The main solo (1-1-1-1-2-3-2-4-3-2-1 transposed in a i > VII > VI > V) is completely Freddie-esque: he always tended to shift hooks in different positions (e.g. Bo Rhap's piano hand-crossing lick, Master-Stroke bass-riff), and the Andalusian cadence'd been used frequently in his own songs (e.g. Liar, Fallen Priest).
Now, the flamenco ornaments could've been Steve's idea, or a teamwork.
The 'traditional' flavour is merely a consequence of the i > VII > VI > V cliché, which is very common in all sorts of music. Non-Queen pieces using the same progression include the fifth movement of Bach's partita for violin, Good Vibrations, The Ketchup Song, Misirlou, etc.
Sebastian wrote:
The main solo (1-1-1-1-2-3-2-4-3-2-1 transposed in a i > VII > VI > V) is completely Freddie-esque: he always tended to shift hooks in different positions (e.g. Bo Rhap's piano hand-crossing lick, Master-Stroke bass-riff), and the Andalusian cadence'd been used frequently in his own songs (e.g. Liar, Fallen Priest).
Now, the flamenco ornaments could've been Steve's idea, or a teamwork.
The 'traditional' flavour is merely a consequence of the i > VII > VI > V cliché, which is very common in all sorts of music. Non-Queen pieces using the same progression include the fifth movement of Bach's partita for violin, Good Vibrations, The Ketchup Song, Misirlou, etc.
Steve Howe (1999): "They played me
Innuendo and I go, yeah, heavy metal flamingo! And then Brian says,
'Look, I'd like you play on this,' and I said you're joking, it sounds
great, leave it like it is, and he said, 'No no no, I want you to play
on it, I want to you to play really fast, I want you to run around the
guitar a lot.'"
Sebastian wrote:
The main solo (1-1-1-1-2-3-2-4-3-2-1 transposed in a i > VII > VI > V) is completely Freddie-esque: he always tended to shift hooks in different positions (e.g. Bo Rhap's piano hand-crossing lick, Master-Stroke bass-riff), and the Andalusian cadence'd been used frequently in his own songs (e.g. Liar, Fallen Priest).
Now, the flamenco ornaments could've been Steve's idea, or a teamwork.
The 'traditional' flavour is merely a consequence of the i > VII > VI > V cliché, which is very common in all sorts of music. Non-Queen pieces using the same progression include the fifth movement of Bach's partita for violin, Good Vibrations, The Ketchup Song, Misirlou, etc.
Sebastian, your analisys (escuse me for my poor use of English) are great. I remember reading in your site that this Innuendo part was similar to Good old fashioned lover boy too. Isn't it??
No, I meant the (electric guitar) riff, the one that appears before the verses. The melody follows a similar pattern to 'I can dim the light and sing you songs'. As soon as I can, I'll add sheet music to my website. Someday one day...
I remember reading that steve howe said the whole middle section was already written by freddie when he first heard the piece, and That's all steve had to do was play it. Also brian could have played it, but he thought steve howe would probably do a better Job.
Sebastian wrote:
No, I meant the (electric guitar) riff, the one that appears before the verses. The melody follows a similar pattern to 'I can dim the light and sing you songs'. As soon as I can, I'll add sheet music to my website. Someday one day...
It's perhaps even more obvious in the little acoustic interlude before "Through the sorrow, all through our splendour".