Summary Edexcel Music GCSE Grade 9 Notes (Killer Queen)

KILLER QUEEN- QUEEN
CONTEXT:

 Rock group formed in London in 1970 consisting of: - Freddie Mercury singer
and pianist
- Brian May – guitarist
- Roger Taylor – drums
- John Deacon – bassist
 From their 3rd studio album ‘sheer heart attack.’
 Freddie mercury wrote the lyrics
 Song is about an upper class prostitute

VERSE 1 (b2-14):

 Finger clicks
 Anacrusis
 In 12/8
 Ambiguous tonality( sounds like starts in C minor) most of song in E flat major.
Could reflect feeling of no clear roots.
 Jangle and piano short detached chord accompaniment
 4 bar long phrases
 anacrusis
 5 bar long phrase
 Harmonic rhytm – 2 chords per bar
 Meter change to 6/8
 Multi tracked backing vocals harmonised lead vocals.
 Bass and drum enter
 Descending chromatic sequence panned to the left. Vibrato
 Harmonic sequence V-I (x3) (starts on caviar)
 Falsetto range
 3 bar long phrase
 1 bar long chord sequence moves up by 3rd

CHORUS (b14-22)

 B flat major
 Anacrusis
 Portamento
 Vocals produces parallel harmony
 D minor ( dynamite)
 C major (blow your mind)
 Flanger effect (laser beam) bvox vocables (ba,ba)
 5 bar long phrase
 rising 4th (rēcommended āt )(šatiable āppetite)
 falling 5th ( at in)
 melody transposed from VI and repeated as sequence
 3 bar long phrase

INSTRUMENTAL (b23-26)

 piano vamp (accomp)
 syncopation in piano part
 slide in guitars
 guitars play in 3rds