Another One Bites the Dust

[Orson]

On another note<---see what I did there?....I find it a bit curious and somewhat disappointing in viewing Queen live performances Freddie rarely attempted replication of studio recordings with the falsetto. To be fair many vocalists altered melodies to facilitate live performance, avoiding the risky high passages. Hey, you could have just stayed home and put on the record if strict adherence was your expectation, eh? Still, it was a signature aspect of their sound.

Maybe that guy resolved that issue for the film?

Mmmmmm...........He did actually. I think it was how good his voice was at the time. They would change the tempo of the concert to give themselves a breather after opening heavy and fast. One change came when he would build himself up for a few seconds and do this track. It's from an opera called 'Pagliacci'. You may not have heard it in America? From about 84. Not a great crowd pleaser, but they did it for a few years.

One thing to remember about Queen is they knew their songs on record had to be commercial. Live was 'f*** that! .......... 'Give em what they want!' ......... We will rock you! .... So falsetto wasn't always the order of the day.

 

[TalismanRich]

I was never as into the later Queen stuff. I started listening to them with the first and second albums, Liar, Seven Seas of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive and Ogre Battle were great tracks. Sheer Heart Attack was OK, but not up to the level of the first two for me. Opera was superb!

I bought several of the later albums, but they didn't get as much play as 1, 2 and Opera.

"and nobody played synthesiser... again"

 

[Orson]

I was never as into the later Queen stuff. I started listening to them with the first and second albums, Liar, Seven Seas of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive and Ogre Battle were great tracks. Sheer Heart Attack was OK, but not up to the level of the first two for me. Opera was superb!

I bought several of the later albums, but they didn't get as much play as 1, 2 and Opera.

"and nobody played synthesiser... again"

A man called Spike Edney. Lurking in the dark shadows at the concerts. It was usually him with his fingers on the keys and pushing the buttons.

 

[Orson]

I was never as into the later Queen stuff. I started listening to them with the first and second albums, Liar, Seven Seas of Rhye, Keep Yourself Alive and Ogre Battle were great tracks. Sheer Heart Attack was OK, but not up to the level of the first two for me. Opera was superb!

I bought several of the later albums, but they didn't get as much play as 1, 2 and Opera.

"and nobody played synthesiser... again"

White Queen and Lily of the valley for some reason register with me when I hear them again.

 

[TAE]

It's a hard life is not that well known in the U.S. I was jamming with a Russian band in Guangzhou China one epic night of my life....One of the players told me he thought I had the perfect voice for pulling off...Wasn't familiar with the damn song so we didn't try it..But when I got back home I decided to give it a go... I do a pretty decent version but I aint no Marc Martel

 

[Mick Doobie]

To be honest I don't really hear Queen much in the recent past. That is I haven't much listened to their recordings. When I do hear them in my head while perhaps performing this or that task, most often it's the Music Hall/ Vaudeville/Cabaret type songs like Dreamer's Ball, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, or even Love of My Life, to which i'll hum, whistle, or sing along. I'll run the gamut on youtube, but if i'm listening to the radio it's 1920s radio, which despite the name isn't strictly 1920s. Music at times similar to this cat some of you might recognize. Perhaps Orson, but most certainly the boys in Queen.

 

[Mick Doobie]

Quiz time.

Anybody recognize bits of the song in the vid above? Hm? No, not Queen. Anybody want to take a stab at it?

CrowsofFritz?

 

[Orson]

Error

 

[TAE]

To be honest I don't really hear Queen much in the recent past. That is I haven't much listened to their recordings. When I do hear them in my head while perhaps performing this or that task, most often it's the Music Hall/ Vaudeville/Cabaret type songs like Dreamer's Ball, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, or even Love of My Life, to which i'll hum, whistle, or sing along. I'll run the gamut on youtube, but if i'm listening to the radio it's 1920s radio, which despite the name isn't strictly 1920s. Music at times similar to this cat some of you might recognize. Perhaps Orson, but most certainly the boys in Queen.

He does have Freddy's front teeth...

My weak stab at what you are speaking of...



or perhaps

 

[Orson]

To be honest I don't really hear Queen much in the recent past. That is I haven't much listened to their recordings. When I do hear them in my head while perhaps performing this or that task, most often it's the Music Hall/ Vaudeville/Cabaret type songs like Dreamer's Ball, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, or even Love of My Life, to which i'll hum, whistle, or sing along. I'll run the gamut on youtube, but if i'm listening to the radio it's 1920s radio, which despite the name isn't strictly 1920s. Music at times similar to this cat some of you might recognize. Perhaps Orson, but most certainly the boys in Queen.

Brian May did a little banjo piece in 'Good Company'. I think that may have been 'A Night At The Opera'.

 

[Mick Doobie]

Quiz time.

Anybody recognize bits of the song in the vid above? Hm? No, not Queen. Anybody want to take a stab at it?

CrowsofFritz?

