Bb, bb...)  (transcribed in G Major and...)
Meter: 4/4
Form:
 
Intro I-II | Verse | Chorus | Bridge I-II | 
           | Verse | Chorus | Chorus | Outro |
Outro = second half of Intro II

A song like this coming from Queen in 1975/76 this song was surprising both lyrically (sci-fi) and musically (folk). The stylistically closest Queen song is "Long Away" from the next album, but "Let Your Heart Rule Your Head" (Brian's solo song) has to be mentioned as well. Certain folk elements we can find in earlier works of May and Queen, but for just limited extent compared to '39. Brian May's arrangement and talent has lifted this song far above the "just another folk song" category, even though there are some generic elements in the song: square phrasing, no guitar solo, simple chords (during the verses and choruses, eg. no iii chord). The song is unusual, but still it's a nice catchy folk song that makes one tempted to learn on guitar, onn the oher hand the ca. 15 chords used results in difficulties for beginners.
 Strummed acoustic guitars dominate the accompaniment with built in melodic licks (in the intro). John plays doublebass (see also "...Leroy Brown"), Roger (?) plays the tamburine, no drums (and no synths). We have both guitar and vocal harmonies (arranged and the latter sung mostly by Brian May, at least the contrapuntal ones).
Unusual songwriting elements in context of folk: a strange modulation, long melodies, only two Verses, long intro, a bridge without lyrics for the vocals. About as much as 45-47 harmonically/melodically different measures are analysed below. That's extremly much compared to the lenght and the BPM value of the song, which is an indirect sign of the song is remarkably non-repetitive.
Classic early Queen trademark and major point of interest in this song is how some motifs are cleverly recycled in different sections.


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

Intro I-II:
The song has an unusual long intro that consists of two big part. The first of these is a shortened version of the Bridge: its beginning (key-shifted and slihtly altered) and ending linked together. Brian used similar technique also in The Prophet's Song and later in Teo Torriate too.

The first phrase starts with an interesting chord progression (shades of Mrs. Robbinson - Simon & Garfunkel) that on paper looks like a-minor (or C major key) but the triumphant ending on E major sounds like a Picardy Third ending in the key of e-minor (the relative key of G Major, where the intro arrives) before the key was established at all. The second phrase modulates to the distant Bb major. Its a quite unusual modulation (bV of e, then and back to G = bVI of Bb). The phrasing 4+3 (the only time it's uneven), the harmonic rhythm is varied:

  | C   | -   | Am   | E    |
e:  VI  | -   | iv   | I    |

  | Bb  | Eb Bb C  F | G    |
Bb: I   | IV I V/V V |
              G: bVII| I    |


The song starts with strummed acoustic guitars and fade in vocal harmonies with Roger screaming lead on top. The instrumental second phrase adds guitar harmonies.


The second subsection of the intro is already in the home-key. The phrasing is square 4+4, the harmony is closed at both end in both phrases, the second pharse ends "stronger" (V>I). The harmonic rhythm is more or less constant two chords per measure. Both phrases start with the same two measure chord progression. Basic chords are strummed with built-in figures, let's take a look at these. This figure is arch-shaped in the first phrase with stepwise moving octave long rising part (from B to B). It's very first notes work as hooks and foreshadow the "in the land that ou grand..." motif in the Chorus.
Measure 7-8 are close variants of the measures 7-8 in the Verses: the chord progression is tad different, but the built in melodic line mimick the lead vocal of the mentioned measures in the verses.

G:
| G  D | Em C | G  D | C  G |
| I  V | vi IV| I  V | IV I |

| G  D | Em C | Cmaj7  D | G    |
| I  V | vi IV|(IV-vi) V | I    |

Double bass and tamburine enters in the last measure. The alternating 8-5-8-5 bassline is frequently played during the song.

The last phrase is recycled in the outro with fermata ending (and muted third (G5)).


Verse:
This unusual long 16 measure section has square (4+4) + (4+4) phrasing. The key is a strong G Major. Parallels between two half of the section: the rhythm is similar in style (eg. the vocal pickup), the way they start on dominant in the first and arrive on the tonic chord in the last measure (omitting the closing D chord that introduces the chorus).

G:
| D    | Em    | C  G  | D    |
| V    | vi    | IV I  | V    |


| Em  7 | C    | D (sus4) | G     |
| vi    | IV   | V        | I     |


| D    | D#dim7 | Em    | Am   |
| V    | "V"/vi | vi    | ii   |

        (3/4    5/4)
| G    | D    | C  Em C  D C |G D    |
| I    | V    | IV vi IV V IV|I V    |

In the second half of the last phrase the harmonic rhythm speeds up where also 3+5 accents are used that can be interpreted as occasional change of meter. Note how the subdominant chord (C) steps to two different chords before it finally gets resolved to the tonic. (see also Ticket To Ride (Beatles) or Escape (Metallica)).
There's no guitar and vocal harmonies in the section except the lead vocal getting multitracked in the last line.


Chorus:
With eight measures (square 4+4 phrasing) it's half as long as the Verse. The vocal arrangement is tad complicated in the first phrase: once the lead vocal disappears for some measures (here the backing harmonies carry the lead tune), once the backing harmonies rest while the lead vocal is doubletracked.
The lead tune of the second half of the Chorus is V-shaped (octave down and up) stepwise moving and harmonized (three parts) in contrapuntal style, which is one of Brian's finest arrangements. (See also Teo Torriate). The countermelodies are partly altered in the second Chorus and also in the third Chorus (!) where the vocals are flanged during the first phrase.
 
G:
| G    | C  G  | G    | D    |
| I    | IV I  | I    | V    |

| G B7/F# Em G | C G Am   | G   D(7)| G    |
| I V/vi  vi I |IV I ii   | I   V   | I    |


 In the third (last) Chorus in the last two measures the chords are tad different and played staccatto. In fact this part is taken from the Verse's 7-8 measures, that was foreshadowed also at the end of the intro where Cmaj7 was played instead of Em.

... | Em  D | (G)   |
    | vi  V | (I)   |


Bridge:
This section with continuosly ambigous harmony and unusual chord changes is the most interesting part of the song. The lead vocal (Roger's screaming, no lyrics) gets higher and higher and arrives at G#. Guitar and vocal harmonies complete the accompaniment.

The fist phrase with the relative minor chord change and the lead tune upon that is reminiscent of the beginning of the song, which orients one's ear to interpret it being in g minor, not very strongly though. The tonality is even weaker than in the intro.

g (?)
| Eb (5>b5>..| - (... 6>5) | Cm (...) | -     |
| VI         | -           | iv       | -     |


Then the harmony goes "somewhere else", A major sound the most tonic-like. Note the roots moving in minor thirds: Eb> Cm > A. Also note the tritone change: C > Fm > C. Bass stops in measure 7 and returns only in the last measure of the section.

A:
| A     |  -    | C     | F#m C  |
| I     |  -    | bIII  | vi bIII|
                         e:  VI
 | Am    | E    |
a: i     | V    |
e: iv    | I    |

The phrase end with C > Am > E chord progression like the first half of the intro, but this time the Am chord sounds like the tonal centre more than E/e, but it could not be established properly as the ending steers the harmony away again. The instrumental ending (Bridge II) is the same as in the intro...

  | Bb  | Eb Bb C  F | G    |
Bb: I   | IV I V/V V |
              G: bVII| I    |

... only the guitar harmonies are different: they start with Mantovani-esque waterfall harmonies arranged for varispeed guitars (shades of Son And Daughter).