Brian and Roger Working on Freddie and Jacko Tracks

bigV wrote: Sorry to hijack the topic, but I was just listening to "Some Things That Glitter" and I was thinking... 

I really admire Brian May, I love the man, but sometimes he's full of it. He said that he wrote the song with Kerry in mind... Is that why he wrote the lyrics about a woman? 

Sorry again. Rant over.

V.
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There's 2 interpretations of what he said: the first is that he wrote it with her in mind as the vocalist. The second, is that the song is about her. That's plausible: he's known her for about 10 years and the lyrics can be interpreted as her "discovery" and watching her develop into a singer. I really hope it's the former: I had originally thought the song was about Fred :( 
It's been suggested here the song is a finished version of the little piano piece Brian was heard playing on the 3-video Magic Years release. Don't see that myself, but if it's true I can't see how Kerry fits in.

I still think that it's about Freddie. Wings painted like the wings of butterflies and all that...

V.

"These men were able to make a whole album from scraps. You really don't trust them with these two songs?"  V.

It was a disjointed album to say the least, and totally unrepresentative of Queen music.  How do we trust them?  Besides, and as a Queen fanatic, who cares?   It'll create buzz for a few minutes, and disappear.  It's not 1983 and the main parties are dead.

Totally unrepresentative Queenmusic? I'd say Made In Heaven is the best piece of work they've done, after the 'golden' days of 1973-1976.

Holly wrote:

There's 2 interpretations of what he said: the first is that he wrote it with her in mind as the vocalist. The second, is that the song is about her. That's plausible: he's known her for about 10 years and the lyrics can be interpreted as her "discovery" and watching her develop into a singer. I really hope it's the former: I had originally thought the song was about Fred :( 
It's been suggested here the song is a finished version of the little piano piece Brian was heard playing on the 3-video Magic Years release. Don't see that myself, but if it's true I can't see how Kerry fits in. 

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I was gonna say the same thing, that the song has its origins in the piano piece Butterfly.

Wilki Amieva said that Brian confirmed this to him. Personally, I'm not so sure. I don't doubt Wilki, but I doubt Brian's memory and suspect he was misremembering something or was just plain confused. But I'd be interested to hear more about what Brian actually said, or what question he was asked.

Brian has a tendency to make fishy retrospective claims to bolster something he's currently passionate about.

Pim Derks wrote: Totally unrepresentative Queenmusic? I'd say Made In Heaven is the best piece of work they've done, after the 'golden' days of 1973-1976.
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Amen!

V.

> I was gonna say the same thing, that the song has its origins in the piano piece Butterfly.

Well, maybe Brian had his eye on six-year-old Kerry... which would mean he and MJ had more in common than HS being (according to Brian) Thriller's forerunner.

> Brian has a tendency to make fishy retrospective claims to bolster something he's currently passionate about.

Was thinking about this myself as of last week: everytime Brian & co did something (Made in Heaven, the musical, Paul Rodgers), Brian is very vocal about how much Freddie would've approved and loved it. Which may have been true in many cases but, it makes me wonder, does Brian think Freddie would approve of everything he's done?

Bohardy wrote: Holly wrote:

There's 2 interpretations of what he said: the first is that he wrote it with her in mind as the vocalist. The second, is that the song is about her. That's plausible: he's known her for about 10 years and the lyrics can be interpreted as her "discovery" and watching her develop into a singer. I really hope it's the former: I had originally thought the song was about Fred :( 
It's been suggested here the song is a finished version of the little piano piece Brian was heard playing on the 3-video Magic Years release. Don't see that myself, but if it's true I can't see how Kerry fits in. 

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I was gonna say the same thing, that the song has its origins in the piano piece Butterfly.

Wilki Amieva said that Brian confirmed this to him. Personally, I'm not so sure. I don't doubt Wilki, but I doubt Brian's memory and suspect he was misremembering something or was just plain confused. But I'd be interested to hear more about what Brian actually said, or what question he was asked.

Brian has a tendency to make fishy retrospective claims to bolster something he's currently passionate about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l57BuO8V28
Not sure Brian's short piano piece attained the name Butterfly (did he mention it in the doc? I can't remember) -- I can't hear any lyrics, but that word seems to be the main reason people put the two songs together. Muscially, the only thing that connects them is they are both slow-paced, but that's about it. Of course, if Brian has said specifically that's the origin then I suppose we'll have to take him at his word. And that would prove it's not about Kerry, just that he had her in mind to sing it before the collaboration with Rodgers. Or he's just trying to think of something interesting to say to fill in some interview space :)

Here's where Wilki states that Bri himself confirmed the Butterfly / Some Things That Glitter link:

http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1239603/will-some-things-that-glitter-get-the-i-want-it-all-treatment.aspx?page=1

That's interesting - apart from them both being in G, they're not all that similar.  Still - if Brian says they're related, then they're related.

All in all, here are the possibilities:

* Brian had no f***ing idea what the hell was Butterfly, so when Pablo asked him he simply nodded.
* Brian's memory failed ... yet again!
* Brian wrote the song with 6-YO Kerry Ellis in mind.
* If two songs are slow and in the same key, they're one and the same. That means any classical piano piece in F Major is automatically a Love of My Life demo and, by extension, it means Freddie didn't write it: Chopin/Beethoven/Brahms/etc. did.

How about the possibillity he did not really write it with Kerry in mind?

Brian had no f***ing idea what the hell was Butterfly, so when Pablo asked him he simply nodded.
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Q: Is "some things that glitter" based on butterfly.
Brian obviously having no clue what butterfly was (To my knowledge it was fan titled.) probably thought "once i loved a butterfly" the alternative song title.
A: yes

It's not a fan title. Brian claimed it was the title of the piece when asked about it via chat (JazzWeb maybe?) around '98.

Regarding the possibility he didn't write it with Kerry in mind: Of course! Hadn't thought about it. Talk about Occam's Razor.

Here's another one: maybe he did write it with her in mind, but the song's not at all connected with Butterfly.

There is one other option: many musicians scavenge their own musical history when things are not happening in the songwriting department. Brian may have unconsciously re-used a piece that he'd written many years ago and forgotten about. 

Or perhaps Freddie told him 6-year old Kerry would be his favourite singer in 20 years, and asked him to write a song for her.