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 - Queen: The Night Comes Down

The Night Comes Down

Intro II = harmony quoted off the Verse

This a ballad-type May composition with a relatively long intro and outro creating a frame for the core with a simple ballad form. The main instrument is the acoustic guitar. Vocal and guitar harmonies added for the chorus, guitar harmonies are also in Intro II. Another contrasting factor between the section is the usage / non usage of borrowed chords. The modulation between e-minor and D-major, neighbour key.

Intro
The intro consists of four distinct subsection the first of which is the longest. The song starts with a brief drum figure starting with upbeat and followed by a single power chord.

| E5 |
| i |

Then we have six phrases backed by bass ostinato from the second phrase on. The first phrase with 1+6+9 inner grouping of notes is rhythmically tad disorienting if you try. The third phrase opens with a 1-2-3-1 - 2-3-4-2 melodic motif which is familiar from Bach's famous Toccatta in d-minor, but just shortly. The tune is climbing up step-wise with some 3 note fragmenst then the tune falls in pentaton with some triplets, then again some thee-note grooped fragments with blue notes. The sub-sub section is closed by a two measure sustained Em chord.

/----- 8x ----\
| E* | - |
| 1... | - |

The next sub-subsection is dominated by acoustic guitar arpeggios. The drums switch to a constant beat mode. The bass ostinato (see more frequently used in the Hot Space era) is kept played throughout. The arpeggios are built around the E minor (and C major chords). Brian created the arpeggios on higher frets enabling him arpeggiating neighbour notes (E - F# - G).

/----- 2x-----\
| E* | - |
| i | - |

| C* | - |
| VI | - |

| E* | - |
| i | - |

| C* | - |
| VI | - |

The arpeggios are closed with falmenco flavoured dissonant chord with fast triplets.

                             3/4
| Am6,7| -    | -    | -    | B    |      |
| iv   | -    | -    | -    | V    |      |

The third subsection of the intro is dominated by three part harmony guitars. The harmony quotes the midle of the verse ("colories..."), but the lead tune is different. The homekey is ambigous here, even though we now that the verse is in D. You'll notice the familiar D/A chord, but it's just a parallel sixth motion lick here.

|Am | - Em | D F#m| C# |
| v | - IV | I iii| VII |

| A D/A | -7 |
| V | - |

The guitar harmonies here feature a chromatic motion (F#-F-E) and a you'll also notice a crossrelation between C and C# in the top part.

C   B A   C# C#   C# : top
E   E D   F# F    E : middle
A   D F# A G#   A : bass (middle)

The final subsection of the intro is a vamping F#m guitar chord, which is re-interpreted as D major seventh once the bass is added. The chords are executed in chopped mode: chord - pause - chord - pause.

|F#m/C#| - | Dmaj7 | - |

This figure is recycled before the second verse.

Verse
The harmony of the first phrase features pedal bass, which is an early established May trademark, just like the Bb/D chord that also shows up in several later May compositions (eg. "One Vision"). The phrasing pattern is ABA'CA". The harmony features four borrowed chords making the song more expressive. Mercury swithes to falsetto for the fourth phrase.

| Dmaj7 | D7 | G/D | D |
| I | - | IV | I |

| G | C | D G/D | Dmaj7 |
| IV | bVII | I... | I |

| Dmaj7 | D7 | G/D | Bm |
| I | - | IV | vi |

| Am7 | - | D | C# | A D/A | A7 |
| v | - | I | VII | V | V |

| Dmaj7 | D7 | Bm/D | Bb/D | D -maj7| -7 |
| I | - | vi | bVI | I | - |

The uneven numbered phrases are variants. Second verse alters further these variants.

Chorus
In contrast with the verse the chorus uses only the six diatonic chord: I ii iii IV V vi. The title phrases are harmonized and the vocal phrases are followed by brief guitar harmony motif.

| G | A | D G | D Bm |
| IV | V | I IV| I vi |

| F#m | G | D -maj7| -7 |
| iii | IV | I | - |

repeat first phrase

| F#m | G F#m |
| iii |IV iii |

| Em | A |
| ii | V |

In the second chorus the last phrase is repeated twice. TIn the third "dark again" phrase the bass switches to the ostinato motif we heard in the intro, and this is where the outro starts. Following another ostinato phrase starts the damped acoustic guitar figure a variant of Intro II, while the following arpeggio subsection is more or less the same as before. Feed back guitars fade in, one constant, one hardly moving and one with many trills and primarly step-wise motion. The closing of the figure is similar, but the Am chord resolves this time back to Em.

e:
| Am | Em |
| iv | i |