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| Queen – White Queen (as It Began) Lyrics
| 5 years ago
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@[Sandwich:33457]-Masta Brian said he ended up being friends with her years later and it sounds like she knew the song was written about her. He wrote it in 1968 about a classmate and they didn't record it until 1973. It sounds like by the time is was recorded, he might have already been well passed the crush and now friends. |
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| Queen – White Queen (as It Began) Lyrics
| 5 years ago
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Brian said this was written in 1968 about a girl he was obsessed with in one of his classes at Imperial College (that he later became friends with). The man in this song (himself) is in the background watching her and putting her on a pedestal but too shy to approach her and tell her how he feels. She obviously doesn't notice him or know he's obsessed with her so his heart is breaking. I can imagine this pretty clearly since Brian comes across as awkward and shy (he has said so himself when it came to girls).
As far as the connection to Black Queen, I actually think Freddie wrote March of the Black Queen to match with this song, not the other way around. Freddie followed Smile (and tried to get in the band) because he very openly admired Brian's (and Tim Staffel's) songwriting and White Queen is a song I could see Freddie liking and encouraging to record. The interesting thing is, while Brian's song is, like most of the music he writes, very personal (though written like a Shakespeare Sonnet), Freddie's March of the Black Queen is more of a fantasy and nebulous, like most of the music Freddie wrote, |
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| Queen – White Queen (as It Began) Lyrics
| 5 years ago
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@[LizaE:33455] No this was not about Mary. Brian said he wrote this in 1968 (while with Smile) about a girl he was obsessed with in one of his classes at Imperial College (definitely not Mary). He said it was strange because he ended up being friends with her years later well after the obsession left but it was a good song so they recorded it. |
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| Queen – Hammer To Fall Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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This is about death and that it is just a matter of time (hence waiting for the hammer to fall). However, this is specifically about Brian being a child in the 1950s when they would have "fall out drills" in school and thought of nuclear war was ever present (and still within the minds of the people who were alive during WWII and Hiroshima). The fear of imminent death was instilled in even the young in the 1950s. Although fall out drills were no longer happening in schools, myself, being a child of the 80s with Reagan and the Cold War when this song was written, the nuclear threat was very present. I dreamed about seeing mushroom clouds and there were many nuclear war films such as War Games and The Day After out around the time Brian wrote this. I feel like this was Brian's discussing the current Cold War with images and the fears he had as a youth in the 1950s. |
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| Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[1more4theroad:33017] That makes sense because it was originally known as "The Cowboy Song" according to people who knew Freddie in the late 60s/early 70s (pre-Queen) and said he had the scale melody and "Mama I just killed a man" written then. I think once he was with Roger and Brian in Queen, he started to develop the beginning (is this the real life) and middle operatic section because he now had the vocal ranges to pull off them (though the beginning is just his voice repeated). Ultimately though, I agree that if you took away the operatic part, it is really a country song. |
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| Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[sundaresh:33016] I agree completely. I think Freddie, like most who consider themselves artists (and when not writing campy stuff which he often did) did not have a clear "story" to his songs but wrote very open to interpretation songs based on a mood or a very general idea. That is why Freddie's songs tend to be more like a collection of thoughts over something with a solid beginning, middle and end. It sounded (based on what Peter Freestone and other's have said) that Freddie usually had the music in his head first and then wrote lyrics to match it or if he had a lyric is was just one line that he then wrote around. Freddie was not someone that was known to be reflective (and was know to be impulsive/impatient) so I don't think a lot of lyrics were as personal as everyone wants them to be. This is very different from Brian's songs which I feel always come from a fairly well developed story or a real idea in his head. Brian's songs most often have a structure and story. Even songs like We Will Rock You or Fat Bottom Girls in which both songs bring the subject of the story (3rd person in WWRY and 1st person in FBG) from childhood to old age. I think pretty much all of Brian's lyrics are personal on some level.
