TALON'S TAKE:
Tie Your Mother DownWritten by: Brian May
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
Brian May - guitars (including intro), backing vocals
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals
- One of the prototype hard rock/heavy metal songs, this is Brian at his most rocking. While it was not a successful single, it was a very successful live staple to the tune that once it entered the Queen concert set list it never left. At any proper full Queen show or Brian May solo show, this song will be heard. I haven't done any research on it but if I did, I think I would be able to say that this is probably THE most performed Queen song by the band and it's members...except MAYBE
We Will Rock You. (SIDE NOTE - Surprisingly if you were just to do the Queen era (1973-1986) of concerts, it would be Now I'm Here.
- Issued as a single in March 1977 in the US, where it hit #49 and in the UK, where it hit #31. Reissued as a Double A-side with
No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young) in January 1998 in the UK (where it hit #13). Issued as a single in Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands (where it hit #14), Japan (where it did not chart), and Spain, and also in Australia, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand.
- Please note as the album opener it contains an intro from Brian that's not played live or on the radio. The opener is what sounds like a never ending rising chord progression. It always sounds like it is going higher when it really is staying on the same chord. It's quite a neat progression! It is also used at the end of the album as well as an outro.
QUOTES:
- "The genesis of the song goes back to when I was doing my PhD in astronomy. I spent my a few months in Tenerife, and every day when the sun went down I’d go to the top of a mountain and just play a lovely Spanish guitar I had back then – which I’ve subsequently lost. And I came up with this riff, which stuck in my head. When I played the riff I used to sing the phrase ‘Tie your mother down’ just as a joke, really. Years later when we finally came to record the song properly, I fully expected this to be changed, but Freddie believed it to be perfect. I thought it was a crap title, but Freddie said it meant something to him, so he knows the answer, and who am I to argue? Sometimes you get a little riff, and you just put some words with it, and then you don’t even think about what they mean. Musically the riff was heavily influenced by Rory Gallagher who as an inspiration to me as a musician and a person, and because of the title it came to represent teenage angst, somebody who really wanted to tie their parents down. And because it’s so dramatic, it’s always been a good way to open or close a set. In fact, I visualized smoke bombs and lighting changes in the studio. It was that sort of song.” – Brian May – Q - 1998
- "It’s an M.C. Escher painting. It was supposed to be the musical equivalent of that ridiculous staircase going around four sides of a square, and it seems to always be going upwards…every part is going up, and each part fades into an octave below. It’s also backwards, because I played it all descending.” – Brian May on the instrumental opening to the album just prior to the song.
- "Well this one in fact is a track written by Brian actually, I dunno why. Maybe he was in one of his vicious moods. I think he’s trying to out do me after Death On Two Legs actually." - Freddie Mercury - November 1976, Kenny Everett Radio Show
- "I'll tell you the truth, I know what happened. Sometimes you get a little riff, and you just put some words with it, and then you don't even think about what they mean. Now I'm remember thinking, now this isn't a good enough title for this song, but everyone said: 'Well actually, it sounds okay,' and so we kind of lyrically built it around that. That's the truth, folks." - Brian May - Rockline February 1991
ALTERNATIVE RELEASED VERSIONS:
SINGLE VERSION:
TYMD SINGLE VERSION- NOT essential. Basically it's the same song without the intro.
POSTED BY Q3
1991 HOLLYWOOD REMIX1991 HOLLYWOOD REMIX- NOT essential but nice. From the 1991 Hollywood reissue of
A Day At The Races.
- The vocals are slightly phased and at points he drops the mix to just vocals and drums adding an interesting twist.
AIR GUITAR MIXAIR GUITAR MIX- NOT essential. From Brian May sponsored
Best Air Guitar Album In The World Ever. Basically it adds the stomps, claps, and guitar solo of
We Will Rock You on the beginning of the track.
2011 BACKING TRACK MIX2011 BACKING TRACK MIX- NOT essential but interesting. From the 2011 Island reissue of the album, it is a mostly instrumental track and some studio chatter. Fun but as I said, not essential.
UNRELEASED VERSIONS:
DEMO – BRIAN ON VOCALS- Very interesting, I just wish it was better quality. An early version featuring Brian on lead vocals.
TRENT REZNOR REMIX- Another Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails and film soundtracks fame) remix. This one went unreleased. It was done around the time of the Hollywood remixes or shortly thereafter so I'd say sometime between 1991 and 1994.
- Very interesting. It's not something I'd choose to listen to often, but it definitely is a very different take on the track.
OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:
LIVE KILLERS VERSIONLIVE KILLERS VERSION- AUDIO only.
- During this tour, like QAL the song was used towards the end of the concert, in fact this was often the closer before the encore. My personal preference is towards the very beginning of the show but it works in both places.
ROCK MONTREAL VERSIONROCK MONTREALQ3 POSTED
ON FIRE AT THE BOWL VERSIONON FIRE AT THE BOWLQ3 POSTED
LIVE MAGIC VERSIONLIVE MAGIC VERSION- AUDIO only.
