Queen: The Complete Works

by Georg Purvis

  WE’RE GOING WRONG (Bruce)

  Originally released by Cream on their 1967 album Disraeli Gears, ‘We’re Going Wrong’ was a regular in the Ibex set list, with a recording coming from The Sink Club, Liverpool on 9 September 1969.

  THE WEDDING MARCH (May)

  • Album: Flash

  A suitably over-the-top rendition of the traditional marriage anthem, sounding like a perverse cross between Hendrix’s interpretation of ‘Star Spangled Banner’ and Queen’s own ‘God Save The Queen’. Brian’s guitar arrangement of ‘The Wedding March’, lasting a little under one minute, appeared on Flash Gordon and appropriately accompanied the scene in which Ming and Dale are married.

  “I make sure that the whole thing is planned and treated like you would give a score to an orchestra to do,” Brian told BBC’s Radio One in 1983. “It’s a complete orchestration. So, it’s a different kind of approach really but I enjoy doing those things. It’s sort of indulgence really but, at the same time, I thought it would be funny for that ‘Wedding March’ to come out that way. Because all our people, who know our music, would recognize that immediately as one of our treatments and anyone else in the cinema would think of it as a strange ‘Wedding March’. It’s meant to be a musical joke anyway, in the film, so it was just heightening that joke really.”

  WHAT ARE WE MADE OF (May)

  • Album (Brian): The Adventures of Pinocchio

  Of Brian’s two contributions to The Adventures Of Pinocchio soundtrack in 1996, ‘What Are We Made Of’ is the most conventional. Written by Brian, the song features Norwegian singer Sissel duetting with Brian on a touching set of lyrics that are more universal than would normally be expected of a soundtrack composition. With orchestral arrangements by Lee Holdridge, the song was recorded at Allerton Hill and features a strong, ballad-like backing, performed almost exclusively by Brian (except for the drums, by Cozy Powell). But the emphasis is on the vocals: Brian’s voice had matured greatly since the release of Back To The Light, and he’s in fine form here, meshing beautifully with Sissel’s angelic voice to truly poignant effect.

  It’s a shame, then, that the song didn’t receive a higher-profile release: the soundtrack to the film wasn’t exactly a hot seller, nor was the film all that popular at the box-office, and Brian’s two contributions remained largely unheard. It would have been a fine concluding track to Another World, and was certainly a stronger inclusion than ‘Cyborg’, but it appears that the song will remain obscure until an exhaustive sweep of Brian’s back catalogue is implemented.

  WHATCHA GONNA DO ’BOUT IT? (Potter/Samwell)

  The Small Faces’ 1966 hit single was performed live by 1984 and The Reaction.

  WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SATURDAY NIGHT? (O’Brien)

  • CD single (Brian): 9/98

  Initially intended for Brian’s Heroes project, ‘Whatever Happened To Saturday Night?’ was written by Richard O’Brien and recorded for the cult classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As originally performed by Meat Loaf, the song absolutely cooks and is a highlight of the film, but in Brian’s hands it’s a different story. Though the backing of Cozy Powell on drums, Spike Edney on keyboards and brothers Andy and Steve Hamilton on saxophones is rollicking and faithful to the original, the vocals ultimately let it down. Brian is no Meat Loaf, and is assisted by Madeline Bell, Gareth Marx, Shelley Preston, Anita Dobson and Emily May on backing vocals in an attempt to beef things up. It’s enjoyable enough, but its non-appearance on Another World (it was released on the US Retro Rock mini-album) was the right decision.

  WHEN THIS OLD TIRED BODY WANTS TO SING

  (LATE NIGHT JAM)

  • Compilation (Freddie): Solo Collection

  A fast-paced jam between Freddie on vocals and Mike Moran on piano, ‘When This Tired Old Body Wants To Sing’ was recorded on 22 June 1987 and remained (largely) unreleased until the 2000 box set. The piano line that Mike is playing at the beginning of the jam, as well as the chanted “Sing it! Sing it!” vocals, was recycled into ‘Overture Piccante’ on Barcelona, but, with the full jam closing the second disc of rarities on the box set, it’s more at home here. One does wonder just how much vodka Freddie had imbibed by the time the tape started rolling, though.