Back to BoRhap, since he was reportedly working on "The Cowboy Song" with the lyric "Mama, I just killed a man" when he was with his bands in 1969/1970 before Queen and 4-5 years before he accepted himself as gay (in the early Queen years, he was with women groupies according to Brian who shared a room with him on tour then), I really think this was just something from his imagination and not a personal coming out song. Regardless, it is an amazing song. |
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| Queen – All Dead, All Dead Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[voyeuristic_thought:32977] I agree. Brian's songs were written very personally and usually with a story (with a beginning, middle, and end). I don't think Freddie was as deep with his song lyrics (even BoRhap which often gets people riled up when I say that). He did not tend to write with a story as much as random thoughts and a lot of his writing was campy. Brian either wrote very personal, deep and reflective story songs (even We Will Rock You's lyrics are that way if you listen) or he wrote down and dirty songs with sick guitar riffs (like Fat Bottom Girls, Tie Your Mother Down, or Tear it Up). There are very few Brian songs that don't still play well today while Freddie was more hit or miss because of the campiness and less personal lyrics of many of his songs so there are way more Freddie "deep cuts" that really don't play as well now. However, when Freddie had a hit, he had a HIT. |
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| Queen – We Will Rock You Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[MoonlitKnight:32509] This drives me crazy too. Brian and Freddie wrote equal amounts of songs with John and Roger usually putting in one song on an album in the 70s. This changed to usually 3 Brian/3 Freddie and the other 3 or 4 Roger or John in the 80s until The Miracle where they worked more collaboratively. I find the fact so many people seem to think Freddie wrote them all annoying. From what I understand, We Will Rock You was completely written by Brian. After their concert at Bingley Hall where the audience was particularly participatory and loud, he had the "stomp, stomp, clap" come into his head with the idea of a song they could participate in. The words were 100% written by him, in typical Brian May style in which there is a bit of a story to it with a beginning, middle and end (following a man from boyhood, to idealistic young adult, to unhappy old man). Even the stomp, stomp, claps are very Brian (and his overly scientific genius brain) in that he hand calculated a logarithm to figure out how to make the sound of about 10 people stomping on boards sound and have the reverberation of an entire concert hall stomping. Freddie just sang it (perfectly by the way). If people want to discuss gay referencing songs from Queen, you have your choice of several Freddie songs including Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, Don't Stop Me Now, Get Down Make Love, and pretty much all Freddie songs on Hot Space. He did do several songs about yearning for love, without directly referencing being gay but he was singing about finding a man such as Somebody to Love, It's A Hard Life, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. However, as Freddie said several times, he found lyrics hard to write and thought of them as throw away in a lot of cases. I suspect there is a lot of songs everyone is trying to find deep meaning to that he didn't have deep meaning behind. |
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| Queen – Sail Away Sweet Sister Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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It's ambiguous if it's a relation or a lover but I think it is less incestuous as it comes across even if it is about Brian's imaginary sister (since he was an only child). Though I do think it is about a sister because if it wasn't about a "sister", it wouldn't have been dedicated "to the sister I never had". The "sore" I think is most likely the synonym for "angry" not being physically sore, BTW. I suspect that this person Brian is writing about it actually not a real person but a story he imagined. I know several of my only-child friends growing up imagined siblings pretty much out of pure loneliness. He might have had a made up sister in his head when he was a child and this song is kind of saying goodbye to all that (as in the line "ain't no use in pretending, you don't want to play no more"). He's grown up and now his imaginary sister has to go but "she" will always be a fond memory in his heart. I think the not liking her life choices part is just a part of the story of why she is going away to make the song interesting. Any tie to Killer Queen, as discussed before, is most likely because it sounds like the "sister" might have gotten herself into trouble being a call girl, which is what Killer Queen is about (a high class call girl). Brian's songs tend to tell stories instead of being a mix of interesting lyrics without a real solid meaning (left to the listener to determine themselves) like BoRhap, We Are the Champions, etc. or is just kind of describing and event/a person in no particular order like Somebody to Love, Killer Queen, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon which Freddie's lyrics tended to be more like. Brian's songs tend to have a clearer beginning, middle, and end and tell stories, like '39, It's Late, Sleeping on the Sidewalk, The Prophet's Song, Brighton Rock, etc. I think a lot the songs start out as an imagined story in Brian's head and then parts of his own experiences slide into it. At least that's my take on his songwriting. Still though, I have to say, Brian's songs tend to be the one's I don't get sick of hearing on the albums. I feel like Freddie was good at writing commercial hits but his non-released songs on albums were significantly less strong than Brian's. |
