Temporal Processes in Queen’s Large-Scale Songs

Many of Queen’s episodic songs from the 1970s present unique structural templates, ranging from compound to through-composed forms, to irregular patterns of repetition. This chapter seeks to identify underlying principles across these diverse formal plans, using the concept of musical time—the nature of successive musical events across a song. It is argued that Queen’s large-scale songs tend to present multiple temporal states across different spans of the song. At a local level, phrases tend to be highly goal-directed; at sectional levels, the sense of goal orientation is weakened, while retaining the impression of musical momentum. At the ends of songs, there is often some form of reprise or musical arrival, which is undercut by gestures that resist the attainment of closure. Queen’s large-scale songs thus feel like an ongoing and continuous musical journey, often into unpredictable territory, and one which comes to a temporary halt, rather than a complete end.