... great topic! "It´s a hard life" is really one of my all time favourites.
Ever noticed that the piano line in the beginning (after the "Vesti la giubba" intro) and at the end is a direct reference to Bohemian Rhapsody (listen to the first four notes in Bb but then continuing in Ab, while BoRap stays in Bb)? I don´t think that happened by coincidence, considering that both songs deal with depression in a way. Maybe Sebastian could add something to this.
By the way (offtopic, I know) - Brian May seems to be a bit of a Wagner fan. Listen to the beginning of the Prologue of Götterdämmerung (Ring cycle) and the intro of "Who wants to live forever":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYgN_nJtvfE.
He also used the Bridal chorus from Wagner´s Lohengrin opera in the Flash Gordon soundtrack (wedding march).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qJ756DSVp8&feature=related
Thanks guys for your input.
Sebastian, as always, I appreciate your opinions (really helps to keep the
discussion flowing nicely) and I hope you don't mind me using your trademark
style in replying.
SEB : The actual answer was only known by Fred himself. Sometimes thesethings
result out of serendipity. For instance, we could say that Bo Rhap was released
on Halloween because they'd used an operatic symbolic fancy dress for that
song; or that Hammer to Fall was inspired by Maxwell's Silver Hammer, which happened
to be played on certain Californian station while Brian was thinking about new
songs for 'The Works', etc.
- [b]I don't think he 'references' the opera (in the opening lines) out of
chance or accident. I think he purposely uses the opera and it's theme, not
only in the opening lines, but throughout the song. His frame of mind probably
being lonely, good chance of recent heart break from a lover. You only need to
look at the lyrics, one example, "And now you say it's over and I'm
falling apart". He would have had knowledge of Pagliacci, more likely
having seen it even and I reckon he did purposely use it in the lyrics while
composing the song.[/b]
SEB : The video's sort of a joke within a joke, showing how Fred felt alone
even in such rich and pompous world. In that sense, quoting that opera (and not
another one) was sort of a match made in heaven. But whether it was deliberate
or not we can only guess.
- [b]You've jumped much further ahead to the actual video. The idea for the
'opera style' video would have been conceived well after the composing of the
song and thus, not so relevant. The original idea for the song could well have
been deliberate, as he could have been recently 'dumped' by a lover and may
well have thought of himself as Punchinello, thus giving birth to the idea of
using that opera in IAHL. He may have intentionally even used the opening lines
of IAHL as a simple acknowledgement for the listener that he wrote the song
while thinking of Pagliacci.[/b]
SEB : Keep in mind that the song is not his
interpretation of that opera; only the first four bars are. The remaining
97.63% of the song hasn't got anything to do with opera
-[b] Again, this is were I disagree. The rest of the song, although not using
the music from the opera, could very well have been a direct reference to
Pagliacci. You only need to read the lyrics from it. They both have very
similar themes of loss/hurt/blame etc etc.[/b]
SEB : TBF, IAHL is not 'simple rock/pop'.
- [b]I don't claim it to be simple rock/pop. You've misread me here. I use
"simple rock/pop" just as a generalization of all music at that time,
whether rock, pop, funk, disco etc etc and that Mercury could go one further
with his songs than other artists. (AND I do acknowledge that he isn't the only
writer who had songs of the same ilk and genius).[/b]
SEB : It's not 'far more complex' either... it's very clever, very beautiful,
etc. But it's neither as simple as most '84 hits nor as complex as Bo Rhap or
other things Fred wrote before or since.
- [b]I disagree, I think that if my opinion here is correct, in that he
cleverly bases his frame of mind and life at that time, and incorporates the
story in Pagliacci into the song, cleverly even adding a direct reference
in the opening 'tune', then it is quite a complex piece of work. More so than a
lot of his songs, especially in the 80s. [/b]
[i](Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx)
sings the operatic intro of IAHL in gibberish during 'A Night at the
Opera'.)[/i] SEB : That melody was already quite famous before 'The Works',
there are many places where Fred could've seen it, including of course the
opera itself.
