The key signature indicates that Killer Queen is in E flat major.

Despite this, the song's first chord is actually C minor (the relative minor) which makes the key of the song a bit unclear at the beginning. At bar 6 (0'10) the chord goes from a B flat 7 (dominant 7th) to an E flat which is a perfect cadence on the words "Marie Antoinette".

The harmony in this song is very complex (See Harmony) and often moves in progressions that follow the circle of 5ths. This can often make the key of the music difficult to figure out.

There are two regular points in the song where the music stops on the chord of B flat (dominant). As listeners we expect this to resolve in a nice, satisfying perfect cadence to the tonic of E flat but that is not how Freddie Mercury composed the song:

• At bar 12 (0'22) the music goes from Bb to a G7 on the word, "caviar".

• At bar 20 (0'38) the music goes from Bb to a chord of A on the word, "recommended".

Both of these chord changes are unexpected in relation to the tonality and give the song its sense of uniqueness and unpredictability. This helps to illustrate the song's frivolous character effectively.

As if to resolve all of this, the song has a very conclusive perfect cadence at the very end (bar 81, 2'33) which settles the harmony in a very pleasing way as the music fades out.

There are no modulations in the song.

"Tiny Dancer" is a song composed by Elton John, released in 1972. The lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin and depict a character from Los Angeles. Unlike Killer Queen, you could argue that the song portrays this character with a greater degree of fondness, emotion and perhaps nostalgia. To a great extent, the slow tempo has a big effect on this. In contrast, Killer Queen is more playful and high-spirited.

In terms of tonality, "Tiny Dancer" is also in a major key (C major) and this is very clear at the beginning of the song where the chords alternate between the chord of C and F with regular perfect cadences (1'05 when the bass and drums comes in is a very clear example). This gives a more settled feeling which helps to portray the mood of the song and character very effectively.

At 2'12 there is a sudden modulation which is unexpected taking the music to a chord of Ab, which is not diatonic within the key of C. This is surprising and provides a relentless drive to the music. At 2'26 the music reintroduces a G chord (first inversion with B in the bass) on the lyric "softly". This "pulls" the music back on track, to the tonic key of C major for a euphoric chorus at 2'33.

The calming verse and turbulent pre-chorus, largely achieved through harmony and tonality, are really contrasting in this song and help to depict the character with a lot of poignancy.