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

Mad The Swine

Composer: Freddie Mercury
Meter: 4/4
Keys: Db-major, Eb-minor (transposed up by a half-step for the analysis)
Form:

      | Verse' | Verse |
      | X | Chorus II-I-II | Verse |
      | X | Bridge |
      | Chorus (I-II) | Solo (Chorus) | Chorus' - Tag-Outro |
X: pre-Chorus and pre-Bridge

This is one of Freddie's earliest songs with probably the most mysterious lyrics he ever created. The song form is quite irregular but not quite acyclic, we have three Verses, a Bridge, and four Choruses (one of which is instrumental), but still it's highly creative. Unusual factors are the alternate Verse, a short section (X) which first acts as a pre-Chorus, then as a pre-Bridge; later Choruses omit it. The first Chorus is strangely preceded by its own second half. Of course, such clever details are not only tokens of talent, but of a conscious willingness. Freddie Mercury has definitely had this kind of willingness even in this early period.
The arrangement is dominated by acoustic guitar, suggesting that the song was composed on guitar.
We have bass, electric guitars (only in the Solo sections), three-part vocal harmonies, and unusual-to-Queen overdubbed bongos (and even cowbells) in the rhythm section.
The guitars are tuned down by one half-step or varyspeed is applied.


Verse'
The first Verse is not like the other two with its different phrasing, eith much more offbeat accents, more spare arrangement, and some different chords. The first two-three and the last four-six measures are mostly the same as in the other two verses. The accompaniment consists of two acoustic guitars (the second guitar joins only in measure four), drums play only short figures at the beginning of measures 4-6. There is no bass yet. The phrasing of the eleven-measure section is 6+5.5, the sung phrases are 2-3 measures shorter.

| D    | Dmaj7  | Am7  * | Em    C| Em   D| Em   |   * : A-E-F#
| I    |  -     |  v     | ii bVII| ii   I| ii   |
                e: iv    | i    VI| i  VII| i    |

         half
| Em  C | Am | G    | A    | D(sus4) | D     |
| i   VI| iv | III...
            D: IV   | V    | I       | -     |

The harmony is interesting. It opens (and closes) on the tonic, then the exotic v (Am) chord in measure 3 starts to carry the harmony toward the neighbor key: e-minor. This new tonic (Em) dominates measures 4-6 while the F#m7, C, D chords pass away quickly. Note the absence of the dominant chord (b/B). From measure 9 the D-major key recovers with a strong IV > V > I cadence. The harmonic rhythm is slower at both ends of the section.
Two syncopated and off-beat rhythm patterns:

1 2 3 4
** *   : acoustic guitar in measures 1-2 (except in the last Verse)

1 2 3 4 1 2 1
ee e C a  a G     : acoustic guitar chords
** * * * **___... : lead vocal in measures 7-8

Note the off-balance effect of the lead vocal stepping on B one quarter before the inner line of the Am > G chord progression does.

Verse
Second and third Verses are ten (6+4) measures long; bass and drums enter on the downbeat of the third measure. You can hear some effects in the lead vocal here and there (double-tracked, stereo-floated). At the downbeat of measure 9 drums, bass, and lead vocals stop and the guitar alone closes the section.

D:
| D    | Dmaj7 | Em   | -    |
| I    |  -    | ii
             e:| i    | -    |

| Em   | C  Am | G    | A    | D(Sus4)|D (sus2)|
| i    | VI iv | III
            D: |  IV  | V    | I      | -      |

Pre-Chorus, pre-Bridge
This four-measure mini-section is very similar to the first phrase of the verse.

| D    | Dmaj7 | Am   | -    |
| I    | -     | v    | -    |

(one of the guitars also plays a D during the Am chord)

Drums again pause on the downbeat of measure 3. The harmonic rhythm and the lead vocal "slow down", while the bass executes a triadic ascent using the familiar 3+3+3+3+2+2 rhythmic pattern in contrast with the other syncopated rhythms played by Roger on low toms.
In the reprise of this section the guitars are strummed faster, and the section is not followed by a Chorus but by a Bridge.

Chorus
Beside the cliche progression of the first phrase, the full ensemble helps to give the chorus some feeling: drums, bass, acoustic guitars, vocal harmonies, double-tracked lead vocal. The Chorus itself goes like this (note the first Chorus is preceded by its second half (m.7-10)) :

D:
| A1   | B1    | B1    | C#1   |: lead guitar in the second chorus
| D    | Bm    | Em    | A     |
| I    | vi    | ii    | V     |

l.gtr.in 2nd Ch.:| D1     | C1      |
vocal harmony   :| G (IV) | Em  (ii)|
guitar chords   :| Asus4  | Am      |

lead vocal:| B  A  F# E | EDDD...| F# E D B|A     |
      bass:| G  F# E  A | BBAB   | D  C B G|A     |
   harmony:| G...     A | Bm     | D.....  | A    | A    |
           |            | vi     | I...    | V    | -    |

The harmonies in measures 5-6 are ambiguous. The guitar chords in ((5 and)) 7 and 9 cannot be identified well; I'm going to treat these as being counterpoint-driven (between vocals and bass). Note the varying intervals. The second Chorus is gets an additional guitar counterpart. Second lead guitar joins in toward the end of the section. Two lead guitars play "solo" in the first half of the next ( the third) Chorus, first unisono and later in something like harmony.
Note the additional percussion (tablas?) holding a two-measure pause at the end of the section. The lead vocal returns for the second half of the third Chorus. The fourth Chorus closes on the tonic, and gets a Tag-like extension filled partly with repeated phrases and a two-part non-harmonic lead guitar solo. The framework of this tag-section consists of one measure ostinato bass figure over the tonic chord. The bass ostinato is repeated 17 times after the Chorus' normal length, and stops on the downbeat of the 18th repetition. Note that the figure shifts one octave higher for a while.

Bridge
It's square - eight measures long (2+2+4); harmonic-wise it's open at both ends.

/------- 2x ------\
| G (/F#) | Em    |
| IV      | ii    |

| G (F#)  | Em    | A     |  -    |
| IV      | ii    | V     |  -    |

The lead vocal is heavily reverbed, and the third phrase adds vocal harmony. The last two measures add a four-in-the-bar drum pattern, the upbeat of the next Chorus, and the lead guitar that fades in.