Lyrically, What Went Wrong For Freddie in the 80's?

Freddie had always stated he found lyrics difficult, however I really struggle to understand how somebody went from writing Bohemian Rhapsody to Stop All The fighting in 10 years?

Including his solo work, his lyrics seemed to take a large dip in the 80's, becoming more simplified, commercial and uninteresting. They were nearly all centred around love and relationships, however so had most of Freddie's mid-seventies work, but back then were much more inventively written (Lily of the Valley, Killer Queen, The Millionaire Waltz, Somebody To Love etc.)

Thankfully, Freddie had Roger Taylor in the band, so his poor lyrics didn't stick out so much but it seemed that Freddie just didn't have time for lyrics in the eighties. Thinking about it, he wanted to do a cover album in 87 (no lyrics needed to be written there), and brought in Tim Rice and Mike Moran to help with his second solo project (Which do have some lovely written words, but again it's difficult to say how much Freddie did)

It wasn't until The Miracle and Innuendo, that I believe he started to become more creative with his lyrics and themes.

Thoughts?

Lots of partying, lots of drugs and lots of sex.
I think his interests were elsewhere,

Freddie turned into dance music in the early 80's, and those songs aren't usually meant to be an existentialist analysis of your life, they're meant to be escapism. So instead of 'Serpent of the Nile, relieve me for a while, cast me from your spell, let me go', he was into 'see what I've got, I've got a hell of a lot' type of things.

He did write some love lyrics when he felt like it, though, and some of them were quite nice.

What Liam said.

In addition, as with almost all bands/musicians the quality of material deteriorates with age, level of comfort, etc.

I think the only thing that kept (returned) Queen's output to a good quality was the emotional turmoil brought into their lives by various factors.

If Innuendo is anything to go by, then that's definitey true! It is well regarded as a return to form for the band, that had been far more patchy in the 80's than they were in the 70's. They still wrote some great tracks in the 80's though IMO.

[QUOTE] [b]Heavenite wrote:[/b]

If Innuendo is anything to go by, then that's definitely true! It is well regarded as a return to form for the band, that had been far more patchy in the 80's than they ever were in the 70's. They still wrote some great tracks in the 80's in my opinion though.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

Freddie turned into dance music in the early 80's, and those songs aren't usually meant to be an existentialist analysis of your life, they're meant to be escapism. So instead of 'Serpent of the Nile, relieve me for a while, cast me from your spell, let me go', he was into 'see what I've got, I've got a hell of a lot' type of things.

He did write some love lyrics when he felt like it, though, and some of them were quite nice.[/QUOTE]

^This! It's not that Freddie wasn't capable, or couldn't be arsed, it was just a change in influence and direction.

An interesting insight from the OP, though.

On a different note - I had forgotten about Freddie's urge for a covers album. It would have been great to hear one, as "The Great Pretender" is just amazing :)

Also as a young man Freddie found it more that he needed to prove to everyone how good he was by creating great music,he put all his efforts into songs back in the seventies,and as he became more relaxed in the music industry found the lyrical writing stage of creating a song quite meaningless...they could be any words that were filled in there,the music was still the passion,so really he just did put any words that would suit his frame of mind at the time up until The Miracle album,where he was very concious of what words went in,for obvious reasons....x

[QUOTE] [b]Sebastian wrote:[/b]

Freddie turned into dance music in the early 80's, and those songs aren't usually meant to be an existentialist analysis of your life, they're meant to be escapism. So instead of 'Serpent of the Nile, relieve me for a while, cast me from your spell, let me go', he was into 'see what I've got, I've got a hell of a lot' type of things.

He did write some love lyrics when he felt like it, though, and some of them were quite nice.[/QUOTE]

Well said.

Roger & John were starting to flourish as writers - they were like Harrison (later on in the beatiles life) - being alllowed to
have more input - songs like While My Guitar, Here Comes The Sun, Within You Without You, Taxman & Something
were GH with the reins removed....Roger & John were much the same.

and...more importantly - most long-standing bands' lyrics descended into sh*t during "that" decade.
Bands like Genesis, Yes and The Who were creating lyrical turds like
"If you're wrapping up the world - Cos you've taken someone else's girl, - When they turn on the pillow, - Even when they answer the telephone"
"Here is my heart - Waiting for you - Here is my soul - I eat at chez nous"
and
"Athena, my heart felt like a shattered glass in an acid bath - It felt like one of those flattened ants you find on a crazy path
I'd have topped myself to give her time she didn't need to ask - Was I a suicidal psychopath?"

see? freddie wasn't an exception...he was obeying the 80's rules for crappy lyrics

She's just a girl just a girl

She's just a girl JUST a girl

She's just a girl.



Yeah.

Pete's lyrics were bunk for the most part of that FINAL WHO ALBUM *(endless wire doesn't count)


I found his book HORSES NECK unreadable. But then again. ... who knows if I pick it back of my shelf it'll make some sense or be interesting.


But in fairness. ... he saved the bulk of his heart eighties writing for his Solo work.


EMPTY GLASS is witty and heartfelt
ALL THE BEST COWBOYS HAVE CHINESE EYES had its share of reminiscence too.. probably most of the v tracks were written before the era

yes, i too like his solo albums.
but my point was that lyrical content (for rock bands) went to ratshit during the 80s.

even purple joined in the crass-fest
" The log was in my pocket - When Lucy met the Rockett - And she never knew the reason why"

...Money... lots of Money.

He became lazy when the band reached great success... it's not that he wasn't able anymore, but he just couldn't be bothered to go through the trouble and work hard on the lyrics when he was swimming in money and drugs and easy life.

By comparison in the early 70s he was young and hungry and had everything to prove.

Further to this.......


Why did Freddie stop painting his nails?

He grew up, he said it him self.

Lyrically what happened? He grew up.