  WHERE ARE YOU NOW? (Taylor)

  • Album (Roger): Electric

  Though the title sounds like a tribute to Freddie, ‘Where Are You Now?’ is a ponderous song in which Roger makes reference to God and the placement of religion in Roger’s life. This might be looking a bit too deeply into the words, though with lines like “There must be more to life than this bum deal” and “Just trying to file a flight plan / Need some direction, need it now”, this is not a difficult connection to make.

  Set at a mid-tempo pace with dominant keyboards played by Roger and Mike Crossley (the latter provides a sublime piano solo where a guitar solo from the mighty Jason Falloon may have otherwise featured), the song breaks down in the middle, leaving only Roger’s drums and vocals as the driving force, before each instrument is reintroduced. It’s interesting that Jason Falloon’s guitar melody recalls the opener’s riff in ‘Pressure On’. Perhaps it was this similarity that excluded the song from the live setting.

  WHIPPING BOY

  Not much is known about ‘Whipping Boy’ other than that it may have been recorded during sessions for Hot Space in 1982. Some collectors have insisted that it is an unreleased demo recording of a completely new song, while others have said that it may be a working title for Brian’s piano ballad ‘My Boy’, also recorded during the Hot Space sessions. The song was returned to in 1983 for sessions for The Works, and even ended up on the short-list of songs to appear on the album, but it was ultimately discarded.

  THE WHISPERERS (Taylor/Evans)

  • Album (Roger): Electric

  In the press release for Electric Fire, it’s stated that “Nicholas Evans provided the inspiration for the spiritually inclined ‘The Whisperers’ ... tell[ing] of the ancient art of training wild horses via softly spoken verbal commands, a more subtle approach than the harsh tradition of dominating the animals through force.” Evans’ The Horse Whisperer (which was the working title of the song but condensed for final release) was published in 1995 and features heavily in the lyric, so much so that Roger gave Evans a co-credit. It also happened to be turned into a major motion picture in 1998, starring Robert Redford.

  “I read the book way before the movie came out, which I thought was disappointing,” Roger explained. “I thought it was a very elegantly written book and if I wanted a good ambient, wide-open spaces, Montana kind of feel to a song, I could not improve on that. I sent Nicholas Evans a copy of the song and he thought it was great and when I said would he like a credit on the song, I just lifted some of the words from the book.”

  Set to a mid-tempo, keyboard-dominated backing atypical of Roger (at times, it sounds more like a Pink Floyd track than a Roger Taylor one), the song premiered at the 1998 Fan Club Convention along with ‘No More Fun’ and ‘Tonight’. Unlike those two songs, ‘The Whisperers’ was doomed to obscurity, and was never attempted in the live setting.

  WHITE MAN (May)

  • B-side: 11/76 [2] • Album: Races

  One of Queen’s most forgotten rockers, ‘White Man’ (originally recorded in July 1976 as ‘Simple Man’) opens the second side of A Day At The Races in discordant style, with plenty of raw guitar and pounding drums that sound out of place on this album. The song takes a political stance, which was a rarity in Queen’s songs and is ultimately the major downfall of the track. The lyrics, about the Native Americans’ plight caused by white explorers and the Westernization of the natural environment, tend to preach a bit too much and, although the track moves along at a decent clip, it is one of the less memorable songs on the album.

  “‘White Man’ is the B-side,” Freddie told Circus in 1977. “It’s Brian’s song, a very bluesy track. Gave me the opportunity to do raucous vocals. I think it’ll be a great stage number.” The song beca
me a regular on the 1977 A Day At The Races and 1977/1978 News Of The World tours, interpolated into ‘The Prophets Song’.

  WHITE QUEEN (AS IT BEGAN) (May)

  • Album: Queen2 • EP: First EP • CD Single: 11/88 • Bonus: Queen2

  Slowing the mood down on Queen II after the raucous finale of ‘Father To Son’, Brian’s gorgeous ‘White Queen (As It Began)’ sneaks in with a hidden guitar introduction, as Freddie sings, virtually unaccompanied, his tale of the proverbial queen of his heart. Enriched by some of Brian’s most beautiful lyrics, the song’s delicacy transforms into a full-on assault as Brian, Roger and John launch into a fantastic instrumental section, showcasing The Red Special in all its glory.

