Killer Queen

• MELODY

  The vocal part sometimes uses falsetto.

  The vocal part also includes spoken text

  The vocal part contains a slide upwards (on the word “queen”)

  The length of the melodic phrases are often uneven (like when the extra 6/8 bar is added)

  Word painting is used on the words “drive you wild”.
• RHYHM and METRE

  There are occasional extra bars of 6/8 time to extend phrase lengths

  There are some use of triplets (bar 18)
• TONALITY

  The chord sequences move quickly through different key signatures—for example in the first half of the chorus the chord sequence moves quickly through D minor and C major. The last chorus ends in Bb major, so the outro features a repeated Eb chord to restablish the original key signature
• INSTRUMENTS/SONORITY

  The guitar part uses slides, bends, pull-offs and vibrato
• TEMPO

  Moderate tempo
• TEXTURE

  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
• STRUCTURE

  The piece has a verse-chorus structure
• HARMONY

  Some parts of the chord sequence contain a faster harmonic rhythm (like one chord every beat on “guaranteed to blow your mind”)

  The chord inversions create descending and ascending basslines (such as the descending bassline during “built in a remedy”)

  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