[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]zaiga wrote: [/QUOTENAME]
Brian wrote the actual song, including lyrics. [/QUOTE]
Brian himself confirmed that lyrics were written by him and Freddie.
And about Roger & John: ""The Show Must Go On came from Roger and John playing the sequence and I started to put things down. At the beginning it was just this chord sequence but I had this strange feeling that it could be somehow important and I got very impassioned and went and beavered away at it. I sat down with Freddie and we decided what the theme should be and wrote the first verse. It's a long story, that song, but I always felt it would be important because we were dealing with things that were hard to talk about at the time, but in the world of music you could do it"
Thread
Posts in chronological order
> Brian was inspired by a chord progression he heard John and Roger fooling around with.
The sequence is already most of the music, since all of the sections except one are done upon it.
> Brian wrote the actual song, including lyrics.
Brian directed the "operative" but the song was written by four (Freddie having less input than the others).
> David Richards suggested a particular key change in the song.
That's part of the arrangements rather than songwriting.
> Brian then transcribed the riff to guitar, changing the key.
Again, arrangement, not songwriting. Hitman's music, similarly is 80-90% done entirely over the same riff, thus whoever wrote the riff already wrote most of the music.
> John, however, had considerable input in the song's structure.
Arrangement not songwriting. Reportedly Freddie had significant input in Radio Ga Ga's structure but the song is still Roger's, as well as A Kind Of Magic for which Fred wrote the bass-line and some connectors. Same case here, John and Brian could have put changes to it and re-organised the harmony and form, but the song is still Fred's, at least musically. The one part that sounds very Brian-esque to my ears are the background chords of "ain't no escaping ... kill for your love", which are done and resolved in a very May way (reminds me of Dragon Attack "gonna use my stack...").
> And about Roger & John: ""The Show Must Go On came from Roger and John playing the sequence and I started to put things down.
Yes, although, it's important to add, that those conclusions mentioned below don't mean to be "absolutes" whatsoever. Brian said R&J composed the sequence. IF that's right, then, as I said before, they already wrote 90% of the music, since choruses, intro, solos and verses are all done over that. A nice Brian-esque detail is the way he uses alternate endings (same sections ending on a different chord), like he did in The Prophet's Song and Good Company among others.
Still, as demonstrated before, Brian's memory (or anybody else's for that matter) isn't precisely an absolutely strong evidence. Brian said R&J wrote the sequence, but likewise he said MFK is on QII, John wrote the UP bass part, he played a Koto in Teo, a George Formby in Good Company, John played a Rhodes in Best Friend, there'd been no speeding up in AOBTD, didn't remember they performed Doin' All Right live and moreover he claimed there were no overdubs in Live Killers. Then who knows ;)
The sequence is already most of the music, since all of the sections except one are done upon it.
> Brian wrote the actual song, including lyrics.
Brian directed the "operative" but the song was written by four (Freddie having less input than the others).
> David Richards suggested a particular key change in the song.
That's part of the arrangements rather than songwriting.
> Brian then transcribed the riff to guitar, changing the key.
Again, arrangement, not songwriting. Hitman's music, similarly is 80-90% done entirely over the same riff, thus whoever wrote the riff already wrote most of the music.
> John, however, had considerable input in the song's structure.
Arrangement not songwriting. Reportedly Freddie had significant input in Radio Ga Ga's structure but the song is still Roger's, as well as A Kind Of Magic for which Fred wrote the bass-line and some connectors. Same case here, John and Brian could have put changes to it and re-organised the harmony and form, but the song is still Fred's, at least musically. The one part that sounds very Brian-esque to my ears are the background chords of "ain't no escaping ... kill for your love", which are done and resolved in a very May way (reminds me of Dragon Attack "gonna use my stack...").
> And about Roger & John: ""The Show Must Go On came from Roger and John playing the sequence and I started to put things down.
Yes, although, it's important to add, that those conclusions mentioned below don't mean to be "absolutes" whatsoever. Brian said R&J composed the sequence. IF that's right, then, as I said before, they already wrote 90% of the music, since choruses, intro, solos and verses are all done over that. A nice Brian-esque detail is the way he uses alternate endings (same sections ending on a different chord), like he did in The Prophet's Song and Good Company among others.
Still, as demonstrated before, Brian's memory (or anybody else's for that matter) isn't precisely an absolutely strong evidence. Brian said R&J wrote the sequence, but likewise he said MFK is on QII, John wrote the UP bass part, he played a Koto in Teo, a George Formby in Good Company, John played a Rhodes in Best Friend, there'd been no speeding up in AOBTD, didn't remember they performed Doin' All Right live and moreover he claimed there were no overdubs in Live Killers. Then who knows ;)
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Sebastian wrote: [/QUOTENAME]> Brian was inspired by a chord progression he heard John and Roger fooling around with.
The sequence is already most of the music, since all of the sections except one are done upon it.
> Brian then transcribed the riff to guitar, changing the key.
