Queen: The Complete Works (95 page)

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.

An edited version of ‘Why Don’t We Try Again’ (reducing the running time from 5’22 to 4’06) was rightly chosen as the second UK single, peaking at No. 44 (seven places better than the lead-off single, ‘Business’). The song was performed on only a few occasions during the 1998
Another World
tour, which is probably for the best, since it would be nearly impossible to reach the notes Brian managed in the studio recording during a gruelling live set.

WILDERNESS
(May)

• Album (Brian):
World

A curious composition, ‘Wilderness’ was completely performed by Brian and is dominated by his pleading vocals. The words were “an outpouring of a confused brain,” according to the liner notes of
Another World
, as Brian sings of travelling through the “mire in the wilderness.” The song is plodding and dirge-like, with keyboards and a drum-machine supporting Brian’s vocals only minimally, though a touching guitar solo enhances the emotional level. It sounds a bit tinny, and could have benefited from a more organic arrangement, but it’s a welcome experiment and undoubtedly fits the theme of Brian’s never-ending quest to find himself.

“‘Wilderness’ was a fusion of a lot of feelings I had at the time which were (and are) hard to express,” Brian said of the song. “It was one of those songs which more or less wrote themselves. I had no confidence in it at the time, but Justin [Shirley-Smith] encouraged me to finish it. There is a lot of darkness in these songs from this period which I find hard to revisit even now. The upside is that they were part of a path which led me eventually to a good place, though not in a way I was expecting...”

A WINTER’S TALE
(Queen)

• Album:
Heaven
• A-side: 12/95 [6]

After the
Innuendo
sessions finished in early 1991, Freddie insisted that the band return to Mountain Studios in Montreux to start work on another album.
So energized by the rush of recording was Freddie that he already had several songs written that he wanted to get down on tape, among them the atmospheric ‘A Winter’s Tale’. According to Jim Hutton, the song had been written in the winter of 1990 in Montreux during a recording session, as Freddie sat on the porch of his rented home on Lake Geneva.

The words are of the observational type, which was unusual for Freddie but a welcome approach. The listener is placed into Freddie’s lakeside seat as he sings about “smoking chimney tops” and “little girls scream[ing] and cry[ing]”, set to an idyllic, laid-back instrumentation. As Freddie sings the lyrics, one gets a sense of sadness in the performance, as he acknowledges that all that surrounds him is “an extraordinary place”, even referencing an older song (“there’s a kind of magic in the air”), but there’s still an optimistic, blissful bent to the words.

“I love the last song he wrote, ‘A Winter’s Tale’,” Brian told the
Daily Mirror
in 2002. “It doesn’t philosophize, it’s just about how beautiful life is. He wrote it one morning, beside the lake and looking at the mountains.” Brian later told
Classic Rock
in 2011, “Freddie mainly used the piano for songwriting, but there were times when he’d get inspiration when he wasn’t around his instrument. It could be any experience; a skate on the pond. One of the last songs he wrote, ‘A Winter’s Tale’, was written purely sat looking out on the mountains from the other side of Lake Geneva. He could obviously hear it all in his head, although he didn’t have any musical instruments with him. I remember him coming into the studio and saying, ‘I’ve got this idea ... just give me a few minutes.’ Then he brought it to life. That’s a beautiful track, actually.”

The song was virtually completed during the post-
Innuendo
sessions, though it sounds as if Roger rerecorded his drum track and Brian and Roger added the vocal harmonies later. Chosen as the second single from
Made In Heaven
in December 1995, ‘A Winter’s Tale’ was a perfect holiday choice; the band, too, recognized the opportunity, and coupled the song with their 1984 non-album single, ‘Thank God It’s Christmas’. Two CD singles were issued, the first using three remastered singles from the 1970s (‘Now I’m Here’, ‘You’re My Best Friend’ and ‘Somebody To Love’), while the second offered ‘Thank God It’s Christmas’ along with the previously unissued ‘Rock In Rio Blues’ from 1985.

The single peaked at No. 6 in the charts (though it wasn’t given a US release), and two videos were created for the release. The first was a standard cut-and-paste DoRo affair, though it added a special effect of the lyrics being ‘written’ on the screen in Freddie’s handwriting. The more standard version was commissioned by the British Film Institute for the 1996 release,
Made In Heaven: The Films
and was directed by Chris Rodley. Retitled ‘Outside-In’, the video shows the ecstasy of landscape as a man dreams his last few images of colour, texture, light and movement in the world. Heavy stuff, yet neither video, apart from the latter’s inclusion on the aforementioned video anthology, has yet been released on any official Queen product; the song was also overlooked for inclusion on the 1999
Greatest Hits III
compilation, though it was finally released in 2010 on the final
Singles Collection
box set.

WISHING WELL
(Bundrick/Kirke/Kossoff/Rodgers/Yamauchi)

• Live (Q+PR):
Return

Released on Free’s 1973 album Heartbreaker, ‘Wishing Well’ was written for departed guitarist Paul Kossoff, who left the band due to an escalating problem with drug addiction. The song was introduced to the Queen + Paul Rodgers set list on 28 April 2005 in Hamburg. The song remained in the set on the 2008
Rock The Cosmos
tour, but, curiously, wasn’t released on
Live In Ukraine
.

WITHOUT YOU
(Bulsara)

This original composition written by Freddie was performed on two occasions by Wreckage: first on 26 October 1969 and five days later, on 31 October, both at Ealing College Of Art.

WOMAN YOU’RE SO BEAUTIFUL

(BUT STILL A PAIN IN THE ASS)
(Taylor)

• Download: 8/06

In August 2006, a mystery website appeared on MySpace in the name of Felix + Arty, with a song titled ‘Woman You’re So Beautiful (But Still A Pain In The Ass)’. Fans on the online Queen community were puzzled by the song, pondering the identities of Felix + Arty, though the more resourceful listeners were able to surmise that the curious Arty moniker was a phonetic pronunciation of Roger Taylor’s initials, and that the name itself had been credited on the
Electric Fire
track,
‘People On Streets’. Felix, of course, is Roger’s son. Born during sessions for
The Game
on 22 May 1980, he was known in Queendom for shouting “radio ka ka”, thus initiating one of the band’s biggest hits, as well as for appearing on the rear sleeve of
Electric Fire
.