Talon's Take:
Put Out The FireWritten by: Brian May
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
Brian May - guitars, backing vocals
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals
**NOTE - Either Freddie or Roger played maracas**
- Brian May's anti gun song which is relevant even today, inspired by the assassination of John Lennon.
- Played live in part during medleys with
Now I'm Here and
Dragon Attack sporadically in 1982 and then dropped.
QUOTES:
- Interviewer: Was the solo in 'Put Out The Fire' difficult for you?
"Actually, it was. I don't really know why. That wasn't a first take. I had done a lot of solos for that - hated every one of them. And then we came back from a club where we used to go to have some drinks. I think I was well on the way - you know, we were all plucked out and slightly inebriated - and we had ridiculous echo effect with Mack was putting back through the cans. I said, "That sounds unbelievable! I want to pu
t it on every track". He said, "Okay, try 'Put Out The Fire'." So we put it on the machine, and I just played though it. That was what we used. It was inspiring, like these huge stereo echo sounds coming from all over the place. I could hardly hear what I was doing, but it was sounding so good and I was so drunk. To be honest, I don't think it's that good a solo. It's got a sort of plodding thing going behind it; I never felt totally happy with it." - Brian May - On the Record - 1982
UNRELEASED VERSIONS:
ALTERNATE MIX- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Convention source so not the greatest but interesting. Some extra percussion.
UNRELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:
LIVE IN JAPAN - 1982- Shortened and part of a medley but still made for a decent live song.
PERSONAL NOTES:
- I just loved that they finally added some rock back into the mix. It was not perfect, but it was necessary!
Next up? Freddie's Lennon tribute,
Life Is RealLife Is Real (Song For Lennon)Written by: Freddie Mercury
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, piano, synthesizer
Brian May - acoustic & electric guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums
- Written by Freddie after John Lennon's death in tribute to one of his heroes.
- Lately turned into a bit of a Freddie tribute.
- Queen performed it live sporadically on the North American leg of the 1982 tour but then dropped it. It was recently brought back in 2012 by Queen with Zemphira singing during the Moscow gig of Queen + Adam Lambert. Brian also began performing it with Kerry Ellis at their gigs.
- Initially the opening line of
was the much more crude
according to Freddie's assistant Peter Freestone. Peter convinced Freddie to tone it down so it was changed to
before finally to the final product.
QUOTES:
- "I basically write the tune [first]. I write the song around the melody most of the time. Sometimes a lyric will get me started.
Life Is Real was one of those, because the words came first. I just really got into it, pages after pages, all kinds of words. Then I just put it to a song. I just felt that it could be a Lennon-type thing." - Freddie Mercury – 1982
UNRELEASED VERSION
DEMO- NOT ESSENTIAL
- A few different vocal takes but not much different.
UNRELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:
LIVE IN CHICAGO - 1982- AUDIO only.
QUEEN + ZEMFIRA - 2012- The first time the line is changed to
BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - BRIGHTON - 2012- Kerry continues the line.
BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - BURY ST. EDMONDS - 2012soundcloud.com/queenonline/life-is-real-live-in-bury-st- This was an official release via Queen's website of a soundboard recording of the song.
PERSONAL NOTES:
- One of my favorite songs from the album. It is beautiful, surreal and sounds a bit like a Lennon song. I was glad to see it resurrected this year.
CHANCES:
Put Out The Fire.....5% -- It's been so long since it's been done. It is a Brian track though and it is a great message which Brian appears to be more and more wanting to do.
Life Is Real.....10% -- I don't know why - it probably won't be played...but Brian has played it a lot with Kerry and Zemfira did it with QAL in Moscow...so there is a chance that Brian will decide to throw it in there...perhaps in his acoustic segment...
I never thought that all ppl here accept me like this.. unbelievable
Been a Glambert since late 2010, joined here in December 2011 just after Better Than I Know Myself was revealed I think
cool!! I found adam a lil later. late at night on you tube. I started with mad world and can't stop.. the next days and nights i only searched all about him... 
Let's celebrate the music together!
