TALON'S TAKE
Today's track....
My Fairy King
from 1973's
Queenwritten by Freddie Mercury
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - vocals, piano
Brian May - acoustic & electric guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, screams, backing vocals
- This is a seminal track. This is a track which really was the start of a line that led to Bohemian Rhapsody.
- The first time Freddie used a piano on a recording. Brian loved how rhythmic Freddie's playing was...as if it were part of the rhythm section.
- Also the first time the band wrote a track in the studio as most of the tracks they came in with but since they didn't have a piano in their set yet, this was a first!
- The first track which displays Roger's range...All those high "screams" and falsetto notes are actually Roger!
- This song is interrelated the changing of Freddie's name from Freddie Bulsara to Freddie Mercury (Mother Mercury and all...) Freddie decided to be a messenger from the gods :D
-Inspired by Robert Browning's
The Pied Piper In fact some of the lyrics like "And their dogs outran our fallow deer / And honey-bees had lost their stings / And horses were born with eagles' wings" are all direct quotes from the poem!
- Due to there not being a piano on set they never did this song live at the time and by the time they got a piano it was never really considered. There are rumors of this track having been played but nothing substantial. During the 1984-85 medley however, Freddie did play part of the piano in a snippet before moving on to another song.
ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSIONS:
BBC SESSION #1- ESSENTIAL LISTENING!
- Released on
Queen At The Beeb in 1989 in the UK and
Queen At The BBC in 1995 in the US.
- This version is similar to the album version but the vocals are a bit more confident sounding. The backing track is very similar.
UNRELEASED AND UNHEARD:
- Supposedly there is a Freddie solo piano demo in existence. Not much else is known on it.
LIVE VERSIONS:
LIVE IN SOUTH AFRICA - 1984-The first part is from a future lesson
The March Of The Black Queen - Starting at about 0:33 is the My Fairy King snippet.
PERSONAL NOTES:
Love it. This was the type of song that separated Queen from the hard rock pack in the 70s. Awesome vocals, great piano riffing. A very fun song!
CHANCES:
My Fairy King.....0% -- I can't see the band breaking it out at this point, even with Adam on vocals. I'd say there's a higher chance than there was with QPR but I think it'll stay forever obscure at this point.
SUPPLEMENTAL:
Don't Try So Hardfrom 1991's
InnuendoWritten by Freddie Mercury
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, keyboards
Brian May - guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums
- Reportedly a Freddie track although initial rumors stated John. But most believe that those rumors were started because John had no clear cut songs on the album. David Richards recently revealed that it was Freddie with some help from Brian.
- A clear falsetto piece with some dramatic vocals and guitars.
- Never tried live.
ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSION
VINYL EDIT- NOT essential - cuts the last 10 seconds or so.
UNRELEASED VERSION
DEMO- NOT essential but nice.
- Not a ton of differences but still a nice take.
PERSONAL NOTES:
- BEAUTIFUL SONG! This is a really underrated gem by the band. It is one of my favorite latter years Queen songs. Such great sentiment and a beautiful vocal.
CHANCES:
Don't Try So Hard......0% -- Also unfortunately a song that probably won't ever see the light of day again. Such a powerful message.
The March Of The Black Queen - Starting at about 0:33 is the My Fairy King snippet.
