Will "Some Things That Glitter" get the I Want It All treatment?

When the official songwriting credits are revealed for Kerry Ellis's upcoming Anthems album, do you think that Some Things That Glitter/I Loved a Butterfly will get the same hindsight treatment that I Want It All received from Brian?  Meaning- instead of it being credited to May/Taylor/Rodgers, will Brian have it listed solely as "May"?   As he did with IWIA on the credits to Video Hits 2 (instead of being attributed to Queen)?  It was an oddly self-serving gesture from Brian, and for some reason, I think we'll see the same thing done for Glitter....

Me and my pesky details!

You are correct in that the GVH2 DVD booklet credits Brian May with "I Want It All," where as the other Miracle tracks are credited to Queen. I believe this to be a mistake, not Brian trying to be a jerk. He also wrote "Scandal," so why not credit himself there too?

Greatest Video Hits 2 was released in 2003. Since then, the following have been released, all of which contain "I Want It All":

Return Of The Champions
Stone Cold Classics
A to Z Of Queen, Vol. 1
Live In Ukraine 

All of these releases, and all the releases BEFORE Video Hits 2, credit Queen with the song. I highly doubt Brian was sitting in the proofing room, looking over the sleeve note details and artwork insisting that his name be placed there. More likely the copyist took it from an incorrect note given to him.

"Some Things That Glitters" is credited to May, Taylor, Rodgers on The Cosmos Rocks.

"I Loved A Butterfly" is what will appear on Kerry Ellis's album Anthem. It appears to be the same song, or is at least closely related. And by closely related, I mean he might have rewritten the lyrics. Or not. We'll find out soon.

However, keep in mind that the song writing credits on TCR are a bit of a grey area. Paul Rodgers wrote and performed "Warboys" and released it on his own album Live In Glasgow before Q+PR recorded it for The Cosmos Rocks. YET The Cosmos Rocks credits it to "Rodgers, Taylor, May." Live In Glasgow credits it just to "Rodgers".

"Say It's Not True," written by Roger Taylor as far back as 2003, is credited on Return Of The Champions to "Taylor." The Cosmos Rocks credits it to "Taylor, Rodgers, May". As does Live In Ukraine.

If you look closely at The Cosmos Rocks, you'll notice all three artists are credited on each song in a different order, with the original/primary writer listed first. It's hard to gauge what involvement the other two had on the songs we know were written by one individual originally.

So don't be surprised if "I Loved A Butterfly" is credited to Brian May even if its the same song or mostly the same song as "Some Things That Glitter". Take the credits on TCR as somewhat fluid, because the guys themselves aren't even consistantly adhering to them.

In some places the title of the song is referred in the tracklist as Things That Glitter or Some Things That Glitter. Bearing that in mind and the recent acoustic rendition in the EPK, I think there is little room for especulation.

Regarding the credits, let's do not forget that this song is certainly related to Brian's old Butterfly (from THE MAGIC YEARS documentary videos).

Great post, Rhyeking.  It's beyond me why people are always accusing Brian of being self-serving when he's one of the least self-serving people on earth.

As for the song, have a listen here..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8-j94-EHGQ

a) what a gorgeous voice
b) it's basically the same song

Thanks, Sir GH.

I guess we have our answer. "I Loved A Butterfly" and "Some Things That Glitter" are the same song. We'll have to wait to see whether the liner noters credit Brian alone.

The bigger question is: Why the title change?

My theory: "I Loved A Butterfly" is probably the original title.

In The Magic Years and GVH2 "One Vision" documentary section, Brian is heard playing this on piano. Years later, when asked, he said the name of the demo was "Butterfly." This was well before Q+PR formed and recorded the song. I'm guessing Brian felt the titled was to flowery or light for The Cosmos Rocks:

“Cosmos Rockin’”
“Time To Shine”
“Still Burnin’”
“Small”
“Warboys”
“We Believe”
“Call Me”
“Voodoo”
“I Loved A Butterfly”
“C-lebrity”
“Through The Night”
“Say It’s Not True”
“Surf’s Up…School’s Out”
“small reprise” 

See?

