Brian recently said that Let Me In Your Heart Again was originally played in a higher key when the band were demoing it but Freddie struggled to sing it, so they changed key for the "final" take. This got me thinking - what keys are various songs sung in? Whenever I put any Queen track into Audacity, it always the song's in F. Even though I'm not musically inclined, I know this isn't true for every one. I'm sure any fans out there who want to karaoke Queen tracks right would want to know this too. I'm guessing Bo Rhap is in Bb because I've read many times that the familiar ballad riff is in Bb, but that's where my guesses end.
You're right about that - now that I've checked on 'The Queen Songbook', Bo Rhap goes Bb, Eb, A, F. I guess the best thing to do with this thread would be point out the separate keys for song parts.
I bet LMIYHA was written in A. Brian loved the A - D chord sequel around the Works period. If it was written in A, that means Freddie had to sing up to D5 instead of the C5's that can be heard in the final version. D5's were a piece of cake for him on the 80's albums when his voice was in top shape, but during the recording of The Works I don't really think it was. The highest full voice notes on that album, excluding the D5's in the extended version of Hard Life, are C#5's in HTF and IWTBF.
Let me in your heart is now in G major. Let Me Live is in C major, Mother Love is in G-sharp, Tie your mother down is in A, We are the champions is in C minor/F major, Who Wants To Live Forever is in E minor, A kind of Magic is in A, Radio Gaga in is F, I want it all is in B minor, Bohemian Rhapsody is in B-flat-A major-E-flat-F major, Hard Life is in B-flat, Too Much Love is in G, I was born to love you A -flat, Killer Queen is in C minor, Fairy Feller is in E minor/C major, March of the Black Queen I'd need to look up.....
Usually when talking about the key of a piece of music, modulations are ignored unless they are hugely significant or against the normal forms of a piece. Even when they do modulate significantly, we usually just refer to the prevailing key - Shostakovich concerto in F for instance, Beethoven Symphony in C minor, Chopin Sonata in B minor, which all have quite significant modulations and complicated key structures, but for reference we just refer to the most dominant key in the piece (as opposed to the dominant key, which is something different.....) and then in the structural analysis, we would go into the key sequence in more detail. Sometimes we would give a piece two keys (chopin scherzo in B-flat/D-flat), but it's rare.
br5946 wrote:
Brian recently said that Let Me In Your Heart Again was originally played in a higher key when the band were demoing it but Freddie struggled to sing it, so they changed key for the "final" take. This got me thinking - what keys are various songs sung in? Whenever I put any Queen track into Audacity, it always the song's in F. Even though I'm not musically inclined, I know this isn't true for every one. I'm sure any fans out there who want to karaoke Queen tracks right would want to know this too. I'm guessing Bo Rhap is in Bb because I've read many times that the familiar ballad riff is in Bb, but that's where my guesses end.
So your question is essentially, What key are all Queen's songs in?
I think Google is your friend on this one.
Oh, they're not all in F, whatever Audacity might think, unless you've only listened to Jealousy, DSMN, Nevermore, TMillionaireW, and RGG (and no doubt a few others I've forgotten).