- Crap because of editing again...
LIVE AT WEMBLEY VERSIONSQ3 POSTED DAY 2
HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY VERSIONHUNGARIAN RHAPSODYAnother 1986 Tour Version
THE CROSS + BRIAN MAY – OFFICIAL BOOTLEG VERSION- AUDIO only.
- The Cross played a concert for the Fan Club and Brian May AND John Deacon guested towards the end. This was at a time that Freddie was too sick to want to perform live. So the three of them played the track with The Cross and Brian sang lead.
QUEEN + JOE ELLIOT + SLASH – FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE VERSION- The Freddie Tribute started with many of the rock bands doing their own short sets. This is the song that began the Queen portion. It opened with the 3 Queen members and Brian singing the first verse. Joe Elliot from Def Leppard came on to sing the rest of the song and Slash from Guns N Roses played with Brian during the solo.
BRIAN MAY + SLASH – THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO VERSION- During Brian's promotional tour for his 1992 album
Back To The Light Brian did the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He performed
Back To The Light and
Tie Your Mother Down. Slash joined him during this performance as well.
BRIAN MAY – LIVE AT BRIXTON - 1993BRIAN 1993 BRIXTON- From Brian's solo tour with Brian on lead vocals.
BRIAN MAY – LIVE ON VHI – 1998 – COUNTRY VERSION-
ESSENTIAL- This is a great version. Brian strips it down with a new guitar toy he had bought. It was a guitar that looked like an accoustic but could be played as an acoustic or like an electric as well. He did a whole promotional tour of his new album
Another World to VH1 studios and the like and did a short semi-acoustic set. With TYMD, he played it very slow and countrified with a story beforehand! Then he flips the switch and does it like it was meant to be. VERY fun.
QPR – RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONSQPR 2005QPR – LIVE IN UKRAINENO YT VID
BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - THE CANDLELIGHT CONCERTSESSENTIAL
- Based on the 1998 Country Version, Brian and Kerry do a great job with a singalong - until Brian comes back in electric....with only vocals/guitar/keyboards and it still does a good job of rocking!
UNRELEASED LIVE AND ALTERNATIVE LIVE VERSIONS:
BRIAN MAY + GUNS N ROSES – WEMBLEY 1992BRIAN + GUNS N ROSES- Two months after the Tribute concert, Brian joined Guns N Roses on stage for some fun.
BRIAN MAY + EXTREME + NEIL SCHON – WEMBLEY ARENA 1992- AUDIO only.
- Again I could not find just TYMD, so what this is is Extreme was at Wembley Arena and they invited up Brian and Neil Schon (from Journey) to the stage and they did
I Want To Break Free and TYMD. This is both. I love these versions because it's my two favorite artists together and they have a LOT of fun together.
QUEEN + 5IVE – PARTY IN THE PARK – 2000QUEEN + 5IVE- AUDIO only - surprisingly I couldn't find a video.
- NOT essential. Here for completeness. I'm not a 5ive fan so I don't listen to this too often.
QUEEN + FOO FIGHTERS – ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME – 2001- Look at Taylor Hawkins smiling face. Like them or hate them, the Foos are huge Queen fans and always look like a kid in the candy shop when they get to play with their heroes.
QUEEN + FOO FIGHTERS – VH1 ROCK HONORS – 2006QUEEN + FOOS - VH1 ROCK HONORS- Again, a few years later and Dave and Brian get along very well together.
QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS - CHILE 2008- Another good version by QPR.
BRIAN MAY + ROEL VAN VELTZEN – EDDY CHRSTIANI AWARDS – 2011BRIAN MAY + ROEL VAN VELTZEN- NOT essential. An award show had Brian playing with a Dutch pop star.
QUEEN + FOO FIGHTERS – ITUNES FESTIVAL – 2011QUEEN + FOO FIGHTERS- This time drummer Taylor Hawkins sings lead vocals and I think he's better than Dave Grohl!
BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS – HAMPTON COURT - 2011BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS- From the Anthems tour, Brian and Kerry started playing it a few gigs in and then for the rest of the tour. I'm not so fond of this. I love Kerry's voice and it works well on quite a few Queen songs but this track is not suited for her. She does okay, but it's just not the same song. It's an interesting comparison given some of the complaints some Queen fans had about Adam not singing rock enough. (I'm not in agreement with that completely but there is *some* truth to it). But in this case it's FAR more evident.
BRIAN MAY + THE DARKNESS – LONDON - 2011 BRIAN MAY + THE DARKNESS - From the Darkness' reunion tour, the Darkness are BIG Queen fans and they have a lot of fun together.
