Going into the recording of Races we just had come back from a sensational tour in Japan, and fallen in love with all things Japanese, including of course some of their music. The opening piano figure on which Breath is based is very deliberately on the Japanese Pentatonic scale. Freddie was also clever enough to leave the sustain pedal down at exactly the right moment so all the five notes could be heard beating with each other as the chord dies away. The vocals are based on the background chords which is why they achieve a similar effect when a spin is put on them.