  “I wrote this at College, where I led a relatively sheltered life, even though the University on the whole was a pretty rampant pace!” Brian explained in 2004. “I had been reading The White Goddess by Robert Graves, which explored the role of the idealized Virgin/Mother/ Queen figure in art through history, and the name for our group, decided just around that time, fitted in with this perfectly – which was one of the reasons I was convinced to go with the name. The personal side is bound up with a girl (of course!) whom I saw every day at College, and was to me the ultimate goddess. It’s incredible in retrospect, but because I held her in such awe, in three years I never had the courage to speak to tell her, or even speak to her.”

  The song was included in the live setting between 1974 and early 1977, before being dropped for the News Of The World US tour, though it was reprised once in 1978. A version recorded for the BBC on 3 April 1974 surpasses the original’s beauty thanks to a lovely piano-guitar duet that supplants the normal guitar orchestrations. This rendition, unfathomably, remains unreleased, but a live recording from Queen’s Christmas Eve 1975 show at Hammersmith Odeon was released in 2011 on the deluxe edition of Queen II.

  WHO NEEDS YOU (Deacon)

  • Album: World

  A slightly comedic number, John’s ‘Who Needs You’ introduced a new style into Queen’s already expansive sound spectrum: Latin music. The instrumental line-up is interesting since it features Brian and John playing acoustic guitars, with the former also shaking maracas as Freddie taps a cowbell. The arrangement doesn’t get much more complex than that, except for some subtle guitar harmonies from Brian, but the acoustic guitar solo is absolutely sublime, and has been the cause of much debate over the years regarding its performer. In 2011, Brian confirmed on his website that it was he who played the solo, while John provided the rhythm guitar.

  The words are vengeful, as Freddie sings of a sly girl who keeps the protagonist waiting until he can bear no longer, declaring that he doesn’t need her any more. Not surprisingly, ‘Who Needs You’ wasn’t performed live as it didn’t suit the setting (it would be difficult to imagine the band performing the song in the expansive stadia they were dominating by this time), but it makes News Of The World that much more diverse.

  WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER (May)

  • Album: AKOM • A-side: 9/86 [24] • Live: Wembley • Compilation: Hits2, Classic

  “The hero of [Highlander] discovers in his first battle that he can’t die,” Brian explained of his 1986 composition ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’, “and unfortunately he finds that he falls in love with this girl, and everybody tells him that it’s a bad idea if they stay together because eventually she must grow old and die, and he won’t. But nevertheless he does, he stays with her and she does grow old and she dies in his arms and she says, ‘I never understood why you stayed with me,’ and he says, ‘I see you just the same as I saw you when I first met you’, and she’s old and she’s dying. I was very moved by that and I wrote this song called ‘Who Wants To Live Forever (When Love Must Die)’.”

  Brian’s exquisite ballad was written in the backseat of his car after viewing a twenty-minute rough-cut of the film; by the time he returned home, he had completed the melody by humming his ideas into a mini tape-recorder. “This is a very different era, of course,” Brian said in 2003. “The song was written – I’ve documented this very well, I know – but what happened was we went to see the Highlander rushes with Russell Mulcahy, and that was our first experience in any way with Highlander – I hadn’t read the script; I don’t think any of us had – and it was very moving ... [It] kind of opened up a floodgate in me – I was dealing with a lot of tragedies in my life: the death of my father, [sic – Brian’s father died in June 1988] the death of my marriage, and so forth. I could immediately hear this ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ in my head, and it was almost complete in the car going home – I remember singing it to my manager as he drove me home, and he was pretty surprised. He said, ‘Where did that come from?’ and I said, ‘I don’t even know.’”

  It’s interesting, then, to hear what resulted from a few hummed lines, since ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ turned into a traditional Queen power-anthem, backed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The song actually features only Brian on keyboards, guitars and vocals, with Freddie also on vocals; there is no bass guitar, and the percussion is a combination of programmed drums by Brian and David Richards and the percussion section from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestration, arranged by Brian and Michael Kamen, is gorgeous and suits the song perfectly, reaching a full climax by the time Brian’s restrained guitar solo begins.

