TALON'S TAKE
Gabby's favorite!
You Take My Breath AwayWritten by: Freddie Mercury
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, piano
Brian May - guitars
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - cymbals
- A beautiful ballad with basically just piano and vocals. There are a few bits of guitar, bass, and cymbals. Even though the band at this time did voices together, this is Freddie multitracking with himself.
- This is one of the few instances that the band debuted a song live before recording it.
- It was played live for about a year and then never heard again.
QUOTES:
- “This one I did myself. I multi-tracked myself. So the others weren’t used on this for the voices. I played piano and basically, I don’t know how we managed to stay this simple, you know, with all our overdubs and things. People seem to think that we’re over-complex, and it’s not true. It depends on the individual track really, if it needs it – we do it. So this is pretty sparse actually by Queen and our standards.” – Freddie Mercury – Kenny Everett Interview – 1976
- “
You Take My Breath Away is a slow ballad with a new twist. That’s another track I did at Hyde Park, with just me on the piano. It was very nerve-wracking, playing all by myself in front of 200,000 people. I didn’t think my voice would come through; it’s a very emotional, laid back number” – Freddie Mercury – Circus - 1977
-"There's a particular pickup combination which I use for the violin things: the fingerboard pickup and the middle one. Those two working in phase make a very mellow sound. And there's a point on the amplifier where it's just about to get distortioned, but not quite. Instead of using my pick, I tap the fingerboard with the right hand, and that just sets the thing moving. It sustain itself. you hardly need to even tap it any. If you even stand in exactly the right place, it feeds back in any position so I can just warble around and it's very smooth." - Brian May - 1982, On The Record
UNRELEASED AND UNHEARD:
DEMO- Apparently a demo exists that features just Freddie and the piano - much like the live version.
OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:
LIVE AT HYDE PARK - 1976- The video isn't officially released - it comes from a bootleg source which is why it's pretty much crap. The audio though was released as a bonus track from the 2011 Island reissue of
A Day At The Races. Stripped back to just Freddie and the piano it is almost more emotional than the studio effort. Simply beautiful!
PERSONAL NOTES:
- I love both versions. The studio has those great backing vocals that add a bunch to the tune, but Freddie's pure honest emotion in the live version is heartbreaking. All in all one of Freddie's most underrated tracks imo.
CHANCES:
You Take My Breath Away.....1% -- I can't see it happening to be honest. I think it's among the forgotton tracks.
Now I already did Long Away.
SUPPLEMENTAL:
Merry Christmas Eve! This will most likely be my last post until New Years Eve. I go to California tomorrow evening to spend a few days in California with my sister in law and return on Sunday. I will be back to posting on Monday
Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)Written by: Brian May
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
Brian May - lead and backing vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, synthesizer,
piano
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals
- Issued as a single in the UK (where it hit #17), the Netherlands (where it hit #26), Mexico, and the Philippines.
- This was never performed by Queen proper. Brian played a few snippets of it at times, but it never made it's real debut at the Freddie Mercury Tribute in 1992 when Queen backed Italian superstar and Brian's friend, Zucchero. Brian also played it a few times on his solo tours and then finally during Queen + Paul Rodgers, the band played it with Brian on vocals during their trips to South America.
- Much like the band's visit to Japan inspired
Teo Toriatte (Let Us Cling Together) it was the band's visit to South America that inspired this song.
QUOTES:
- "I write best when I'm not on guitar; maybe a few riffs or the basis, but strangely enough, you usually get the most perspective on a song when you're on an instrument that you're not accustomed to. I'm not accustomed to playing the piano and I find that quite inspiring, because your fingers fall on different patterns. Whereas on a guitar, I pick it up and know where my fingers are going to fall. Mostly I sit alone someplace and think about it. That's the best way. I don't think my songwriting has changed as much as the others in the group. I tend to write more traditional Queen material like 'Las Palabras De Amor'. I still tend to write melodies and that certain sort of heaviness, which the group does well at its best; the guitar and piano which have that sort of thick sound. I really enjoy that, although these days it's used a little bit more sparingly." - Brian May - 1982
- "The minimalist era of Queen, liked by some but not by others, but this particular track was un-minimalist, it's really rather romantic. I was playing keyboards in this one, Freddie seemed to be less inclined to play keyboards, and many ideas came from keyboards rather than guitar. I like the track, painted with a very light brush." - Brian May - 2003
UNRELEASED VERSIONS
DEMO- ESSENTIAL.
- Different lyrics, some different musical sections, and additional Brian vocals. Very interesting.
OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSION:
QUEEN + ZUCCHERO - FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE 1992- For someone who English is a second language, Zucchero does a great job. He is a real close friend of Brian's and his fun demeanor is a bit infectious.
BRIAN MAY - LIVE IN 1993-NO YT video
QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS - LIVE IN SANTIAGO - 2008- Brian and Roger on the B-Stage during the acoustic section, performed the track. It was a wonderful addition to the
Cosmos Rocks tour.
PERSONAL NOTES:
- I love this track. This is one of the best
Hot Space tracks. Why? All four band members performing (mostly) organic instruments with all three voices singing. One of the bad trends in the 80s is the songwriter singing and doing all the backing vocals themselves. This had all three voices again.
CHANCES:
Las Palabras De Amor......5% Might be pulled out as a snippet in Brian's acoustic segment. If they do do a South American date, I could see them dusting this off....
