I'm sure each one of them has his own technique, but how did each member of Queen write his own songs...
Lyrics first and then melodies... or the opossite way?
I remember Freddie saying that (for the most part) his songs start with the music. He then went on to say that he thinks his lyrics bring down his melodies. That silly fag. ;)
I wonder how it works with Elton and Bernie Taupin.
Some of his songs fit the lyrics so perfectly that you would think that both music and lyrics were written by Elton.
Regardless, I am totally in the dark when it comes to songwriting. It would appear difficult for each member to write for the others. The only way I can conceive the songwriting process is in a group setting. (i.e. guitarist throws up a riff, bassist creates a bassline which fits in the key, drummer provides a beat, and vocalist creates the tune...afterwards or beforehand lyrics are written) However, I don't really think that that is how it works when only one or two members are attributed to the composition of a song.
Mr.Jingles79 wrote: I wonder how it works with Elton and Bernie Taupin.
Some of his songs fit the lyrics so perfectly that you would think that both music and lyrics were written by Elton.
Taupin does the lyrics, then sends them to Elton for the music. I've heard that if Elton does not get the melody down quickly, he starts over from scratch.
With "Daniel," Taupin wrote a third verse that basically explained what the song was about. Elton cut the verse out once he got it.
Mercury - He used to start from a germinal idea, then polished it, worked his a** out each night re-writing it until he got the whole song. That's why the early material is so clever, because he worked and worked on it a lot. For some middle period material (early 80s) he started the ideas in his head and then went to a synth and added chords. For latter material (Innuendo, Hitman, Miracle, Was It All Worth It), it was more a group-thing, but he directing
May - He did it level by level, building the song if you know what I mean. I like the way he writes bass-lines, very melodic, like guitars but in low range (no wonder he's a guitarist). Brian used/uses to lay down first the basic structure in piano, then worked on the rest of the arrangement (bass, harmonies...) and finally put the guitars. That way the guitar part was more fresh and spontaneous. In the case of later songs - I Want It All, Headlong - there wasn't much group participation in the songwriting, it was all him
Deacon - There are two versions. Mack said John just stood quiet and didn't comment anything about the songs he was writing, he just came up with them when they were already finished, all the arrangements and stuff. Probably that's his early songwriting. Fred commented that both he and Roger let him participate from the early stage, suggesting changes, taking the song, changing the order etc. His only Queen credited track is My Life Has Been Saved, which he recorded a demo for with help from Dave Richards, with melody lines and then they showed it to Freddie, who loved it and sang on it. I don't know if Fred played keyboards there. Finally, it was presented to the rest of band to be recorded.
Roger - Very intuitive, the opposite to Freddie. Most of time he wrote on guitar although a couple of songs are written in piano - e.g. Radio Ga Ga.
As for writing for the others there are several ways to do it:
- You write a score for each instrument
- You program the whole song in synths and then show it to the actual band to replace drum machines with real drums, synth-bass with real bass, etc
- You do all the voices in the demo and then put the other guys to replace or reinforce them.
- You show the bass-player or guitar-player how do you want their parts by playing them in the piano (in many Freddie's songs all John does is doubling Mercury's left hand parts)
- You sing the melodies of the guitar solo
- You play the drum pattern (even in a slow way) to show the drummer how do you want it, then he does it at the correct speed/strength
Roger used to write his songs on the guitar. In the 1983 break he tried the keyboards, and his major hits came to his head(Radio Gaga,A Kind of magic, Heaven for Everyone). Roger was writing with the wrong instrument!
Roger commented in 1982 that he was starting to use piano (as opposed to synths) for song-writing, but I guess it was more for his solo album. Both of his songs in Hot Space seem guitar written