Queen Myths People Tend to Swallow

madprofessorus wrote:

When I first heard innuendo as a teenager I was pretty sure that the flamenco style solo was played by Brian, A few years later, when I got the album, and read the credits, my myth was fallen down...

Actually, Brian does play it - it's a duet with Steve. Brian did the main melody (and then harmonised it in thirds) and Steve played the trickier runs like the chromatic scale and the licks near the end. So it's not entirely a 'myth'.

aion wrote:

although he'd written a song that was a single (and usually a hit) for many of the previous albums.

Many? Let's see:

ANATO: One hit.
ADATR: No singles.
NOTW: One flop.
Jazz: No singles.
The Game: One hit.
Flash: No singles.
HS: One flop.
The Works: One hit.
AKOM: Half a flop.

'Many' means three?

thomasquinn 32989 wrote:

Not composing a song that ended up as a single is a really lousy argument. Singles usually aren't chosen until the whole album is pretty much finished, and usually the producers and the record company issuing the record have a very strong voice in choosing the singles.

Moreover, John did contribute to YDFM (single) and he and Roger wrote the sequence which would be the basis for TSMGO (single).

Sebastian wrote:
'Many' means three?

You're nitpicking a bit... he wrote Friends Will Be Friends with Freddie which was a hit and I think the song One Year of Love was a single in some part of the world. I Want To Break Free was a hit and Another One Bites The Dust was a huge hit. Back Chat was a single as was Spread Your Wings, that one may not have been a big hit but it's one of my favourite Queen songs at least. It's a better record anyway than with Roger whose first single was Radio GaGa if I'm not mistaken.

Sebastian would never nitpick. That's a preposterous suggestion.

FWBF: Not a big hit. They were quite disappointed it didn't sell nearly as much as they'd expected.

OYOL, SYW, BC and NYLT were all singles somewhere, but they all flopped, so they were not hits.

Saying 'John wrote three hits' is correct. Saying 'John wrote many hits' is not.

See? Sebastian never nitpicks.

I really love this thread.

Me too !

haha myth.... People think John Deacon sang bohemian rhap backing vocals... Or the total opposite... Myth... he never sang/never sung in studio ... We all heard that beautifully out of tune wo wo la la la on lap of the gods earls and in tune somebody to love... also I have read somewhere online, must be either Mike Stone or Roy Thomas Baker saying that John Deacon did lay backing vocals in studio for some songs such as lap of the gods rev, Somebody to love and tie your mother down, but where edited all but out. After reading this and hearing his live vocals and his normal talking voice, I swear I can hear this very faint "john deacon" voice in the chorus of in the lap of the Gods "maybe a uncredited vocal from him...?! If this is true there must be some audio in archive vaults of his vocals in studio or he must have done some limited vocal guides for his own songs for Freddie. There is that well published Brian quote reg John's singing. He tried singing how he wanted ANBTD to sound for freddie and Brian said to John... "never sing again!".

Mr Deacons songs apart from the three hits, were lovely song's even if they never became hits as such, show's that John Deacon was very adept at composing songs. And be cool if Brian and Rodger took us deep into the very mystical world of Queen song writing and told us exactly who did what on other's songs, such as what credit Brian has to SSOR or what guitar parts was exactly played by John on who needs you

Sebastian wrote:

John did play guitar on that song - rhythm guitar, that is. Brian did the solos.

Opening a new thread about post-Magic songwriting is indeed a great idea.

QUOTE] Sebastian wrote:

John did play guitar on that song - rhythm guitar, that is. Brian did the solos.

Opening a new thread about post-Magic songwriting is indeed a great idea.[/QUOTE]

Indeed!!!!!

Not just the post Magic but A whole topic/thread on songwriting in a band called queen and who should be credited for what, ESPECIALLY between 72-86 is a very deeply mystical topic.
A classic example to kick it of. The discussion about Freddies and Brian's input to SSOR which basically started this whole who writes the song gets full credit....

Who wrote/composed what in others songs?, what % of the single goes to the others who played their part by playing the other instruments...?
For example those bass lines in sail away sweet sister did John write/compose that or did Brian tell John what he wanted, did Freddie tell Rodger how he wanted the drums to sound on, for example Great King Rat or did Rodger come up with that, or who came up with the guitar solos on loser in the end. Rodgers One Vision being taken over by the whole band or Freddie and John sharing the credits for friends will be friends but with Freddie having a huge input to AKOM and Radio GaGa but not getting credited....
In a world of Metallica, AC/DC or GNR the credit basically goes to those who wrote important parts to the song not just the lyrics, Metallica Dave Mustaine wrote one small 10sec guitar rift in two Ride the lighting songs two years!! after getting kicked out of the band, yet he got credit for the song's. Basically the whole band got credit in every song in the classic GNR line up or AC/DC Angus/Malcolm/Bon Scott/Johnson basically wrote the entire song, bass, drums, lyrics the whole lot so got sole credit for that.

Queen had that very unique 72-86 who wrote the lyrics get's full exclusive credit way of doing things. But it's interesting to know exactly how much uncredited input the other three had on songs where everyone plays and what % of the income they got from a hit single. Queen songwriting is such deep topic

fras444 wrote:

A classic example to kick it of. The discussion about Freddies and Brian's input to SSOR which basically started this whole who writes the song gets full credit....

According to other sources (actually, the same sources, some years earlier), the discussion took place when they wrote 'Liar', which predates 'SSOR'.

fras444 wrote:

Who wrote/composed what in others songs?

That deserves its own topic. To be addressed soon.

fras444 wrote:

what % of the single goes to the others who played their part by playing the other instruments...?

The publishing royalties go to the author(s) or their estate/heir(s), the performing royalties go to the band (in this case, 25% each, regardless of what or whether they performed or not, so John still gets paid for 'Body Language' even though he's not there).

fras444 wrote:

For example those bass lines in sail away sweet sister did John write/compose that or did Brian tell John what he wanted

Most likely, Brian *composed* the part and then John *recorded* it.

fras444 wrote:

did Freddie tell Rodger how he wanted the drums to sound on, for example Great King Rat or did Rodger come up with that

First of all, it's Roger (no 'd'). 'Great King Rat' belongs to a period where they used to spend a lot of time together (the three founding members, as John wasn't there yet) and discuss every arrangement detail. From what's been reported, they were more open to suggestions from any about anything, although Freddie was usually the one who had more input on arrangements and stuff like that, and he usually got his way. Later on things would be much more individual and it would be common that the person who'd written the song would write all parts for all instruments. It obviously depends on each particular case.

fras444 wrote:

or who came up with the guitar solos on loser in the end.

There are no guitar solos on that song. There are lead guitar fills, not the same thing.

fras444 wrote:

Freddie and John sharing the credits for friends will be friends but with Freddie having a huge input to AKOM and Radio GaGa but not getting credited....

Freddie and John wrote FWBF together. Roger wrote GaGa and Magic on his own and Freddie arranged them. Not the same thing at all.

fras444 wrote:

Queen had that very unique 72-86 who wrote the lyrics get's full exclusive credit way of doing things.

That's a false myth. Brian wrote the lyrics for 'Machines', but it's still co-credited; Freddie wrote the lyrics for 'Is This the World...', but it's still co-credited. Brian and John didn't write any lyrics for 'One Vision' but they're credited. John didn't write lyrics for 'Friends Will Be Friends' but he's credited.