So he changed it to "Some Things That Glitter."

Wilki Amieva wrote: In some places the title of the song is referred in the tracklist as Things That Glitter or Some Things That Glitter. Bearing that in mind and the recent acoustic rendition in the EPK, I think there is little room for especulation.

Regarding the credits, let's do not forget that this song is certainly related to Brian's old Butterfly (from THE MAGIC YEARS documentary videos).

What are you talking about, Wilki.
There's absolutely no relation between 'Butterfly' and Some Things That Glitter, apart from the word Butterfly. And apart from being a ballad. But the music of the 1986 thing has nothing to do with the 2008 one.

By the way, aren't there some versions where the songs are credited to the writers?

FriedChicken wrote:

What are you talking about, Wilki.
There's absolutely no relation between 'Butterfly' and Some Things That Glitter, apart from the word Butterfly. And apart from being a ballad. But the music of the 1986 thing has nothing to do with the 2008 one.

Well, perhaps you have to look harder... I asked Brian May himself in 2008 and he said that "there is certainly a connection".

I agree with what RK have said before about the IWIA credit to Brian May instead of QUEEN being just a mere mistake.

Now regarding THE COSMOS ROCKS songs situation, I would like to add that Paul Rodgers credited Voodoo to himself in one of his last live releases. Apparently, these should be considered solo songs as long as they are not on a QUEEN+Paul Rodgers release.

BTW, the US version of TCR has all songs credited to BM/RT/PR in order of relevance instead of just Q+PR.

Wilki Amieva wrote:

BTW, the US version of TCR has all songs credited to BM/RT/PR in order of relevance instead of just Q+PR.

Really? Would you list them for us? It would be interesting to see if our guesses match up with an 'official' source.

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

Is that your guesses or is that the first names on the USA CD release?

ps Warboys - Roger?

My US copy, bought at a Michigan 'Best Buy' (the CD + Japan Highlights DVD Edition) credits the songs thusly:

Cosmos Rockin' (Taylor, Rodgers, May)
Time To Shine (Rodgers, May, Taylor)
Still Burnin' (May, Rodgers, Taylor)
Small (Taylor, May, Rodgers)
Warboys (Rodgers, Taylor, May)
We Believe (May, Rodgers, Taylor)
Call Me (Rodgers, May, Taylor)
Voodoo (Rodger, May, Taylor)
Some Things That Glitter (May, Taylor, Rodgers)
C-Lebrity (Taylor, May, Rodgers)
Through The Night (Rodgers, May, Taylor)
Say It's Not True (Taylor, Rodgers, May)
Surf's Up...School's Out! (Taylor, Rodgers, May)
small reprise (Taylor, May, Rodgers)

Curiously, my other CD copy, the UK Tour Edition, does NOT credit individual songs, but simply says:

All tracks written by Queen + Paul Rodgers

As does my US Vinyl LP copy.

As I said before, the credits on this album ought to be considered fluid from now on. The first name listed in the credits appears to be correct with what we know of who wrote what songs BEFORE Q+PR formed (like "Warboys" and "Say It's Not True").

(And yes, I own three copies on this album. Living in Canada, I didn't want to wait for the North American release, so I bought the Tour Edition CD off their website. It was the only version I could buy that didn't give me a "Not available for sale in your territory" message [dumbasses!]. It arrived and that would have been that, except that when the US releases finally came around, Best Buy had the exclusive CD + DVD edition, so I grabbed it one day while in Michigan visiting my relatives [just to have the DVD]. Later, HMV was selling their Christmas stock and the LP was on sale, so I bought it because I have the other Queen albums on vinyl and it would complete the collection.)

Rhyeking: I've basically bought the album five times, though 3 are mine. UK CD, Canadian CD (both regular edition) and US 2LP. Bought another Canadian CD and US LP set for two friends, one birthday and one Xmas.

WOULD love to get the Japanese edition with the SLIJ Highlights on CD, as well as the Best Buy boxset with the reissue LP's.

I've got it four times: The tour -cd, the 2-cd with DVD, the record (signed by Brian) and the cassette :D

Was that cassette made in Indonesia or something?