Again, arrangement, not songwriting. Hitman's music, similarly is 80-90% done entirely over the same riff, thus whoever wrote the riff already wrote most of the music.
> John, however, had considerable input in the song's structure.
Arrangement not songwriting. [/QUOTE]
I guess we have a different opinion on what constitutes writing a song. Coming up with a riff is, in my opinion, not the same as writing a song. Writing a song is coming up with a riff and/or a chord sequence, creating lead melodies, a bassline, structuring the song, and writing lyrics. Queen usually credited the songwriting to the one who came up with the original idea for a song, that's why AKOM, and RGG are credited to Roger, and not Freddie, for example.
Apparently, for TSMGO only the main chord sequence is written by Roger and John, and we don't even know how much of this original chord progression remains in the final version of the song. While the sequence is an important part of the song, I do feel that since the lead melodies, the lyrics (with a bit of input from Freddie), and the song's structure are all Brian's, that Brian should be viewed as the song's main writer. So, when you say that the song is 80-90% Roger+John, I disagree, because I feel that there's a lot more to writing a song than just coming with a chord sequence.
The sequence is already most of the music, since all of the sections except one are done upon it.
> Brian then transcribed the riff to guitar, changing the key.
Again, arrangement, not songwriting. Hitman's music, similarly is 80-90% done entirely over the same riff, thus whoever wrote the riff already wrote most of the music.
> John, however, had considerable input in the song's structure.
Arrangement not songwriting. [/QUOTE]
I guess we have a different opinion on what constitutes writing a song. Coming up with a riff is, in my opinion, not the same as writing a song. Writing a song is coming up with a riff and/or a chord sequence, creating lead melodies, a bassline, structuring the song, and writing lyrics. Queen usually credited the songwriting to the one who came up with the original idea for a song, that's why AKOM, and RGG are credited to Roger, and not Freddie, for example.
Apparently, for TSMGO only the main chord sequence is written by Roger and John, and we don't even know how much of this original chord progression remains in the final version of the song. While the sequence is an important part of the song, I do feel that since the lead melodies, the lyrics (with a bit of input from Freddie), and the song's structure are all Brian's, that Brian should be viewed as the song's main writer. So, when you say that the song is 80-90% Roger+John, I disagree, because I feel that there's a lot more to writing a song than just coming with a chord sequence.
forgive me if i'm wrong but didnt brian write kashoggi's ship?
[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Sebastian wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Still, as demonstrated before, Brian's memory (or anybody else's for that matter) isn't precisely an absolutely strong evidence. Brian said R&J wrote the sequence, but likewise he said MFK is on QII, John wrote the UP bass part, he played a Koto in Teo, a George Formby in Good Company, John played a Rhodes in Best Friend, there'd been no speeding up in AOBTD, didn't remember they performed Doin' All Right live and moreover he claimed there were no overdubs in Live Killers. Then who knows ;)[/QUOTE]
Oh for the love of God, it's almost like you need to throw that in whenever you dispute a songwriting challenge to justify your reasoning. Can't you come up with anything original for a change whenever you debate something Brian said? I'm sure you've never made a mistake in your life before because of your memory.
Oh for the love of God, it's almost like you need to throw that in whenever you dispute a songwriting challenge to justify your reasoning. Can't you come up with anything original for a change whenever you debate something Brian said? I'm sure you've never made a mistake in your life before because of your memory.
> I guess we have a different opinion on what constitutes writing a song. Coming up with a riff is, in my opinion, not the same as writing a song.
I never said it is.
> Writing a song is coming up with a riff and/or a chord sequence
In many cases, the riff or the melody already dictate the chord sequence. Likewise, in many cases, the riff is just an addition to the chord sequence (e.g. Fred created Magic's bass-riff over the chords Roger had put)
> creating lead melodies
Yes
> a bassline
No. Duff McKagan wrote the bass-line he plays in GnR version of Knocking On Heaven's Door, Slash wrote solos. Does that make the song be Dylan/Slash/McKagan? No. The song is still Bob's. The solos Slash wrote and the bass-parts Duff wrote (and the piano parts Axl wrote, etc) were dictated by the chord sequence Bob Dylan had put decades before. George Martin wrote each and everyone of the violin, viola and cello parts of Yesterday, but the song is still Paul's. Why? Because the cello parts etc were dictated by the chords Paul had put.
> structuring the song
No. Fred structured Ga Ga, but it's still Roger's. Or in a clearer example, Valensia completely changed the structure of Liar when he made his cover. Does it make the song Mercury/Valensia? No. It's still Freddie's, all he did was re-arranging the order. Likewise, if for instance Brian came up with a song and then Roger changed the order of sections it didn't turn the song into a May/Taylor thing.
> and writing lyrics
Yes.
> Queen usually credited the songwriting to the one who came up with the original idea for a song, that's why AKOM, and RGG are credited to Roger, and not Freddie, for example.