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| Queen – Mother Love Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[monkfluence:32206] Brian SANG the last verse with Freddie singing the first few until he was unable to finish, not that Brian wrote the last verse. From what I understand Brian had wrote a lot of the words and then sat down with Freddie to flesh it out further. It was Brian song with a heavy hand of help with Freddie. |
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| Queen – Tie Your Mother Down Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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No. It is about a guy who wants to be alone with his GF but her family is blocking them from being alone/together. I think the pigtail is more the fact that they are young, but that does not mean underage (although both the boy and the girl could be teenagers too). Brian was around 21 when he originally wrote it and back in the 60s, it was common for the girls to live at home until they were married off so most likely the girls he dated were still at home. |
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| Queen – Tie Your Mother Down Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[detune:32136] I think you are reading too much into this. It's a young Brian, trying to get frisky with a girl who's family is blocking them being alone. |
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| Queen – Tie Your Mother Down Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[gmandi1708:32135] I agree. He was alone on a mountain doing research for his Astrophysics Doctorate at the time he originally wrote it. I think he was horny and wrote a song about trying to get alone with his girlfriend. |
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| Queen – She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes) Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[Token:31898]-Brit I think it had a lot more to do with Brian being alone in the studio for a lot of Sheer Heart Attack because he had been in the hospital and most of the other songs were done except for his guitar parts and arrangements. Basically he got into the studio and he they worked on a little bit together (like Now I'm Here, Stone Cold Crazy, and Brighton Rock) but then he was left to his own devises to finish up his parts on the other songs. He reportedly wrote this one because he felt like he hadn't contributed enough to this album and sang it himself (backing too I believe) and played most of the instruments while everyone was gone. I actually think they did a good job of picking the right person to sing a song on the albums. I think Brian's soft gentle voice sounds like the person in the song should (weak and dreamy) while Freddie might have been too strong for this song. |
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| Queen – She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettoes) Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[lou234:31897] Not sure about that. This is a Brian song and he did not use any drugs (and was not even much of a drinker-for a rock star, that is). He could be writing a story about another person who is into pot but my guess is it is about an actual woman. Brian in later years admitted he pretty much had an addiction to love (not really sex as much as being obsessed with women and he was pretty obsessed with the Peaches in Now I'm Here at this point in his life). He also was in the hospital with hepatitis/gangrene when he wrote most of his songs on Shear Heart Attack so he was probably in a pretty messed up mood/on doctor prescribed drugs. |
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| Queen – Fat Bottomed Girls Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[Cashmere21:31684] If you look at Freddie's relationships with men, he tended to like "thicker" guys. Most of them weren't necessarily fat but they were definitely "thicker" than Freddie. Brian wrote it as a joke because Freddie was admiring the thick bottoms passing them on the Tour Du France that passed the area they were recording. |
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| Queen – Fat Bottomed Girls Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[sharonlerose:31683] Although the references to the girls at their concerts during tours ("singing with my band") were referred to as "blue-eyed floozies" and "beauty that went smooth" which means the groupies were skinny and beautiful but he was not interested in them because they were so beautiful they were boring. Brian said he wrote this tongue and cheek because of Freddie's interest in thick bottomed girls and boys. |