- [b]I hadn't thought of this. Freddie may have just heard it while watching
the marx bros film and liked it! I reckon though he would have more likely have
seen it early 80s or before even, thus having more knowledge of the
storyline... which in turn he incorporates into IAHL, again with the 'tune' at
the start and lyrics thereafter. IMO[/b]
SEB :Not quite off-topic, and it's very interesting to comment here. If you
keep writing these posts, I'll end up adding 'Barcelona' and 'Bad Guy' to my website.
-[b] lol. That will only lead me to doing just that Seb! The more information
on your website the better imo, it's a fantastic place to research from (although
I bet time consuming on your part!).[/b]
SEB : Theoretically, yes, but keep in mind that a reason for him taking it that
seriously was precislely his realisation of having very little left to live. If
he'd thought he'd be around for several decades, maybe he'd still writing Body
Language's and 'Mr Bad Guys''s until the end.
- [b]I'm not so sure here, I think he would always have made Barcelona at this time and it would have been
no better or worse. I don't think his disease led him to doing Barcelona as a sort of 'bucket list', I
reckon the timeline would have always meant it happening when it did. In terms
of 'end product', I think it would have always been taken as seriously whether
ill or not, and we would have still had the same results... and remember the
others didn't know he was sick while making the album.[/b]
[QUOTE]
[b]Van Basten 9 wrote: [/b]
SEB : Great song, but not even close to
his best pieces.
[b]- I respect your opinion, but personally feel that he did out do himself and
that IAHL is up there with the best of his works. The song may musically play
out rather simpler to other songs like BR, MOTBQ etc, but in terms of the mood
he sets, the emotions you feel while listening to the song, the beautiful
melody, the powerful but simple lyrics. It's such a personal song, but one
which we all have a connection with at one time in our life. I know that when I
was younger I played it over and over and over again when I had broken up with
a girlfriend (I was young), and could really relate to the lyrics of loss, but
of hope for the future. It's a song that starts of like a heart being broken,
then more gently displays that sense of loss/hurt, before becoming more upbeat
with it's message of hope and that "it happens to everyone" and that
love will come again. It's a bit of a rollercoaster of emotion so to speak.
AND...
We know that Freddie loved opera and wanted to get more music lovers into
opera. So, if he writes IAHL with the opera Pagliacci in his mind, cleverly
using it's theme to address his loneliness/hurt at that time and using
specifically that little part of the opera's 'melody' in the opening of IAHL, a
melody that was quite common even to non opera listeners and had been used in
the very popular Marx Bros ANATO, a film that Mercury loved and probably
expected that Queen fans especially had at least seen once due to it's title
connection, then the song does become more complex, with many layers. It
does seem at the very least to intentionally lead the listener, especially the
Queen fan into making that connection with A Night At The OPERA or opera in
general (Pagliacci). This would have made Freddie very proud imo.
Freddie desperately wanted others to share his love of opera. Specifically
using the opening line of IAHL with the Pag melody ("I don't want my freedom, there's no...etc"), [i]could [/i]spark some people to either find out where it had exactly come from.... with the chance they may go even further into
listening to the whole opera Pagliacci and may find thereafter a love of opera. I'm sure
Freddie would have been [/b][b]delighted to make opera reach a wider audience
at that time. (We all know what came only several years later)
It could even be said that IAHL was a precursor to Barcelona even. Again
backing up why Mercury took Barcelona so seriously. He really did want opera to
be more widely listened too. IAHL could have been his first attempt at trying
to make that so.. Maybe this was a test to see how well the idea may have been
received. A teaser so to speak... and then Barcelona.
Thus it's complexity. Thus it's masterpiece. IMO of course. Again, it could
have been just a simple reference, but from what we know of Freddie and his
creative mind... is it so far fetched?
I hope I've been clear.[/b][/QUOTE]
