Guess the Cosmos Lyric Writer!

Dear all,

I got the album today and was relieved and delighted. Hadn’t listen to any online snippets.

The lyrics of the title track and some song titles (“Surf’s Up”, in particular) seemed a bit scary (i.e. corny) beforehand, but especially the latter got saved by the actual, somewhat transcendential lyrics.

I don’t know much of PR’s work, hence I occasionally add his name in brackets; any further guesses are heartily welcome.

Now then, let’s guess the lyric writers, shall we?

1. Cosmos Rockin’: BM. (Yup, in the other thread, there are voices for RT.)

2. Time To Shine: BM? RT? PR? – really no fair guess here, but they seem a tad too inconcrete for Arty.

3. Still Burnin’: BM (despite RT backing vox). Sounds like a song off Another World also due to Paul’s Brianesque phrasing. This similitude of phrasing – even of voices – struck me several times.

4. Small: RT. Sounds like a song off Happiness? (with a tad of late-80ies Jethro Tull added).

5. Warboys: RT

6. We Believe: BM (PR?). The intro sounds like a BM solo song.

7. Call Me: PR. Simplistic r’n’r lyrics. (Again: I don’t know much more than his ‘all right now’ repeated.)

8. Voodoo: PR? BM? (Ah, that blues story-telling thing ... Brian uses that as well.)

9. Some Things That Glitter: RT (PR?)

10. C-lebrity: RT

11. Through The Night: BM (PR?). Nice understated bass-playing! A blessing and a curse they didn’t use a bass player – had they done so, we’d all have screamed murder; this way, it stays in the family, but an additional (melodic) dimension below sometimes is wanting, especially considering the all-around prominent mix of the bass.

12. Say It’s Not True: RT. A beautiful tune! Its heavy use of sound effects certainly sticks out somewhat.

13. Surf’s Up ... School’s Out: RT. Sounds like a song off Electric Fire. A nice surprise that Roger was allowed to pull out his bass distortion again. And, of course, he then comes in with prominent backing vox as well.

14. small reprise: RT

Don’t go and shatter all my impressions – here’s one happy sucker who was sorry to hear, years ago, that RT wouldn’t put out any more solo material. In any case, the last third of the album justifies anything.

Be that as it may: what are your guesses?

Cheers,
Jan

Cosmos Rockin' - Roger
Time To Shine - Paul
Still Burnin' - Brian
Small - Brian
Warboys - Paul
We Believe - Brian
Call Me - Paul
Voodoo - Paul
Some Things That Glitter - Brian (My favorite track I've decided.)
C-lebrity - Roger
Through The Night - Paul
Say It's Not True - Roger
Surf's Up....School's Out - Roger
Small Reprise - Brian

Cosmos Rockin' - Roger
Time To Shine - Brian
Still Burnin' - Brian
Small - Roger
Warboys - Paul
We Believe - Brian
Call Me - Paul
Voodoo - Paul
Some Things That Glitter - Paul
C-lebrity - Roger
Through The Night - Paul
Say It's Not True - Roger
Surf's Up ... School's Out - Roger
Small reprise - Roger

Cosmos Rockin' - Roger
Time To Shine - Paul & Brian
Still Burnin' - Paul & Brian
Small - Brian
Warboys - Paul
We Believe - Brian
Call Me - Paul
Voodoo - Paul
Some Things That Glitter - Brian
C-lebrity - Roger
Through The Night - Brian
Say It's Not True - Roger
Surf's Up....School's Out - Roger
Small Reprise - Brian

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Lester Burnham wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Through The Night - Brian[/QUOTE]

I bet my entire Milli Vanilli collection you are wrong on this one. ;-P

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Erin wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Lester Burnham wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Through The Night - Brian[/QUOTE]

I bet my entire Milli Vanilli collection you are wrong on this one. ;-P[/QUOTE]

And I'll bet you the royalties from "Milli Vanilli: Girl You Know It's-- Girl You Know It's-- Girl You Know It's--: The Complete 'Works'" that YOU'RE wrong!

Erin has the correct list.
I'm willing to bet.

Through the Night is Paul as is Time to Shine. I'm certain that's him on piano on those two tunes as well.

