Lesson: Queen - “Now I’m Here”

Featuring on Queen’s 1974 Sheer HeartAttack album, “Now I’m Here” is about the band’s experiences on their first tour of America. The lyrics reveal references to the infamous ‘Dungeon’ club in New Orleans, and to Mott The Hoople, who Queen were supporting. The song remains a firm fan favourite and was performed on every Queen show from 1974 to 1986 – and is currently the opening song on the Queen and Adam Lambert tour.

The song has three main tonal centres: the opening riff is in D, the main signature riff is in E and the verses and solos are in the B Mixolydian mode. Brian seamlessly links these key changes so they are almost unnoticeable. As the E riff is the main hook of the song, there is no typical chorus section, so in our tab we refer to the ascending major chords as the chorus. Read on as we break the track down piece by piece.