Queen Discussion Thread

The Millionaire Waltz

Written by: Freddie Mercury

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, piano
Brian May - guitars, orchestrations, backing vocals
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, backing vocals





- This is really the last in that line that started with My Fairy King went through The March Of The Black Queen and In The Lap Of The Gods to Bohemian Rhapsody. An epilogue of sorts with the genre switching, ballad section and rock section.

- This was reduced to being part of the medley and was performed through 1978.

QUOTES:

- "It’s all about John Reid, actually. It’s very out of the Queen format, really and we thought we’d like to do that on every album. I think I went a bit mad on this one. But it’s turned out alright, I think, it makes people laugh sometimes.” - Freddie Mercury – Kenny Everett Interview – 1976

- "Brian has orchestrated it fully with guitars like he’s never done before. He goes from tubas to piccolos to cellos. It’s taken weeks. Brian’s very finicky.” – Freddie Mercury – Circus – 1977

- "I think that holds the record. There’s one bit in there which is sort of a fairground effect in the background. I think there are three octaves for each part, and six parts. I’m not sure but there must be about eighteen or twenty guitar tracks. It’s a funny sound. It makes a peculiar sort of rigid sound. I was really surprised. It sounded like a fairground organ.” – Brian May – Guitar Player

- "It’s an arranged, intricate number. There are several time signature changes, though not so many vocal overdubs.” – Roger Taylor – Circus

- "I think it’s good and we’re patting ourselves on the back again. I really think it’s worked out well especially from the orchestration point of view. Because Brian really used his guitar in a different sort of way. I know he’s done lots of orchestrations before.” - Freddie Mercury – Kenny Everett Interview

- There are no alternative or officially released live versions.

UNRELEASED LIVE VERSION:

LIVE IN HOUSTON - 1977


PERSONAL NOTES:

- I love this song and I wish we heard more of it. I would love to have heard a full out version done live. But I'll take what I can get. It's a wonderful song.

Next up - You And I, a perfectly crafted John Deacon pop song!

John Reid was their new manager. He was also the manager of Elton John at the time and was extremely successful. Freddie basically said that JR inspired the song because he was so wealthy, successful, and as camp and gay as Freddie was...so Freddie admired him quite a bit...and had tremendous fights with him at times too

You And I

UNRELEASED VERSIONS:
DEMO

I can hear FM and RT's backing vocals but who is narrating the lyrics? Is that John's voice? Haven't heard his speaking voice much so I assumed it's his.

Yes, Freddie really showed how supportive he is with JD. Now I really understand the devastation JD felt when his friend passed away and his reluctance to go on with the band without FM.

What is Deep Cuts Volume 1? Is this another album you are going to discuss later? If so, then I'll wait ...

Somebody To Love

Written by: Freddie Mercury

Musicians:

Freddie Mercury - lead vocals, piano, gospel choir
Brian May - guitars, gospel choir
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, gospel choir




- The big single from A Day At The Races. It hit #2 in the UK and #13 in the US. Also issued as a single in Australia (where it hit #22), Denmark, France, Japan (where it hit #51), Mexico, The Netherlands (where it hit #1), Poland, Portugal, Turkey, and Yugoslavia.

- Played live through 1982 in full and then as a part of a medley until 1985. It was not performed on the Magic Tour, but was resurrected at the Tribute Concert with George Michael in an infamous performance and then retired again until Brian and Kerry began performing it during the Anthems tour and then with QAL.

- On a side note, this is John Ondrasnik (the singer/songwriter who goes under the band name Five For Fighting)'s favorite Queen track. Weird aside, but I am a fan of his, and have met him - REAL down to earth guy who I saw open for Train and met afterwards where he thanked me and hugged me for being a fan....and while he's gone down the piano soft ballad route too often for my sake now, his first album Message For Albert is an absolute gem.

- Quite a few covers have happened over the years including Anne Hathaway for Ella Enchanted, Brittany Murphy for Happy Feet, Glee, amongst many others.

QUOTES:

- "It’s Aretha Franklin-influenced. Freddie’s very much into that. We tried to keep the track in a loose, gospel-type feel. I think it’s the loosest track we’ve ever done.” – Roger Taylor – Circus – 1977

ALTERNATIVE RELEASED VERSIONS:

VIDEO VERSION

- NOT essential listening.
- The only difference is added crowd noise at the end.