It's not just a matter of "the original idea", otherwise Ga Ga would have been credited to Roger's son.
> Apparently, for TSMGO only the main chord sequence is written by Roger and John
Again, "only the chord sequence" is already 80-90% of the musical background. Brian could have done the melody lines over that, but it would have been dictated by what Roger and John did, therefore it'd be a collaboration, not a Bri thing. That IF the quote is correct. Who knows, maybe the sequence itself was by Brian too and we're arguing over nothing ;). Or perhaps the sequence came from Delilah (the cat) when Fred brought her to the studio.
> the lyrics (with a bit of input from Freddie)
We don't know if Roger and John had or didn't have input in the lyrics. Brian said that Fred and himself wrote the first verse, but some lines in the rest of the track could have easily been suggested by anybody else. There are loads of uncredited ideas throughout their catalogue, for instance Peter Straker threw in some of the lines of Slightly Mad.
> and the song's structure are all Brian's
We don't know if the structure is ALL his. He's said that there are bits from all of them in there. Then, theoretically, Roger (or anybody else) could have helped building the structure and they just haven't mentioned that.
> that Brian should be viewed as the song's main writer
More important than John, Roger or Freddie: yes. More important than John, Roger and Freddie: no. What I mean is while he was the "coordinator" of the songwriting process, still imho it'd be unfair to credit it just to him since about one half of the input came from the other three.
> So, when you say that the song is 80-90% Roger+John
I didn't say the song, I said the musical background (not including the melody, although I should've written that previously). Lyrics are of course another story.
> Oh for the love of God, it's almost like you need to throw that in whenever you dispute a songwriting challenge to justify your reasoning.
As far as I know, it's the first or second time I throw that in a songwriting thread. You can confirm that easily.
> I'm sure you've never made a mistake in your life before because of your
I never said it is.
> Writing a song is coming up with a riff and/or a chord sequence
In many cases, the riff or the melody already dictate the chord sequence. Likewise, in many cases, the riff is just an addition to the chord sequence (e.g. Fred created Magic's bass-riff over the chords Roger had put)
> creating lead melodies
Yes
> a bassline
No. Duff McKagan wrote the bass-line he plays in GnR version of Knocking On Heaven's Door, Slash wrote solos. Does that make the song be Dylan/Slash/McKagan? No. The song is still Bob's. The solos Slash wrote and the bass-parts Duff wrote (and the piano parts Axl wrote, etc) were dictated by the chord sequence Bob Dylan had put decades before. George Martin wrote each and everyone of the violin, viola and cello parts of Yesterday, but the song is still Paul's. Why? Because the cello parts etc were dictated by the chords Paul had put.
> structuring the song
No. Fred structured Ga Ga, but it's still Roger's. Or in a clearer example, Valensia completely changed the structure of Liar when he made his cover. Does it make the song Mercury/Valensia? No. It's still Freddie's, all he did was re-arranging the order. Likewise, if for instance Brian came up with a song and then Roger changed the order of sections it didn't turn the song into a May/Taylor thing.
> and writing lyrics
Yes.
> Queen usually credited the songwriting to the one who came up with the original idea for a song, that's why AKOM, and RGG are credited to Roger, and not Freddie, for example.
It's not just a matter of "the original idea", otherwise Ga Ga would have been credited to Roger's son.
> Apparently, for TSMGO only the main chord sequence is written by Roger and John
Again, "only the chord sequence" is already 80-90% of the musical background. Brian could have done the melody lines over that, but it would have been dictated by what Roger and John did, therefore it'd be a collaboration, not a Bri thing. That IF the quote is correct. Who knows, maybe the sequence itself was by Brian too and we're arguing over nothing ;). Or perhaps the sequence came from Delilah (the cat) when Fred brought her to the studio.
> the lyrics (with a bit of input from Freddie)
We don't know if Roger and John had or didn't have input in the lyrics. Brian said that Fred and himself wrote the first verse, but some lines in the rest of the track could have easily been suggested by anybody else. There are loads of uncredited ideas throughout their catalogue, for instance Peter Straker threw in some of the lines of Slightly Mad.
> and the song's structure are all Brian's
We don't know if the structure is ALL his. He's said that there are bits from all of them in there. Then, theoretically, Roger (or anybody else) could have helped building the structure and they just haven't mentioned that.
> that Brian should be viewed as the song's main writer
More important than John, Roger or Freddie: yes. More important than John, Roger and Freddie: no. What I mean is while he was the "coordinator" of the songwriting process, still imho it'd be unfair to credit it just to him since about one half of the input came from the other three.
> So, when you say that the song is 80-90% Roger+John
I didn't say the song, I said the musical background (not including the melody, although I should've written that previously). Lyrics are of course another story.
> Oh for the love of God, it's almost like you need to throw that in whenever you dispute a songwriting challenge to justify your reasoning.
As far as I know, it's the first or second time I throw that in a songwriting thread. You can confirm that easily.
> I'm sure you've never made a mistake in your life before because of your