  For the first time since 1980, Brian contributes lead vocals, though it’s only sporadic: the opening verse, half of the bridge, and the closing line – the melancholy, “Who waits forever anyway?” – are all sung by Brian. For the film version, Freddie sings the entirety of the song, but it’s the stark contrast of Brian’s quiet, almost mumbled voice and Freddie’s powerful performance that makes the song so haunting.

  Released in September 1986 as the final single from A Kind Of Magic, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ was backed by ‘Killer Queen’ and issued as a UK-only single, reaching a disappointing No. 24 in the charts. The 12” version featured an instrumental reworking titled ‘Forever’ (see separate entry for that song), and all versions featured a four-minute edit of the title track, though the song’s full power and beauty can be found only on the album cut, which is the definitive version. The song was performed live on the 1986 Magic tour, and featured Brian on keyboards during the first part but switching to guitar in time for his solo.

  A video was shot on 16 September 1986 at the Tobacco Wharf in London, and was directed by David Mallet. The video shows Freddie, Brian and John dressed in formal wear with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a forty-strong boys’ choir accompanying the band. Roger is perched behind a pair of timpani and a bass drum, and is the only one dressed informally, which he humorously addressed: “Yeah, I got quite drunk doing this [video]. I couldn’t remember my bits. I must’ve been drunk, because I’m dressed appallingly in some denim outfit. I must’ve fallen into a vat of bleach! This was a long, boring shoot, and it’s all terribly serious. It looks a bit religious, so I can’t say I’m very keen on that.” Brian commented further, saying, “To my mind, I don’t think the video does that much for the song, but it’s nice to see Freddie very formal.”

  Roger agreed that the song worked well in the context of the movie: “I really love the song in the context of the Highlander film, with all the moving shots of the highlander and his wife, and she’s getting old and it’s all shot in the Highlands, and I thought that was very beautiful and very moving.”

  In 1989, to support the British Bone Marrow Donor Appeal, Brian arranged a session at Olympic Studios for a specially re-recorded version of the track, sung by two child vocalists, Ian Meeson and Belinda Gillett. Brian produced and played keyboards and guitar, while Roger assisted on drums and John on bass, with Michael Kamen adding string arrangements. The song was majestically recreated by pop star Seal at the Concert For Life, heightened by an emotional vocal performance, and was undoubtedly one of the most underrated renditions of the day.

  WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN’ GOIN’ ON (Williams)

 
Jerry Lee Lewis’ 1957 single was performed in Osaka on 24 October 1982 and on 15 May 1985 as encore numbers. The Cross also performed it with Brian on guitar and John on bass during their Fan Club Christmas party in December 1988, with Chris Thompson on vocals.

  WHY DON’T WE TRY AGAIN (May)

  • Album (Brian): World • A-side: 9/98 [44]

  One of the drawbacks of Another World is that it sounds too much like Brian was trying to repeat the formula of Back To The Light. There were three cover versions per album (while ‘Rollin’ Over’ was the only legitimate cover on Back To The Light, ‘Nothin’ But Blue’ and ‘Resurrection’ started off as Cozy Powell songs); a short, atmospheric keyboard introduction; and a healthy blend of ballads, rockers and even country songs (‘Let Your Heart Rule Your Head’ and ‘On My Way Up’). It was inevitable, then, that Brian would try to update ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing: in the simplest terms, ‘Why Don’t We Try Again’ is one of the finest ballads written by the guitarist, and is an early highlight on Another World.

  Reportedly written for a Queen project (it would be easy to assume that it was submitted for Innuendo or the sessions shortly thereafter, but Brian tended to sit on songs for a while), the song is about Brian living on his own, which could be about his divorce from Chrissy in the late 1980s. Throughout the song, he questions whether his motives were right, suggesting that their “love was stronger than history” and that it “will never cease to be.”

  Set to a mid-tempo, keyboard-dominated backing, the instrumentation is never intrusive, with appropriate musical peaks and valleys accentuating the emotions and poignancy of the lyrics. Whereas Brian’s voice sounded thin and weak on Back To The Light, by 1998 he had built up his confidence as a vocalist, and ‘Why Don’t We Try Again’ features one of his finest vocal performances, confirming that he always sounds more at ease with the slower ballads than with the challenging rockers. While there aren’t any drums, a drum-machine does keep the rhythm going, with Cozy Powell adding bursts of percussion and timpani.