Music - Killer Queen

Music - Killer Queen

1. Background to Queen and the song 'Killer Queen'

   • The band Queen was formed in 1970. They are a rock band.
   • Queen had four members, who played the following roles:
     • Freddie Mercury - Lead vocals, piano and backing vocals
     • Brain May - Lead guitar and backing vocals
     • Roger Taylor - Drums and backing vocals
     • John Deacon - Bass guitar
   • The song 'Killer Queen' was written by Freddie Mercury. It comes from Queen's third album Sheer Heart Attack which was released in 1974.
     • Sheer Heart Attack is different from Queens previous two albums. Sheer Heart Attack uses recording techniques of layering vocals and instruments - this created the distinctive Queen sound.
   • Queen are very successful - they have sold millions of albums, had many number 1 singles and performed in massive arenas

2. Killer Queen has a Verse-Chorus structure

   • The structure of 'Killer Queen' is quite straightforward - it basically follows a verse-chorus structure, with a couple of variations (there are a couple of bridge sections, and a little guitar interlude before the second verse). The verses aren't exactly the same either. The structure looks like this: Intro, Verse 1, Chorus, Bridge, Guitar Interlude, Verse 2, Chorus, Guitar Solo, Verse 3, Chorus, Bridge, Outro
   • The guitar solo is performed by Brain May. It was actually recorded after the rest of the piece, as May was ill when the song was recorded. The solo uses layering, so couldn't have been performed live in exactly the same way.

3. The song has unusual lyrics

   • The lyrics of 'Killer Queen' are a key feature of the song. They were written before the music and are very wordy, with lots of syllable. This means they dictate the rhythm of the melody - the note lengths are usually quite short in order to fit all the words in. Most of the song is syllabic
   • The words themselves are quite unusual. The song mentions Marie Antoinette, Khrushchev and Kennedy. The subject of the song enjoys 'Moet et Chandon' and 'caviar' and talks like a 'baroness', which creates an image of an upper-class, well-connected women.
   • The chorus uses lots of explosive images - e.g. 'gunpowder', 'dynamite' and 'laser beam'

4. The accompaniment changes throughout the song.

   • Unusually for a rock song, 'Killer Queen' doesn't start with an instrumental introduction - it starts with six clicks. The solo vocalist comes in alone on the last click, then the instrumentation builds up. The piano comes in first, followed by the guitar, drums and bass guitar, then finally the backing vocals.
   • The instrumentation varies a little indifferent verse - e.g. there's a bell and a more prominent guitar part in verse 2. For the first part of each chorus, the vocals are in four-part harmony with no solo line
   • The backing vocals are in four-part harmony (another reason why the song couldn't be performed like this live - there's a four-part harmony and a soloist, but there are only 4 members in Queen)
   • The backing vocals are a key feature of Queens songs, and help create their recognisable sound. They also sing in call and response

5. The song is in major key

   • 'Killer Queen' is in E flat major - but verses 1 and 2 actually start on a C minor chord (the relative minor)
   • There is a mix of major and minor tonality throughout the piece because of a number of modulations
   • The song is in 12/8 compound quadruple time but it changes to 6/8 compound dupale time for one bar in each verse. The use of compound time gives it a swung feel.
   • It has a steady- rhythmic pulse, set up from the start by the opening clicks and continued by the rhythmic piano chords (playing a quaver on every beat of the bar at the start of the first two verses)