QAL – KIEV - 2012QAL - KIEVQ3 Posted a QAL
- The Kiev gig had the best quality and it was a surprise to me to see Brian singing lead on this one. I'm not sure why it surprised me as he's done it quite often, but it seems like he has sang mostly ballads in the past decade. But it was a nice treat to see Brian singing it again. I also liked Kiev best as it was nice to see Adam signing at the end with Brian. They had a lot of fun together. Another interesting part of the gig was the messup? Right before the second verse it sounds as if Roger wasn't sure Brian was going on so he started singing the second verse...it was interesting though. Another interesting note is how the mini-tour went on, Brian started using a headset mic which is a first for the band as far as I know.
RELATED:
FOO FIGHTERS + RUFUS TAYLOR – LEEDS FESTIVAL – 2012RUFUS TAYLOR + FOOS- Just for interest only. The Foo Fighters often cover this song (among a few other Queen tracks), but this time Rog and Bri weren't around. Taylor Hawkins had become friends with Rufus so he invited Rufus along to play with them.
PERSONAL NOTES:
- This is one of those tracks that I don't really care about the studio version. I don't choose to listen to it too often but live in concert it is a totally different animal and is one of Queen's greatest live moments. Phenomenally rocking track.
CHANCES:
Tie Your Mother Down......100% -- There is NO chance it isn't played. Brian also once said (and I can't find the quote) that no matter how a gig was going, this track could salvage a concert....it always went off well. In a humorous moment for QPR and many years TYMD is played at the opening of the set so during Kiev some Queen fans were watching, they started posting towards the end "No TYMD?" in shock...The Admin came on and said..."Wait". I guess I've just given everyone one song for their setlist game
SUPPLEMENTAL:
ScandalWritten by: Brian May
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals
Brian May - guitars, keyboards
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, vibraslap
David Richards - sampler
- Issued as a single backed with ‘My Life Has Been Saved’, ‘Hijack My Heart’, and ‘Stealin’ in October 1989 in the US (where it did not chart) and in the UK (where it hit #25). Issued as a single backed with ‘My Life Has Been Saved’ in 1989 in Austria, Australia (where it did not chart), France, Germany, Guatemala, and The Netherlands (where it hit #16). Issued as a promo in 1989 in Mexico and Brazil.
- It has been cited as an underrated gem by many a Queen fan.
QUOTES:
“It’s something which has affected us, individually, as members of the group recently. It’s very strange, ‘cause we were fairly famous for a long time in England, you know, the last fifteen years or whatever, but we didn’t become a prey to these kind of scummy papers until recently. And it’s not related to what you are doing, you know. They are not interested in what music you play or anything. They just want the dirt, and if they can’t find any they’ll invent it if they choose to pick on you. So we were all going through a lot of changes in our lives and suddenly it became a big problem, you know, in a similar way…you’ve heard about what they did to Elton, you know? These sort of stories about Elton and everything, which he sued them for and got a million quid off ‘em. You know, great. Well they did very similar to things to me particularly, and to a certain extent to Roger, and Freddie also had been through a little while before. But this thing is total..you know, steam in and destroy someone’s life. They really are the scum of the earth. You can’t exaggerate it too much.” – Brian May – Hard ‘n’ Heavy – 1989
"I have kept the first take, as Freddie did for the vocals. In one evening, the song was finished, because we couldn't do a better take." - Brian May - 1989
"This is something from me, obviously. The idea for this song happened in the studio, but thematically, it's very close to all of our hearts – particularly Freddie and particularly me, and a little later, Roger, as we were pursued by the media to a destructive point. It was very painful, we did get very hurt – these paparazzi invading our lives. There's money to be made trashing peoples' lives in newspapers, and it's probably never going to change in England." - Brian May - 2003
"Not one of my favorite songs, one of the most boring videos we ever made. Don't remember much about it, I just remember being bored. Didn't do anything for me, and for something called 'Scandal', it wasn't very scandalous. I think we were going through the motions here." - Roger Taylor - 2003
"For me, it was a pretty serious song – not serious in the sense that I think it's that great (laughs), but in that there was a lot of reality in the lyrics for me... I don't think it's totally successful, this video, as a portrayal of what's in the song. It's a kind of brave attempt, but it's a little cold, and you don't really see the band interacting as a band. It's a bit stagey. But at least it makes you think of what the song's really about." - Brian May – 2003
ALTERNATE RELEASED VERSIONS:
12" EXTENDED- NOT ESSENTIAL but nice. - My favorite version
- Features a heavier bit of guitars/vocals and additional keyboards along with an intro.
UNRELEASED VERSIONS:
- NOT ESSENTIAL
- Not much different but obviously a bit earlier in the process as far as mix and levels go. No significant alteration however.
PERSONAL NOTES:
- I agree that it is an underrated gem. I rarely seek it out but when I hear it, I wonder why I don't more often...
CHANCES:
Scandal......5% -- Never done, not really a hit (especially in the US) but it is a Brian song and he tends to pull these songs out of nowhere once in awhile so I guess there could be a shot - but it is highly unlikely....
