1. Killer Queen

2. Killer Queen Composed by lead singer Freddie Mercury in 1974
On the Queen album Sheer Heart Attack
After the experimental previous album "Queen II", the band made a less complex and more ‘catchy’ album.
This was their first single that wasn’t guitar-driven although there is a lot of guitar work in the production.
The form is a real showcase of the Queen’s use of section and subsection variations. In this respect Killer Queen is one of the most clever pop-songs ever.

3. Killer Queen Instrumentation
Freddie Mercury - Lead and Backing Vocals, Piano
Brian May - Electric Guitar & Backing Vocals
John Deacon - Bass Guitar
Roger Taylor - Drums, Backing Vocals, Triangle,
Chimes
Producer - Roy Thomas Baker & Queen

4. Killer Queen Structure Intro > Verse 1 > Bridge
> Chorus > link 1
> Verse 2 > Bridge
> Chorus (first half only)
> Solo 1 (Bridge) > link 2
> Solo 2 (verse) > Bridge
> Chorus > link 1 > Outro

5. Killer Queen Intro It's very simple!
Just 6 finger clicks (one and a half bars).
Note that finger clicks can be heard throughout almost the whole song!

6. Killer Queen
Verses
It's eight bars long plus a half bar that sustains the section-closing chord and provides space for the upbeat of the Bridge.
Verse 1 starts with "right hand" piano; then adds bass and drums; 2 beats later enters the single-noted guitar which plays a similar descending figure to that of the bass.
Syncopation is regularly used in the vocal melody

7. Killer Queen Bridge This is like a 3-bar extension of the Verse.
The last bar can be divided into two: the first one belongs to the Bridge, and the second one - to the Chorus.
This measure contains the modulation in tonality from Eb-major to F-major.

8. Killer Queen
Chorus
The Chorus is 8 bars long but not in a predictable symmetric way as the phrasing is 5+3 (not 4+4)
The key is more D minor than F major
The lead melody is backed up by 3-part harmonies plus some background and antiphonal harmonies.
(antiphonal = left speaker then right speaker)

9. Killer Queen Link 1 This is 4 bars long with a normal 2+2 phrasing.
The piano part is interesting because without the guitar harmonies it sounds very incomplete*. It does not play many full chords in the first 2 bars.
The piano part, however, has got an interestingly syncopated rhythm that makes it look more complicated than it really is.
* NB – Brian May (guitar) was in hospital while the others recorded their parts. Apparently Freddie Mercury already knew what kind of guitar harmonies the song needed and played a piano track that supported rather than drove them.

10. Killer Queen
Verse 2
Verse 2 features more overdubs than the first: triangle, a guitar fill in the fourth bar, and slowly oscillating three-part backing vocals from the fifth bar.

11. Killer Queen
Bridge 2
The 2nd Bridge has a modified lead melody in the second bar, and features almost "talking" lead vocal.
The first bars of Solo 2 are a variation of the first bars of the bridge.

12. Killer Queen Solo 1 and link 2
The second part of the second chorus is changed for a guitar solo.
There is a key shift to C minor in the 3rd bar .

13. Killer Queen Solo 2 This is the same framework as the verse.
The lead guitar's melody is also a variant of the lead vocal of the Verse but is recycled shifted up and down in this song. This technique is more closely associated with symphonic style than rock.
Towards the end the beat/pulse keeps shifting with the use of accents. The tune becomes a little disorienting, although it is not obvious.
There is a clever three-track arrangement of the guitar solo using recording studio techniques called multi-tracking.

14. Killer Queen Verse 3 Bridge 3
The first five bars of the 3rd Bridge are an extended variation of the first Bridge.
Chorus
Lots of use of multi-tracked vocals & effects.

15. Killer Queen
Outro
The outro builds up from series of double stops (ta-daaa) on Eb chord completed with a repeated descending guitar figure starting on the first beats.
This figure is hocket-like arranged for two guitars. (Hocket is a very old technique of sharing a melody between 2 or more instruments)

16. Killer Queen Version from - We Will Rock You (Musical)
Sung by the character Killer Queen – the ruling leader of ‘Globalsoft Corporation’.
She has heard of a prophecy that musical instruments have been hidden in the "place of living rock", and a "bright star" will show the way to them.
She orders her police to get to the bottom of the matter and crush the rebel Bohemians who believe in the prophecy.

17. Killer Queen Research & Analysis
Look through this PowerPoint again whilst listening to the mp3.
Research the key words used.
Research further into the song
Remember DR SMITH for analysis