There was no collaborative songwriting.
I'm sure they added bits and ideas to each other's stuff, but the structural framework of each song was complete when they brought them in.
This is according to Paul himself in this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CTflmsK51o

So Paul wrote 5
Brian 4
Roger 4

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Knute wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Erin has the correct list.
I'm willing to bet.[/QUOTE]

Of course, I do. I'm always right. ;-)

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Erin wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Knute wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Erin has the correct list.
I'm willing to bet.[/QUOTE]

Of course, I do. I'm always right. ;-)[/QUOTE]

But of course I came up with the list first on QOL. :P
I was wrong on We Believe though.

Of course we can all be wrong and it gets revealed that Paul wrote Some Things That Glitter and Bri wrote Through the Night or something like that, but I doubt it.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Knute wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Erin wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Knute wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Erin has the correct list.
I'm willing to bet.[/QUOTE]

Of course, I do. I'm always right. ;-)[/QUOTE]

But of course I came up with the list first on QOL. :P
I was wrong on We Believe though.

Of course we can all be wrong and it gets revealed that Paul wrote Some Things That Glitter and Bri wrote Through the Night or something like that, but I doubt it.[/QUOTE]

You are all full of shit. John wrote them all.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]PieterMC wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Knute wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Erin wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Knute wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Erin has the correct list.
I'm willing to bet.[/QUOTE]

Of course, I do. I'm always right. ;-)[/QUOTE]

But of course I came up with the list first on QOL. :P
I was wrong on We Believe though.

Of course we can all be wrong and it gets revealed that Paul wrote Some Things That Glitter and Bri wrote Through the Night or something like that, but I doubt it.[/QUOTE]

You are all full of shit. John wrote them all.[/QUOTE]

JSS? I knew it!!! :)

Cosmos Rockin' - Bri
Time To Shine - Paul
Still Burnin' - Bri
Small - Bri
Warboys - Paul
We Believe - Bri
Call Me - Paul
Voodoo - Paul
Some Things That Glitter - Bri
C-lebrity - Roger
Through The Night - Paul
Say It's Not True - Roger
Surf's Up....School's Out - Roger
Small Reprise - Bri

This is coming along nicely! Thanks for the participation so far!
Let’s see what we have by now:

1. Cosmos Rockin’:
BM: 2 votes
RT: 3 votes

2. Time To Shine
PR: 3 votes
BM: 1 vote
PR & BM: 1 vote
Let’s go with the notion of ‘no collaborations as far as the initial ideas went’ (cf. the video link Knute posted).

3. Still Burnin’:
BM: 4 votes
PR & BM: 1 vote

4. Small / 14. small reprise:
RT: 2 votes
BM: 3 votes

5. Warboys: Paul
Ok, Paul having Warboys (A Prayer For Peace) on his live solo album ought to have tipped me off. ;-)

6. We Believe:
BM: 5 votes
According to an BM interview snippet on Queenpedia, Paul came in with this one. We don’t know, however, whether that refers to the music, to the lyrics or to both. The unusual volume of wordage certainly doesn’t look queenish. – But we can’t all be wrong, now can we? ;-)

7. Call Me:
PR: 4 votes
Same case as for We Believe. ... Except for the small amount of lyrics here.

8. Voodoo:
PR: 5 votes

9. Some Things That Glitter:
RT: 1 vote
BM: 3 votes
PR: 1 vote

10. C-lebrity: Roger
Let’s take this for granted, given the interviews and all.

11. Through The Night:
BM: 2 votes
PR: 3 votes

12. Say It’s Not True: Roger
Same case as for C-lebrity.

13. Surf’s Up ... School’s Out:
RT: 5 votes

We don’t know yet for sure in many cases, so we had better continue guessing and fathoming before further interviews spoil the fun!

Roger said he wrote "Cosmos Rockin", in a radio interview, on 04-sept-2008, if I recall correctly. I'll take his word for that :)

Cheers,

Ogre-

I will concede to Erin and Knute, because they seem to be able to pick out Paul's style better than I can. And if Knute says that Paul said there were no true collaborations on the album, then I believe him too!

I still say 'Say It's Not True' was Roger's...! ;)