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: More Of That Jazz

More Of That Jazz

Composer: Roger Taylor
Meter: 4/4
Key: modally inflected E-Major
Form:  

       Intro (dAAAA) | Verse I (AAAA) - I' (AAA') | Chorus I-II |
                | A  | Verse I (AAAA) - I' (AA)   | Chorus I-II |
                | A  | Montage - Chorus I' - outro |


This song is one of the most experimental works of the band, no wonder it was placed as the final track on the album.
The song may show a subtle new wave influence, but it'S hard to point out how exactly. Together with "Fun It" (and partly Figth From The Inside") this song foreshadows the ostinato hooks of the "Hot Space" era.
The formal design with two complete cycles that are followed by an odd montage that summarizes the Jazz album before closing it with the self-ironic "no more of that JAZZ" line.
The harmony is inflected with melodic b7th and b3rd moreover the bVI chord in the harmony. The lead vocal is deliberately not very melodic, and sung by Taylor. The bass line is simple due to the static harmony or vamping chords, it is used mostly in a rhythmical approach.


Intro
The intro is arranged in a thickening way (> "Keep Yourself Alive"). The first phrase features only the drums in solo (phrasing: 2+2 AA'). For the second phrase enters the guitar playing two arpeggiated seventh chords the first of which is the tonic of the whole song. This is the main hook of the song, referred as "A" in the upper form scheme. The transition from E7 to C7 chord is pushed to the eighth before the downbeat, which is rhythmically disorienting.

/---------- 4x ----------\
| E7   | -   | C7  | -   |
| I    | -   | bVI | -   |

Another rhythm guitar enters for the third phrase. This one plays the chords punctuated in synchron with the drums using the 3+3+2 pattern. The transition from E to C is pushed this time one quarter before the downbeat:

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
*  *  * *     *  

The third layer of rhythm guitars enters for the fourth phrase. This is an quickly oscillating riff where the top line descends chromatically in triplets, the bottom line is constant (> "Fun It").
The fifth phrase adds the bass paralelling the guitar power chords. This formula is kept played throughout the verses.


Verse
The verses keep repeating the three layered guitar work built up in the intro. After four cycles starts a new subsection, not really a new verse. Upon the repetitive backing track trere is a simplistic lead melody, dominated by only three notes: 1st, b3rd an b7th degrees taken from the minor pentatonic scale. The phrasing of the first verse is X X' X"ext  - X Xext, 2+2+4 + 2+4. The last riff cycle is slowed down by using the 2+3+3+3+3+2 rhythm pattern for the chromatic high notes.
The third phrase of the second verse adds a simple guitar figure repeated five times. The second subsection of the second verse has a new first melodic phrase and shorter length (only three riff-cycles).


Chorus
The chorus consists of two subsections. The first one is characterized by chromatic riff-work which is developed from the re-rhythmized slowed down riff variant that closed the verse. The bass keeps playing the punktuation of the verse. The harmony here lacks the Major tonic chord, which let the melodic b3rds steer the harmony  toward the minor mode.
The subsection has three phrases each one is backed with parallel harmonies on the 1st 2nd and b3rd degrees. In the second chorus the first two these harmony blocks are omitted. The pattern of the two measure riff-blocks is ABCDCD.


The second subsection has two eith measure phrases. Harmony wise this is the most interesting part of the whole song. The functional harmony analysis is almost irrelevant in the first phrase, the lead vocal simply follows the root movement. The second subphrase sounds much more diatonic, with more possible interpretation of harmony. The section consists of:

E:
| E   | -   | G#  | -   | D#   | -   | G    | -   |
| I   | -   | III | -   | V/III| -   |bIII  | -   |


| E5  | -   | Am  | -   | C    | -   | G6   | -   |
E: I  | -   | iv  | -   | bVI  | -   | bIII | -   |
e: i  | -   | iv  | -   | VI   | -   | III  | -   |
a: v  | -   | i   | -   | III  | -   | VII  | -   |


The second chords of both phrases are pushed one quarter before the downbeat. The closing G6th chord is an ironic touch of jazz. Beside this there is also a dissonant b5 played as distorted natural harmonics on guitar (omitted in the second chorus).


Montage - outro
The montage is a kind f summarization of the album (at least what was done by that time of the recording). The quoted songs respectively: Dead On Time, Bicycle Race, Mustapha, If You can't Beat Them, Dead On Time, Fun It, Fat Bottomed Girls.
The montage starts abruptly on downbeat and fades to the outro which is a variant of the Chorus I. The riff-structure of the outro is changed compared to that of the Chorus I: ABCDABCDCD. The lead vocal returns for only the last four riff-phrases and closes with a passionate octave jump. The riff-work is closed with let-ring-throughuot guitar chords and the two further cycles of the chorus' bass motif (2*2 measures). Following the delayed closing words only the drums remain for two cycles (2*2 measures). The gradually stripping down arrangement is a mirror-image of the intro (> "Tequila" - Champs).