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ABOUT THIS WEBSITE I've always thought arts (of any sort) can be an extraordinary pedagogic device (as an unschooled person myself, I'm entirely in favour of alternative education), so I liked the idea of conducting a documentary where people could learn music through watching how classical and popular composers did their songs. A reconstruction thing for telly ... and I've still got that idea, but of course I had to start off somewhere else, so I thought of a book; not enough sources for that either, so I came up with the idea of a website. Since I'm completely ignorant when it comes to computers and technology, this was quite a challenge for me, but on the other hand it'd got some marvellous points: people from all over the world can read it, correct it, comment it, and of course, it's free! I've put loads of work into this thing, and although it's obviously far from being perfect, I'm glad to realise it's a thorough work and I've learnt a lot from doing it; besides, what's more important, I've met some wonderful people thanks to this web.
As a huge Andrew Lloyd-Webber fan, when I first heard Bohemian Rhapsody I thought it could fit in nicely somewhere in 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. I knew about some Queen songs through "general knowledge", but a defining moment came when I bought 'A Night at the Opera'. That bloody record should have had some sort of signal saying "Warning: Highly Addictive!", because I spent all that weekend playing the album over and over again. I was especially fond of the fifth track there, '39, which is still my favourite Queen song. Some months later I bought 'Jazz', then 'Races' and that was it: the rest of Queen songs were downloaded or copied, since I'm not a fan per se (actually, I don't think I have a favourite band anyway, except the Spice Girls but that's another story), and slowly began visiting some sites and forums. Back in early 2002, somebody sent me an interview a friend of hers had made to David Richards, asking about who had written the tunes credited to the entire band. I managed to get Mr Richards e-mail too, so I asked him some follow-ups and around May (or June?) 2002 I "published" the list of authors on QMS. The songwriting report obviously got some backlash and was (and still is) highly debated within the Queen community, especially regarding Innuendo, The Hitman, Was It All Worth It and Bijou. I'm glad, though, that thanks to my input, the classic image of Freddie as a drone whose creative contributions in the later period had all been minimal, or very low in quality, has changed. On 8th January 2003, I uploaded the very first 'Bechstein Debauchery', a horrible small web that nonetheless had some interesting data regarding who wrote what, who sang what and information on the instruments they had employed. Later on, Martin (Queen Concerts webmaster, whom I've always regarded a celebrity due to his fantastic work) hinted at the idea of making an instruments section for his site, and I readily accepted to contribute. Eventually, he ended up making the generous offer of hosting my own project, for which I'm endlessly grateful.
I'd hate it if people took information found here as the gospel truth, but likewise I wouldn't like it to gain bad reputation as an attempt to mislead, over-simplify and pigeonhole. So please keep in mind that there may be mistakes, and not one or two, but scores ... reasons are basically these ones: - I'm not part of the band, I've never worked with them, I haven't got master-tapes (besides the four well-known ones: Brighton Rock, Killer Queen, Bo Rhap and Get Down Make Love), I wasn't present at the time they wrote the songs, so I can hardly guarantee a 100% conclusion about, say, what kind of acoustic guitar did John use for Misfire or whether Roger came up with 'x' drum-arrangement instead of having been instructed by the creator of the song (or the producer, or whoever) about it, or vice-versa. - For the particular authorship problem, it's important to realise that the concept of what's involved in songwriting and what's involved in arranging changes from one person to another. For instance, if I'm painting my house and a neighbour passes by and tells me "you should add more blue", does that mean we painted the house together? I don't think so, even if the extra-blue actually changed the final product. In the case of music, should we regard as co-author a person who suggested a key-change, added a riff or changed a word? It's entirely subjective, and that affects all departments: David Richards considered Don't Try So Hard to be a collaboration between Freddie and Brian, while Dr May considered Mercury to be its creator and the rest of the band (including himself) to be "mere" co-arrangers. Likewise, Freddie's contributions to Pain Is So Close to Pleasure could have been equal, or even fewer, than those he made to Radio Ga Ga, yet he got co-credit for one and not for the other. - Again going with witnesses, it's not a secret that any human being can misremember details about their past, especially if it concerns work. Do I remember every photo I've taken on weddings, every song I've performed on stage, every orthographic or stylistic mistake I've corrected when proof-reading or copy-editing? Likewise, we can't pretend that the band members, or their producers, friends and so on, remember every instrument they've used, every line they've penned, every concert they've played... Still, I tend to place quotes whenever possible (with detailed sources) because people like them and they're a good complement for the general research, but it doesn't mean we should take it as "Brian said so, so that's how it was, full stop". This isn't a black or white situation, not even grey - there are loads of colours, some of which we can't see but it doesn't mean they don't exist! - My song analyses are based on my personal interpretation, which again is just one of the possibilities. For instance, what I label "chorus" may be a "middle-eight" for somebody else, or the first chord in Bo Rhap can be transcribed as Bb6/D or Gm7/D. When it comes to functional analysis, options become even more open: an F > G > A chord-stream can be read as being in A minor (with picardy third), A major, A Dorian, etc. It all depends on the context, but such context is relative to the way it's interpreted. Some things aren't subjective, though: Back Chat is called Back Chat, a chord with C, D, F and A notes is not Ebm7 (and it's not the dominant of B-minor), the structure of These Are the Days of Our Lives is not acyclic, the bass in Dancer is synth-generated (not played on a stringed instrument), etc. With that in mind, my analyses may have some points which are absolutely right, some which are absolutely wrong (whenever you find them, please point them out to me so I can make corrections), some which are a matter of opinion, interpretation and/or nomenclature. - No human being can avoid being at least a little bit biased. If you feel I'm under-rating or over-praising any artist, song, arrangement, or anything else, please drop me a line. - Who-played-what and who-sang-what remain unclear in many cases. Take the bass-line in Coming Soon, for instance: Roger could've done it as part of the demo and left it (as he did for both Sheer Heart Attack and Fight From the Inside), or he could've asked John to play it as part of a live backing-track. As a matter of fact, even Brian (or a guest musician) could have played it, it's too simple and maybe they didn't care enough to mention it on the credits. By the same logic, it could've been a mixture between demo and overdubs, etc... so how can I tell, precisely, who played it, especially considering 'The Game' album hasn't list any "who-played-what" credits? All I can lay on in this case is either an educated guess based on the style or the precedents, or ask one of the people who were there, which again can't always be a 100% proof since they could've forgotten or misremembered after almost three decades.
Should you have any suggestion, query, idea or complaint, don't hesitate to contact me, I promise I'll reply asap - I hate it when my words seem to fall to deaf ears, so I always try to answer incoming e-mails - but I can't guarantee I'll be able to add everything that's asked me for. Analysing one song, for instance, takes loads of work, effort, proof-reading, research ... imagine how hard it'd be to comment an entire album. As much as I take this project seriously, this is not my main job. If you've got any doubt about musical theory, equipment or simply rock n' roll trivia, I'd be more than happy to help as long as your question is within my reach. I can't offer anything different to anybody else, but I can try my best to do what I do in my own particular way. And again, if you see any mistake (either theoretical or factual, or simply something lost in translation), please tell me so I can correct it.
Cheers!
Seb |
