She Makes Me - lyrics

> BRian says something about the 1st BoRap solo that contradicts what everyone has been saying before i.e. that Fred composed every bit of BoRap and told everyone else what to play:

AFAIK, he mentioned having written that solo several times. On the 2004 BBC documentary, Brian commented he thought of it, sang it to Freddie and Freddie thought it was good, so he (Fred) gave him (Brian) the green light to play what he (Brian) had thought of. When Roger et al mention Freddie 'had all the parts in his head' they most likely mean vocal parts, and perhaps some instrumentation but not necessarily all of it.

 > How sure are you that Brian played acoustic guitar on this song, Sebastian?

Mmmmmm, I'd say I'm pretty confident (but not entirely sure or positive) it's Brian considering:

* Backing tracks, at the time, were usually bass + drums + either guitar or piano. John was on bass, so Brian (or Freddie, but that'd be too far-fetched to suspect him wouldn't it?) must have been playing acoustic. Unless of course they took a different approach for that particular song (e.g. John on acoustic + Rog on drums, and then John overdubbed his bass later on).

* The strumming style fits him more than it fits John (Funny How Love Is vs Misfire).

* It was common practice for Brian to play all or most guitars on his own songs. John would play on his own, and possibly some of Roger's and Freddie's (e.g. Staying Power), with some exceptions (is SMM one of them? Maybe, maybe not).

I admit none of those conjectures makes up for strong evidence and that, as you can see, you could always entertain the possibility that it was an exception to both rules (three-piece backing tracks and Brian being the only guitarist on his own songs). There's nothing to strongly confirm Brian played it but, at the same time, there's even less to suggest John's doing it, IMO.

> The same goes for Tenement Funster.

That one's a similar case, what with both the arpeggios and the strumming patterns being so simple that anybody (even Freddie and Roger) would easily be able to play them. For those cases (that there's nothing to strongly suggest any particular player) I tend to give the (interim) credit to Brian as he was, well, the band's main guitarist (be it lead or rhythm, acoustic or electric). But of course I may be wrong. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not.

@ Strange Frontier: Personally, I think She Makes Me is a nice song and a very good choice to set the mood after such an involved album, to prepare the listener for the anthemic ending. But, IMO, Leaving Home Ain't Easy, Sail Away Sweet Sister, Another World and Dream of Thee (and others like All Dead, All Dead and My Boy) are waaaaaaaaay better.

bigV wrote: Love the song, one of my favourite Queen ballads. 

I really like one line in particular: 

"...and if I'm very slow she makes me so!"

The way I understand it is: "If I'm a good lover it is because I'm making love to her."

Fantastic line, really. Lovely song (with an odd subtitle).

V.

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i never thought this was about a woman...must be as said about the band and his illness and his possible "sacking"....even this line  "and if i'm very slow, she makes me so" - i always thought this about the painstaking and drawn out way they made their recordings...in other words... "if it takes ages to do it, then it's cos the whole band takes ages to record stuff"

I seem to recall "she" is New York City, and this is about Brian's feeling after touring there.

I also recall Brian describing the street noises as something like 'New York City nightmare sounds'.

Sir GH wrote: This is a song that is often forgotten about, and even dismissed by many Queen fans.

Myself, I see it as a piece of genius.

It's deep and introspective, which is nothing unusual for Brian.  But it's also minimalist - very unlike any other Queen track.  Like Radiohead, it's the subtleties that makes it.  The fact that it maintains the exact same vibe throughout creates a certain ethereal quality.  The only exception is the sudden burst of guitars at 1:35, which I think is one of the best moments in the entire Queen canon.

Lyrically it remains a mystery, like most of Brian's songs.  My interpretation is that "She" is his art, or maybe even the band... the song is about his devotion to his art and his insecurities while recovering from his illnesses.

Brian wrote this song while he was in the hospital.  It discusses his fears that the band may dump him because of his health (he has said that was a genuine thought in his head at the time).   "I know the day I leave her I'll love her still."  The "leave her" line may not necessarily mean leaving on his terms.

"And the world will surely heal my ills" - a single moment of optimism, although he is still uncertain if he will recover quickly enough - "And if I'm very slow she makes me so."  He's expressing his doubts that the band will want to keep him on board, as he knows they've already started this record without him.

Brighton Rock and Now I'm Here were about touring and cheating on his wife to be (he later admitted who "Peaches" was and what the "little holiday" entailed), and Dear Friends expresses a new-found optimism for life after his illness.  His songs on this record were very personal, so I think it makes sense that She Makes Me falls into the same category.  It could be about his wife to be and his guilt, as he expressed in Brighton Rock ... or even a combination of the above.  Only he knows.

Either way, this is one of the best examples of Brian using metaphors and ambiguous language to express something within himself.  He is criminally underrated as a songwriter.

As for the fx at the end (namely the sirens), Brian once called them the "New York nightmare."  And as we know, Brian fell ill in New York.  At the very least, the song is largely related to his illness.

Thoughts ... ?

Probably My least favorite from Sheer Heart Attack,  though still a nice ballad.  Not a song from that album i don't like....I never knew Brighton Rock and Now I'm here were about his Cheating.   you learn something new every day......

Dunno if it's been mentioned in the thread (had a quick scan) but I remember the first time I had the SHA album I always thought this was a song by a band called Stormtroopers In Stilletoes as the bracket that had the writing credit on all the other songs had that in it, and no 'May'. And it sounded different enough to the rest of the album to totally confuse me. I was very young.

Sir GH wrote: "The fact that it maintains the exact same vibe throughout creates a certain ethereal quality."
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I disagree.  There is a chord change at about 2:47 that alters the whole tone of the song.  That change is furthered by the siren and the heavy breathing.  By this time the listener should realize that this isn't such a simple, straightforward "love song" after all.

"Who knows who she'll make me, as I lie in her cocoon" has always been one of my favourite lyrics, by anyone.

Thanks for your insights, Sebastian. It's still mostly guess work then.

Not really: 'mostly guess work' is, TBH, a bit offensive and dismissive. Thinking it was recorded on 16th August, for instance, would be guesswork: the date fits the reported range of the recording sessions for the album, yet there's nothing to suggest it was precisely then. Statistically speaking, the possibility of it having done on 16th August is roughly 1.47% (i.e. there's a 98.53% margin of error).

In the case of who plays the acoustic guitar on that particular song, we've got two people mentioned on the album liner notes, one of whom was the author, arranger and headlining guitarist (on both acoustic and electric) of the band at all its stages; the other one was the bassist and occasional guitarist (almost always on his own material).

So, can I be 100% positive it's Brian? No. But I can be 80-90% certain about him as the most logical choice from any given perspective. So it's MUCH more than mostly guesswork.

Maybe you should not take everything too literally. I meant we don't really have an official word on any Queen song concerning who-played-what, with the well-known exceptions taken into account of course.

Who Needs You, for example: who plays the solo? 99% would say it's Brian, but I'm sure John could have played that as well, and since it was his song...

But still Brian and John are both logical choices in that case, and either side of the argument may have supporting evidence (even if only theoretical one). So, it's way more than 'still mostly guesswork'. It's not as if someone were crediting Mike Stone for every single instrument on the song or something...

I find it a bit far-fetched to have a debate over one simple word, namely 'mostly'. I didn't know you would take it this literally.

A simple word changes a lot. Compare:

I am alive --> I am not alive.

Totally different meaning.

Fair enough. I'll stick to my point that Queen was not very outspoken concerning this subject.