Too Much Love Will Kill You

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Adam Baboolal wrote: [/QUOTENAME]...
And I had wished for many years that there'd been a Freddie sung version, and et voila, come 1995, there it was!

Adam.[/QUOTE]

Same here, Adam!

Cheers,

Ogre-

It makes me think about what Brian went through with his marriage and all. I may be way off base but the "torn between the lover and the love you leave behind" bit makes me think of it

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]<font color=black>QUEEN OBSESSED wrote: [/QUOTENAME]It makes me think about what Brian went through with his marriage and all. I may be way off base but the "torn between the lover and the love you leave behind" bit makes me think of it[/QUOTE]

not Brian's lyrics....check this before saying...
this could just as likely be the lyricist's own experiences

Even though he didn't "write" the lyrics, Brian is probably the best lyricist of the bunch so he would have no trouble putting his thoughts on paper, so I have a feeling that the other two were conduits for Brian, in the same sense that Tim Rice was on The Golden Boy, which could very easily be about Freddie and Mary's relationship. Maybe the fact that these songs were so personal they brought in an outsider to distance themselves from particularly delicate subject matter?

That's what's great about art: you can adapt it to different situations. Had 'Teo' been written 12 years later, we could've sworn it's about AIDS.

I think that Brian's version just had that wee touch more emotion in it that the Freddie version was lacking. That said though, I remember seeing an interview Brian did on TV not long after his version was released where he mentioned that a Queen version had been recorded but was shelved. Imagine my surprise and joy when I heard the Queen / Freddie version. Wonderful stuff with a cracking vocal by Freddie.

And just to clear something up. This song was a co-write job between Brian, Frank Musker and Elisabeth Lamers.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]<font color=green>Bren<font color=orange>ski wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]<font color=black>QUEEN OBSESSED wrote: [/QUOTENAME]It makes me think about what Brian went through with his marriage and all.[/QUOTE]not Brian's lyrics.... this could just as likely be the lyricist's own experiences[/QUOTE]Still, in many interviews back then, that's exactly what Bri said the song was about - he co-wrote it together with two friends/acquaintances, so we might as well consider it the result of a collective "brainstorming" or "soul-searching" session on the subject, regardless of who wrote what line exactly.

FWIW

I wish people would talk about the other songwriters on the tune -- Elizabeth Lamers and Frank Musker.

As usual, Andy's Queen page comes through with some great details (scroll down):

http://www.pemcom.demon.co.uk/jason/songs/brian/bttl.htm

Scratch that, it's not Andy's page -- ah, for the good ole days when a pemcom.co.uk address meant it was Andy's page. It's the Queen Trainspotter's Guide, related and perhaps inspired by/a relative of Andy's page.

Here's Brian's thoughts on the song:

"Some songs happen, simply because somebody sits down and decides to write a song. But there is another kind, like this one, which HAS to be written, because the writer has no choice. This happened at a time when I was going through a very difficult period; it was written as a kind of therapy. In this case I was very much the patient and Frank (Musker) was very much the therapist who helped me through it."

Again, I think, and I may be totally out to lunch here, Brian had help, but he knew exactly what the song was going in. Frank maybe helped him craft his words or worked on ideas, but the song is primarily a Brian song.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Daniel Nester wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Scratch that, it's not Andy's page -- ah, for the good ole days when a pemcom.co.uk address meant it was Andy's page. It's the Queen Trainspotter's Guide, related and perhaps inspired by/a relative of Andy's page. [/QUOTE]

Well, the Trainspotter's Guide is still bloody brilliant, and that's saying something in comparison to the original Queen Web resource, Andy's stuff.

I believe QueenVault is attempting to be a more regularly updated version.

While I'm off-topic, Daniel, your books are being recommended for folk who purchased Lester's book on Amazon. I'm off to look up more info on your stuff!

That Queen Vault has some great stuff -- I seem to remember it launching, but it has some great info -- I learned some new stuff about Roger rarities, for example.

I didn't know my books were being recommended with Lester's. My booos are totally different, whereas Lester is the king of information.

Brian explicitly states in an interview on the "Making of ANATO" DVD, that all of the songs that he writes are about relationships in some shape or form. Obviously, he had help...and probably needed it considering his hardships. Personally, I thought both Brian and Freddie's vocals were really powerful. I think Freddie found a connection in the vocals and drew on the emotion from that. Although Brian's my favourite Queen member by far and wide...musically and vocally I think the version w/ Freddie singing from Made In Heaven is the best.

It certainly was heart-breaking to finally hear Freddie's version.

Before Freddie's death, there was to be a US compilation album with an unreleased track, named at the time as "Too Much Love". I was at the tribute concert and when Brian played "Too Much Love Will Kill You" I figured it was the same song. I knew there was a queen version and couldn't wait to hear it, I got a snippet of it on a bootleg a few years later which is closer to the BTTL version.
Later in 1992, I was at the Marquee for 2 nights with The Cross, the 2nd night Brian played TMLWKY with the soaring guitar of the MIH version. This is the best version, sung with Brian's obvious emotion, but with the fantastic guitar solo.