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 - "No Synth" era - Jazz: Fun It

Fun It

The song is one of the most foreshadowing effort of the entire Queen songbook. After the punk experimentation Roger introduced the band into the territory of funk, which was a key element of the band remained popular in the eighties (except in the US). Economic arrangement, repetitive backing track, minor key, lack of complete chords most of the time. There are many lead guitar fragments in the mix, many of them jazzy/funky flavoured.
But we will find also some more Roger-esque details, for example the verses with completly altered melody.
Taylor and Mercury sings the lead vocal in the verse and bridge respectively while the chorus is sung by both of them.
This transcription uses double frequency 4/4 beats compared to what comfortable is for toetapping.

Intro
The song starts with the simple tight rhythm pattern that dominates the whole son except the choruses.
m.4 adds simple drum-pad fill. In m5 enters the four bar main guitar hook in an altered form compared to what is played afterwards. This hook is played one and a half time then abandonded by a funky dissonant chord (voicing: G#-D-G), and also a tad modified version of the drum-pad fill. Note that in this context it is christal clear that this fill closes on a downbeat.
Before the choruses and verses and the final solo returns the guitar hook as an instrumental connector.

Verse 1
The first verse is 24 measures long. The fragmentary lead vocal consists of two measure sub-phrases with upbeats. These subphrases can be gouped into three 8 bar phrases.
The lead vocal is prdominantly minor pentatonic with a couple "blue" flat fifth degree.
The arrangement is purely rhythmic with only some bass slides down from D (?) in the uneven numbered subphrases. These slides can be heard several later places in the song, but just very faint.
There is a "wake-up" whistle in m.21., which also appear soon before the solo and also in the end of the track.
The title phrase (its two fragment) returns twice before the solo and once more closing the song.

Verse 2
The second verse is very different from the first:
- the lead melody is completly altered
- rhythm guitar added
- it's only 16 measures long with two non-fragmentary 8 bar phrases. The pattern of subphrases is ABCB'. Both the last syllable of phrase A and the B' phrase is added upper harmony in thirds.
The only thing we can write into the harmony table is the E notes that are played on the downbeats.

/------------- 4x --------------\
| E1... | E1... | E1... | E1... |

The guitar hook combines a fix bass note (E) and semi-chromatic descending upper line: E-D-C#-B-A-A#,
which is tad modified in the even numbered riffs: E-D-C#-B-A#-A. This concept is reminiscent of the "More Of That Jazz" riff, (which is reminiscent for...).

Bridge
The Bridge could be also treated as pre-chorus. It is also riff-driven where the riff follows the lead vocal. The 16 bar section consist of four 4 bar phrases. The vocal phrases are tad varying in terms of rhythm which is full of 3+3+... type syncopation.

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1...
* * *         * * * * *     * * *   : lead vocal
* * *         * * * * *   * * *   : rhythm guitar
        *                                   : the first downbeat of the section.

In the second half of the section there are drum-pad fills added which are close variants of that of the intro, but strangely this time they sound disorenting off-beat and for first listen its hard to belive they still close on the downbeat. Note the two natural harmonics notes in the third phrase (only once) also sounding off-beat despite they both fall on strong beats.

...3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4...
   * * *           * * * * *   : lead vocal
         * ** *                 : drum fill
           *   *                 : guitar natural harmonics

Harmony wise there is not too much to analyse again. The most emphasized notes of the section are C and E. The lead vocal from scalar fragments 4-5-6-7-8 degrees of the homekey (e-minor).

Chorus
The backing track of the chorus is also riff-driven. The way how the riffs-fragments are built around two neigbour notes is reminiscent of other Taylor riffs. The phrasing is 4+4+4+6 A B A'C. The harmony is on the border of turning to major.

| A1 | - | - | - |
| 4th | - | - | - |

| E1 | - | - | - |
| 1st |

| A | - | - | - |
| IV | - | - | - |

| B | - | G | - | - | |
| V | - | III | - | - | |

The voice leading of the B > G transition:

F# > G : top vocal line (Taylor)
D# > D : bottom vocal line (Mercury)
B > G : bass

The lead vocal is harmonized in parallel fourths in the third phrase, also the thirds are added in the second cycle (... "time tonight...").
The first chorus ends with triplet guitar powerchords while the second chorus closes whith a guitar fill with 3+3+3+3+4 grouping of notes.

Solo - outro
The solo is built on four 8 bar cycle of the double phrase riff. The solo is relatively fragmentary and mostly pentatonic, with many doublestops. The solo section closes with a quckly oscillating synth-like sound. After this the arrangements is clearing out to the basic riff. May drops in the same crazy chord that we heard already before the solo: G#-D-F# (M3rd, m7th and 9th degrees of e-minor respectively).
The last riff is abandonded abruptly one bar before its end.