1991 HOLLYWOOD REMIX

- NOT essential but interesting.
- Released on the 1991 Hollywood remaster of A Day At The Races. The vocals are phased and there seems to be more added to the harmonies and there is a more definitive ending.

BRIAN MAY + CATHERINE PORTER

- ESSENTIAL listening.
- Catherine Porter is a lovely lady who was a backing vocalist on Brian's solo tour and she sang backing vocals on Let Me Live on Queen's Made In Heaven album. When she did her own album, she covered this song and had Brian on guitar. It is a VERY laid back version but it has it's own beauty to it. Brian's solo is VERY nice.

ALTERNATIVE UNRELEASED VERSIONS:

VOCAL OUT-TAKES

- NOT essential but interesting.
- From a Queen convention, complete with Greg Brooks "Property Of Queen Productions" voiceover, it features a few different snippets of the Queen choir machine.

STUDIO OUT-TAKES

-NOT essential.
-From a Queen convention, complete with Greg Brooks "Property Of Queen Productions" voiceover, these are instrumental takes of the song.

OFFICIALLY RELEASED LIVE VERSIONS:

ROCK MONTREAL VERSION

- One of my favorite versions - possibly my favorite. Love the energy...and Rog's backing vocals.

ON FIRE AT THE BOWL VERSION

- Ok THIS is my favorite version. Just FANtastic.

QUEEN + GEORGE MICHAEL - FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE

- This is the infamous performance that has set the standard for any Queen + concert post Freddie's death. It was near unanimously considered the best performance of the night and singlehandedly sparked rumors of George Michael touring with the band. It definitely is a good one and it is fun but I never got George touring with them myself. I always thought it was interesting that people who said that Adam couldn't sing the rock numbers well were willing to back George. I couldn't imagine George singing I Want It All or Stone Cold Crazy that's for sure

UNRELEASED LIVE PERFORMANCES:

LIVE AT HOUSTON - 1977

- Another good performance from much closer to when it was written!

ROCK IN RIO - 1985

- An example of the medley version.

QUEEN + HANNAH JANE FOX/WE WILL ROCK YOU CAST - 2002

- Hannah Jane Fox is the original female lead in the We Will Rock You musical. This is an interesting performance. I love Fox in the musical and this is a very decent version if incomplete for TV.

BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - 2011

- Taken from a Freddie Tribute in 2011, it's a nice version although it's too...clean for my taste. Kerry is a bit too theatrical (and not in performance but in terms of vocal output. To me this song needs a bit more...rawness to it).

QUEEN + QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA - 2012 - AMERICAN IDOL

- The first time the more rocking ending was tried. I think this performance is phenomenal ESPECIALLY given that the whole band had about 1 week to rehearse at this point having all just really met each other at auditions. Marc Martel's signature Queen cover.

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT - DAY 2 LONDON - 2012


- Once again one of my favorite parts of the London shows was when Brian did an acoustic version of a song. This one was amazing as the audience really became part of the band. Brian backed the audience for the most part and it was a very community-love feeling. And you could tell how much Brian was enjoying the interaction. LOVED it.

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT - DAY 3 LONDON - 2012

- I'm not sure what to say here. Let me get it out of the way that I do think it's a damn good job. However for whatever reason this one was one that disappointed me during the QAL tour. I think the main problems for me was my own expectations. When I heard of the QAL tour I thought for sure this song was one that Adam was going to knock out of the ballpark. I hate sounding negative because I did highly enjoy his take, but for whatever reason it didn't quite meet my godlike expectations. The only thing I can point out is that I wasn't really a fan of some of his choices at the end. They didn't quite mesh with the instrumentation imo. While AL did blow me away on some songs (Who Wants To Live Forever and The Show Must Go On (post Kiev anyways )) this one didn't *quite* hit the mark for me.
- I WILL say that I picked Day 3 because I think as the tour went on he got much better at it and if the tour went on, he might have hit those expectations I had!

BRIAN MAY + KERRY ELLIS - CANDLELIGHT - 2013

- Brian gets to sing a bit more - based on Day 3 in London with QAL, it's a very nice version!

Next up, Queen gets serious with a Brian May political track...White Man