The melody has a wide range (goes very high and very low!)
The guitar solo borrows ideas from the chorus and verse sections of the song
The backing vocals use words and vocalisations (like oohs and aahs!)
The melody is often conjunct, but with some wide angular leaps, including
intervals of 6ths and octaves.
In the chorus the melody is harder to spot on it’s own because of the backing
vocal harmonies
The vocal part sometimes uses falsetto.
The vocal part also includes spoken text
The vocal part contains a slide upwards
The length of the melodic phrases are often uneven
Word painting is used on the words “drive you wild”.
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Tonality
The main tonality for the piece is Eb Major
The key modulates during the song.
The chorus is in Bb major
There are points where there is tonal ambiguitylike in the first verse which starts with a C minor
chord, making the key signature unclear.
The chord sequences move quickly through different key signatures
The last chorus ends in Bb major, so the outro features a repeated Eb chord to restablish the original key signature
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Harmony
Queen liked to use adventurous chord sequences
The song uses several altered or extended chords
Most of the chords are in root position, but there are some chord
inversions.
There is a circle of 5ths chord progression in the chorus
The modulations to different keys are shown by perfect cadences
The song starts with a C minor chord
Some parts of the chord sequence contain a faster harmonic rhythm
The chord inversions create descending and ascending basslines
In the instrumental before the second verse there is a “vamp” based around an F chord
There is a pedal note used in bars 27-30
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structure
The piece has a verse-chorus structure
The full structure is: Intro (clicks), verse 1, chorus, instrumental, verse 2, chorus, guitar solo, verse 3, chorus, outro
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Texture
The main texture of the piece is homophonic.
The texture builds up gradually at the start of the song with each instrument entering one at a time.
The guitar solo uses a three part texture.
Sounds are spread out using panning
The interweaving guitar and vocals parts from the
second verse give the piece a polyphonic feel at times
The guitar solo uses imitation
The use of panning in the backing vocals creates an antiphonal feel
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Tempo
Moderate tempo.
A dotted crotchet is measured at 112 bpm
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Instruments
The vocal part is sung by Freddie Mercury, who has a high tenor voice.
The piece uses piano, electric guitar, bass and drum kit.
There are overdubbed backing vocals.
There are 4 guitar parts that have been overdubbed to create a richer texture
There is a slightly out of tune “jangle” piano recorded on top of the main piano line
The song uses studio effects like multi track recording, EQ, flanger, distortion, reverb, wah-wah and panning.
The guitar part uses slides, bends, pull-offs and vibrato
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Background instrumentation
This is a Glam Rock song from the band’s third album.
It was released in 1974
Queen’s sound is unlike many “standard” rock bands as they use adventurous harmonies and structures, and a theatrical style influenced by musical theatre and opera.
They also create complicated arrangements of layered guitar parts and backing vocals in the recording studio using multitrack recording.
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Rhythm and meter
The time signature is mainly in 12/8 time
This gives the piece a swung feel. (it uses swung rhythms)
There is a regular, danceable beat with a steady tempo.
There is syncopation used throughout
Every verse and chorus start with an anacrusis
There are occasional extra bars of 6/8 time to extend phrase lengths
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