"Here's another clue for you all"

^That's the clue. I'm pretty sure i'm on the right track, stumbled upon it through youtube cruisings. Try not to cheat and google it, see if you can go by memory/recollection.

 

[Mick Doobie]

Listening to the opening bit in the George Formby video, I says to myself, "I've heard that before. Where have I heard that before?" "Ahhh" I says to myself. Pulled the suspect song up, and bingo. I'm pretty sure bingo, we'll put our heads together at the reveal to see if you all agree. I'll give it a little more time.

 

[Mick Doobie]

Okay, time's up. I'll just do the reveal. Although some of it is fact, there are some "I think" and assumptions to the reveal. Here goes.

Preparing for The Beatles Anthology the idea came up to possibly include a new Beatles track, or two...with Yoko's permission and blessing, or course. Yoko hands over demos John had recorded, prior to his death, of course. The other former fabs would add tracks to the demo. One of the songs is titled Free As A Bird.

John as a child was somewhat estranged from both his mother and his father. He went to live with his Aunt Mimi. As legend has it, his mother was a bit of a free spirit and in-n-out of his life as a child. She had remarried and i think her new husband wasn't particularly kind to John. For those reasons John could not go live with his mother, and i'm pretty sure Mimi wouldn't have had it anyway. John has been quoted as saying his mother, Julia, she played "banjo", and was teaching John some chords. John like any child desperately wanted a relationship with his mother. As fate would have it, his mother was hit by a car driven by a drunk off duty police officer, and died. John was tormented by the loss for the remainder of his life, writing songs such as Mother, and Julia.

The reveal: Compare 0:03-0:14 of the George Formby video below with 4:34-4:47 of The Beatles Free As A Bird video. George Formby was really big in the music halls in the UK in the same era John's mother Julia would come of age. Julia's banjo playing was likely influenced by Formby. In teaching John the banjo, he likely played some of those same tunes, George Formby tunes. His first experience playing music. I think, possibly, the idea with Free As A Bird was to finish John's song just as musically it had started with John, his mother, the banjo, and George Formby.

Pretty cool, eh? Who knew, the 5th Beatle was George Formby. I kid, of course. It is apparent that Queen was influenced by Formby as well. I haven't checked with google to verify some of the above, but i'm pretty sure i'm on the right track. The Formby song is even titled, Mother What'll I Do Now! It's all a bit sad, innit?

 

[Orson]

Mick did you have anything to do with the writing of that film 'The Usual Suspects' and that scene with Kevin Spacey at the end?

 

[Mick Doobie]

But it all makes sense, Orson.

Listen to the lyrics in Formby's Mother What'll I Do Now. He sings about being locked in a cell, separated from his mother. John was tormented by the loss of his mother throughout his life. John at some point in his life went through some kind of scream therapy, i'm not sure the correct terminology. He has been quoted as saying, towards the end of the song Mother he is actually doing that scream therapy.

I just finally did a google search George Formby Free as a Bird. This is what I came up with so far from songfacts dot com.

"The phrase "Turned out nice again" at the end of the song is a reference to George Formby, a musical hall entertainer who played the ukulele and is represented in the closing scenes of the video. "Turned out nice again" was Formby's catchphrase. The connection here is that George Harrison played the ukulele and was a member of the George Formby Appreciation Society. He even attended their gatherings. Harrison was said to have had a ukulele in every room of his home and gave one to McCartney early on in their career."

"The connection here"?...what an understatement, there's a heluva lot more connection than that!

I was a bit of a Beatles fanatic in a past life. I'm not alone and i'm sure some might be as interested as I in this sort of stuff.

 

[Mick Doobie]

Wow, that's sad and uncomfortable to listen to. You can hear the pain. "Primal Scream Therapy" I think it was called. One thing about John, even in earlier works he would lay himself bare in a song. For a song writer most have an understanding of how difficult that can be, to go there.

Another interesting song fact type thing.....for Beatles fans. Listen to the heavy tolling of the bells in Mother. When John reappeared on the music scene with the Double Fantasy album, apparently having dealt with his inner demons, on that album is a song called Starting Over. Juxtaposition the heavy tolling of the bells on Mother with the opening of Starting Over.

 

[Mick Doobie]

Oh well, I guess i'm the only Beatles nut here.

*shrug*

 

[Mick Doobie]

Mick did you have anything to do with the writing of that film 'The Usual Suspects' and that scene with Kevin Spacey at the end?

lol It's been a while since I saw that movie. Just watched the ending.

I'm not finding very much to substantiate my theory other than George being a Formby fanboy, and apparently it was George Harrison who played the banjo/uke at the end of the video. There's also a recording of John repeating a Formby quote played backwards there at the end. There is actually a connection, so I wasn't totally left field, was onto something.

No mention of what song Harrison was playing, though! Mother What'll I Do Now? I say yes!

Maybe I went a little further down that rabbit hole than can be proven. But I like it. I'm sticking to it. So, "turn me on dead man", and all that rot.

By the by, the walrus was Paul, and I am Keyser Soze.