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| Queen – Fat Bottomed Girls Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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Brian said it was written around the same time as Bicycle Race which was inspired by the Tour Du France going by where they were recording. Freddie was very "interested" in the thick bottoms in tight bike shorts going by and Freddie tended to be attracted to "thick" people so Brian wrote this tongue in cheek for him. Brian was not well off as a child and did not have a nanny. He also indicated he was really shy and uncomfortable around girls as a teen and really did not date (or lose his virginity) until college so I don't think this is some deep childhood abuse trauma in his past. Any sexual issues Brian might have had as an adult sounded like it more to do with being sheltered and naive as a kid over some sort of abuse. It's a fun, silly song, with an awesome riff. |
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| Queen – Dragon Attack Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[Armadio2:31681] What the heck..confirmed? Brian very much wrote this. It started as a drunkin jam with John. All the lyrics are about what is going on around them in Munich while recording in the studio. All the "she" is Brian's Red Special and when he says "He's chained the rack" he is taking about how he is literally "chained" to his amp rack by a wire. The dragon is in reference to the tons of clothing Brian wore at that time that had dragons on it including a casual black jacket with a literal dragon on the back (I think he might have been wearing it at the time when he wrote the lyrics. The "Mack" mentioned was their producer for The Game. The "Shack" was a club that they would hang out at in Munich called "The Sugar Shack". |
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| Queen – Dragon Attack Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[jokingkong:31680] They were drunk when the wrote and recorded it so it makes sense it would sound like that. |
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| Queen – Dragon Attack Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[hemlockroad:31679] Brian wrote this and he never did drugs or even smoked (he drank and reportedly this song came from a drunken jam). "She" is his Red Special. The dragon is literally a dragon because a lot his casual and stage clothes had dragons on them (several with a "dragon on the back"). The "customers" are the fans coming to see them play live. The "chained to the rack" is Brian's amp system which is often referred to as a "rack" and literally, because there was no wireless back then, he had a wire going to the amp so he was "chained". There was no deep meaning in this song. The lyrics were only there to give Freddie something to do, it was really focused on the grooving music. |
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| Queen – Dragon Attack Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[hemlockroad:31678] Brian wrote this and he never did drugs or even smoked (he drank and reportedly this song came from a drunken jam). "She" is his Red Special. The dragon is literally a dragon because a lot his casual and stage clothes had dragons on them (several with a "dragon on the back"). The "customers" are the fans coming to see them play live. |
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| Queen – Dragon Attack Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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This song cracks me up because it is obvious Brian was just bringing up things around him for the lyrics. There was no deep meaning. The song was more about the groove and melody than the lyrics. They were in Munich recording with Mack. He mentions the studio, his amp stack, Mack, the Sugar Shack (a place they would go clubbing in Munich), and any reference to "she" is his Red Special. The dragon on his back was literal. Many of Brian's stage clothes had dragons on them, including black jacket he wore casually and white vest he wore on stage with a literal dragon on the back. |
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| Queen – Dragon Attack Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[williamkferro:31677] The Red Special is referenced in the "She's gonna..." part. The rest of the song, dragon included, was noting things going on around them at Musicaland Studio in Munich. The dragon on his back was literal. Many of Brian's stage clothes (and some of his casual clothes) had a dragon on them. It was a signature thing and it is very possible he was wearing an item of clothing with a dragon on the back when he wrote this. |
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| Queen – Bicycle Race Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[gimpyx2k:31676] Brian said that Freddie did not like riding a bicycle and he actually liked the things he said he didn't on the song. He said Freddie wrote it because the tour de France was passing the area they were recording and he was fascinated by watching them go by (and, sorry for the "gay" reference, watching their thick bottoms in tight bike shorts). Brian said he wrote "Fat Bottomed Girls" around the same time as a ribbing of Freddie's interest in the "fat bottomed" girls and boys riding by.
