| Sebastian 15.01.2004 11:47 |
Hi everyone. I'm doing a research on Freddie's cliché. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, I mean the I > V > vi with step-wise descending bass. In more exact words, it corresponds to any of the following progressions: C > G/B > Am C# > Ab/C > Bbm D > A/C# > Bm Eb > Bb/D > Cm E > B/Eb > Dbm F > C/E > Dm F# > C#/F > Ebm G > D/F# > Em Ab > Eb/G > Fm A > E/Ab > F#m Bb > F/A > Gm B > F#/Bb > Abm Now, what I'm trying to do is make a list of all Freddie's songs that use this progression at some point. So far I've got this ones, any contribution is welcome: Bohemian Rhapsody Fairy Feller's Master Stroke Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy Friends Will Be Friends Innuendo We Are The Champions It's A Hard Life Life Is Real Keep Passing The Open Windows Lily Of The Valley Somebody To Love The March Of The Black Queen Also I'd love to learn about the origin of this cliché and possible ways for Freddie to get to know it (so far I've got one suspect: Lennon's 'All You Need Is Love'). Songs that also use this cliché - not written by Freddie - are More Than Words, Save Me, Brighton Rock, Dust In The Wind and Dear Friends. Any contribution on that side is also welcome |
| Sebastian 15.01.2004 11:48 |
'Two Of Us', also by my favourite band, is another example |
| PD. 15.01.2004 16:03 |
The progression in question must be frequently used in classical music, and also in some pop songs prior to Beatles. Pachelbel's famous "Canon in D" is a close example, even though the bass there follows the root, the step-wise descending voice is also present there. |
| Sebastian 15.01.2004 16:59 |
More examples I found from Freddie: Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Nevermore, Made In Heaven 4 more from Brian: Too Much Love, Who Wants To Live Forever, Is This The World We Created, Back To The Light 1 from Roger - Days Of Our Lives 1 from Roger, in reversed form - Heaven For Everyone 2 from John - You're My Best Friend, You And I |
| geeksandgeeks 15.01.2004 20:21 |
That what? The what??? every time we talk about this, I get completely freaked out. |
| Whatinthewhatthe? 15.01.2004 21:00 |
Don't forget the "Aeolian cadence" in the Beatles' Not A Second Time. I always found that quite fascinating! :-) |
| FriedChicken 15.01.2004 23:32 |
"Also I'd love to learn about the origin of this cliché and possible ways for Freddie to get to know it (so far I've got one suspect: Lennon's 'All You Need Is Love')" How could you ever find out where this progression started. it might be possible to find out where it was first used in modern music (1950-now) But since there have been instruments i'm sure someone used this progression, so it's kind of useless to try and find it out. Even more useless is finding out where Freddie heard this, he liked the Beatles, but that doesn't mean he heard it in All You Need for the first time, or that he used it often because it was in that song...right? |
| Sebastian 16.01.2004 06:40 |
that's why I said POSSIBLE ways |
| FriedChicken 16.01.2004 09:27 |
Save Me and White Queen also has this progression It's possible he noticed it for the first time in: Beatles - Let it Be (F > C/E > Dm) The Who - Dr. Jimmy (F > C/E > Dm) The Stones - She Smiled Sweetly (F > C/E > Dm) The Stones - Angie (F > C/E > Dm) Elvis Presley - Always on my Mind (G > D/F# > Em) And what about Amazing Grace, that song also has this progression, and we all know how much Freddie loved this song, so perhaps he picked it up when hearing Amazing Grace |
| Sebastian 16.01.2004 10:04 |
Thanks, I hadn't thought about Angie |
| Penetration_Guru 16.01.2004 12:06 |
Sorry, Sebastien, I think you're going to fail for once - that progression is so common (and so natural for any guitarist going from G to Em or C to Am), that you'll just get snowed under with examples. Mind you, combine it with Brian's AKOM/WWRY/HTF guitar riff, and you could construct the "ultimate" Queen-a-like song. Question is, who would you get to sing it? |
| FriedChicken 16.01.2004 12:09 |
And ofcourse Brian's cliched, A > D/A riff, Johns high melodic basslines |
| Sebastian 16.01.2004 12:34 |
> Sorry, Sebastien, I think you're going to fail for once - that progression is so common... I'm not failing, I just wanted to know more about the cliché, and I did. So that's not a failure |
| Bohardy 16.01.2004 14:58 |
That's exactly what PG's on about Niek: they're one and the same. |
| FriedChicken 16.01.2004 15:46 |
ahh yeah....stupid me! i try to read too fast |
| Penetration_Guru 17.01.2004 16:52 |
I agree fail wasn't the right word, but you know what I mean |
| The Black Queen 17.01.2004 17:00 |
Wha huh? I'm lost. (700th post woooo!) |
| wstüssyb 17.01.2004 21:33 |
And I thought Freddie's cliché was the he was gay. |
| Sonja 18.01.2004 03:53 |
"And I thought Freddie's cliché was the he was gay." LOL ;-) |
| monster 18.01.2004 08:34 |
This isn't a freddie-cliche but a music-cliche. It's used everywhere and sounds nice, and is really good for chord-changes. It's like saying the chord D is a cliche, og playing in 4/4 time is a cliche. It sounds good, and is one of the basics of music. |
| monster 18.01.2004 08:34 |
This isn't a freddie-cliche but a music-cliche. It's used everywhere and sounds nice, and is really good for chord-changes. It's like saying the chord D is a cliche, og playing in 4/4 time is a cliche. It sounds good, and is one of the basics of music. |
| Sebastian 18.01.2004 08:58 |
you're right. it's hard for me though to find a composer who has "abused" of that cliché so much as Freddie. |
| monster 18.01.2004 10:46 |
Well then you're not good at searching. There are millions who used it more. |
| Sebastian 19.01.2004 06:06 |
can you tell me some of those millions? |
| FriedChicken 19.01.2004 11:45 |
search for any of those chord progressions you listed in the beginning on google, like this "D > A/C# > Bm" And you will find thousands of songs! |
| monster 19.01.2004 14:56 |
Paul Simon in Simon and Garfunkel uses it often, John Lennon used it all the time, Paul McCartney, REM, The Cure, Neil Young, Pete Townshend.... I could go on and on |
| Sebastian 20.01.2004 07:17 |
That's what I wanted, thanks monster (even though that list is not even close to "millions") |
| monster 20.01.2004 16:10 |
No problem, Seb. You know I can't bother with listing 100s of artists. |
| geeksandgeeks 20.01.2004 20:28 |
Try "every song U2 ever wrote is based around the A scale". And you know what? They sound really good! |
| inu-liger 21.01.2004 14:04 |
Sebastian, I have a question regarding your info on "Stealin'": It says that Brian played the Red Special, but I thought he played steel guitar. Am I wrong? |
| Sebastian 21.01.2004 17:49 |
I think I am wrong there. That's going to be corrected soon |
| The Real Wizard 22.01.2004 01:35 |
"Try "every song U2 ever wrote is based around the A scale". And you know what? They sound really good!" But there's enough stuff that just sounds half-decent or even "good" on the radio nowadays. Whatever happened to originality and musical talent? Well, that wasn't a rhetorical question. MTV has destroyed such things by slowly making music more about the image than the music itself. Mainstream music has progressively become all about looks, and conversely, creativity in the mainstream has progressively gone downhill. "The reason the mainstream is referred to as a stream is because it's so shallow." -George Carlin |