Anyone saying We Will Rock You was a gay pride anthem is just an idiot. It was a very aggressive, (very heterosexual) Brian song meant to let the audience participate with 8-10 people's foot stamps and hand claps that were repeated using Brian's hand-calculated logarithms (nerd alert) to make it sound like it was happening in a stadium. |
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| Queen – '39 Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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Leave it to a guy who was studying to get his doctorate in astrophysics (and has since got it) to write a folk song about Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity and space travel. A beautiful song that was a welcome break from the prog rock and ornate (sometime kitchy) music of the rest of A Night at the Opera. |
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| Queen – It's Late Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[Phanato:31647] I do think the first line is from someone who was not a teen but someone who was naive and young (and a guy which can also be naive in love) when they first spent time with "the other woman". The second part is later with his wife or girlfriend, and the third is reality that he is aware that this affair can't continue. |
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| Queen – It's Late Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[bezabee:31646] Brian wrote this, not Freddie. He was someone who had issues with cheating so this is really about the perspective of a cheater with his other woman and his wife. Freddie just sung it. |
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| Queen – It's Late Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[wikedwhich:31645] Brian wrote this. It is very much a heterosexual story from a cheater's perspective (Brian had some issues with habitual cheating) which just happens to be sung by a lead singer who was gay. |
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| Queen – It's Late Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[lisandom:31644] Brian was habitual cheater (and the worst kind because it wasn't casual one night stands but full out second relationships and obsessions) and I think this song gives a perspective on the cheater, which is flipped from the usual perspective of the lover cheated on. |
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| Queen – It's Late Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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Brian said it was written in three parts, with his woman, the second "in another room", and the third with his woman though I actually think he got it flipped when speaking about it. The first verse he is obviously with the person he is cheating with (hardly knowing their name, could love them-doesn't say he actually does); the second verse is at home with his wife who has found out he cheated (they love each other but he admits he can't be "true"), and the third he's back with the woman he's cheating with saying he wants to stay with his wife-but they have one last night together anyway ("set me free..Yes there's no way it has to be" "let the fires take our bodies tonight so let the waters take our guilt in the tide").
Rumor has it, this is the more grown up and truth about his relationship with the Peaches of Now I'm Here. During Now I'm Here, although he was with Chrissie, he was living the Rock Star life on the road in the US and he was enticed by Peaches (who as the song says, knew who he was-a new thing for him as a just starting out rock star). In his head, she was perfect and it was all exciting and fun. I read somewhere (wish I could find the reference), Brian indicated he went back to New Orleans during the DATR tour and looked for her but by this time he was married. In It's Late, he is seeing Peaches more as a real person, not this perfect thing, that he's attracted to but not sure if he could even love her and is much more aware of what he is doing to his wife.
Regardless, Brian songs on albums usually aren't as catchy as FM's songs so they tend to not do as well on commercial radio but I think most Queen fans who listen to the albums as a whole tend to love the Brian songs on the albums the most. This song is one of my favorite Queen songs. Great hook, great heartfelt words (sung to perfection by Freddie), and great music. |
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| Queen – Son and Daughter Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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I think there was a specific person that prompted this song over being a general anti-feminist statement. I think a girl turned out to be an ultra-feminist. Still I think there was some thought to feminism at the time too though. Just like civil rights, there was people and movements that were easier to digest than others. For example, white people were much more willing to accept MLK over the Black Panthers because it was a movement that looked to include the problem (white people) in the solution. It's the same for the Women's Movement. Feminists that basically were anti-men had a harder time getting the respect from men than those that had more of a "He for She" approach (I know it is a modern term but you get the idea).
Brian basically was saying men have pressures and obligations that this woman was not taking into consideration when she said they don't need men. Feminism and the Women's Movement was in it's infancy so even if Brian had anti-feminist thoughts in the early 1970s, I doubt he still has them after having two daughters and having an extremely independent and driven wife (Anita). |
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| Queen – Father To Son Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[TheYipskee:31639] Brian said kept his songs broad to appeal to more people but he said his personal life almost always bled into the songs he wrote whether he originally planned it (way more than Freddie). All Dead was originally supposed to be about growing up and people dying in their lives and it ended up being about his childhood cat dying and how that affected him in the end. Now I'm Here and It's Late were both about Peaches (first is the excitement of touring America, New Orleans, and meeting Peaches while the second is about realities of hiding an affair). The White Queen was supposedly about a girl he was obsessed with in college. |
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| Queen – Father To Son Lyrics
| 6 years ago
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@[Sir_Larrikin:31638] Around this time he had a strained relationship with his dad. His dad was not happy he abandoned a "proper" career in astrophysics for music (felt that he threw his education away). Also he was upset because Brian moved in with Chrissie and they were not married (yet). It sounded like for 1-2 years he barely spoke to his dad. |
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