Last Verse of Mother Love

I dont think anyone has a problem with the baby crying concept. The song ends as fast backwords (plus the lyrical reference of back to the womb) so to hear a baby cry is very predictable as the "starting point".
But its the specific baby cry that is off-putting
Sounds too loud, cringy and annoying.
They could have picked another sample more subtle and suitable for the occasion.

@Stelios
most new-born babies do make a bit of a racket when they draw their first breath....so the ending is fairly accurate - and therefore not out of place. i think the volume is spot on.

[QUOTE] [b]Stelios wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE]

[b]Costa86 wrote: [/b]
 He didn't have time for sulking and throwing pity parties. But that doesn't make him "positive".

Generally i agree with your post. However he left a bit of space for pitty party but always melt it down with cynicism.
Like "i dont have any friends but i have a lot of mirrors to talk to".
Or answering the question -dont you want live with somebody? , "yes, but nobody wants to live with me", (also the hole concept of living on my own which is perhaps the most autobiographical until that point at least),  
Plus his continous remarks about dying young, not going to make old bones..stuff like that.

Its not exactly pity party.Actually the way he expressed those things turned to the opposite. Like " i am brave enough to face my own misfortune".
But there is melodrama in there and repressed negativism even if he chose to use "tongue in cheek" ways to articulate it.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

I agree almost completely, Stelios. I think you hit the nail on the head - Freddie did have a sort of macho bravado which disguised his repressed negative cynicist viewpoint on life, which itself may have hidden some deeper feelings he had.

[QUOTE] [b]FreddieCat wrote:[/b]



I don't want to sleep with you
I don't need the passion too
I don't want a stormy affair
To make me feel my life is heading somewhere
All I want is the comfort and care
Just to know that my woman gives me sweet -
Mother love
I've walked too long in this lonely lane
I've had enough of this same old game
I'm a man of the world and they say I'm strong
But my heart is heavy and my hope is gone
Out in the city, in the cold world outside
I don't want pity, just safe place to hide
Mama please, let me back inside
I don't want to make no waves
But you can give me all the love that I crave
I can't take if you see me cry
I long for peace before I die
All I want to know that you're there
You're gonna give me all your sweet -
Mother love
My body's aching, but I can't sleep
My dreams are all the company I keep
Got such a feeling as the sun goes down
I'm coming home to my sweet -
Mother love

Yeah, I think I am on the wrong track with my previous post. It doesn't denigrate, but is definitely a downer. Maybe Brian is attempting to empathize with Freddie's situation. Did Freddie really want not to finish it, or was he really too sick to come back to I?. Who the hell would want to sing that about themselves unless they were into self pity, which Freddie wasn't and I'm sure didn't want a song that described his pain to be part of his legendary work. Conspiracy theory: he walked away from the song because he didn't like it and couldn't tell Brian how he felt.
[/QUOTE]

This sounds more like someone suffering from depression than someone dying. Sure, it could have a double meaning, but it has a very similar feel to 'Too Much Love' about it - introspective and tortured in a trapped and helpless kind of way. Definitely more like someone with a psychological problem than a physical one... i.e. I think it's probably just about Brian and his feelings at the time, rather than anything to do with tying to empathise with Freddie. He was leading up to a serious mental health crisis, and it sounds like someone on the verge of a breakdown, to me.

[QUOTE] [b]Zamidoo wrote:[/b]

This sounds more like someone suffering from depression than someone dying. Sure, it could have a double meaning, but it has a very similar feel to 'Too Much Love' about it - introspective and tortured in a trapped and helpless kind of way. Definitely more like someone with a psychological problem than a physical one... i.e. I think it's probably just about Brian and his feelings at the time, rather than anything to do with tying to empathise with Freddie. He was leading up to a serious mental health crisis, and it sounds like someone on the verge of a breakdown, to me.[/QUOTE]

It is widely known that most of the times musicians writes lyrics with a very clear idea in their mind but prefer to use very general lyrics so people can reflect their own ideas in their work.

This is a very interesting discussion and Im glad people are coming with all this different ideas and showing them as suggestions instead of trying to impose them.

[QUOTE] [b]brENsKi wrote:[/b]


My two pennies? I think if the lyrics had gone "I've been a wreckless tw*t, with only myself to blame"
he'd have still sung them[/QUOTE]

I think he would have much preferred to sing that one! ;)

This is very interesting indeed, and a with twist i wasn´t expecting.
So, even though it looks that it is about Freddie´s state, this can be about Brian´s suicidal thoughts that he was having at the time? Wow!

I´m very impressed, so if instead of Freddie´s, this was Brian´s cry for help- opening the book - this makes one of the most impressive turnarounds i´ve ever seen.

Interesting point.

^^^
I just think that, given that Brian worked hard (with Freddie, I think?) to get 'The Show must go on' to reflect Freddie's feelings (I'm sure there's an interview where he says he did this, somewhere?), it's unlikely that he would have produced 'Mother Love', to portray the same thing, especially as the sentiments are so different. The bridge in 'The Show must go on' is Freddie - ('I can fly, my friends!') and 'I'll face it with a grin - I'm never giving in!' etc... why would Brian then have written lines like, 'I've walked too long in this lonely lane', 'I long for peace before I die' and 'My body's aching and I can't sleep' for a man who had never been a tortured soul (Freddie had well-documented mood swings, but was not generally a depressive sort of person). Freddie was the man whose 'make-up may be flaking.... but my smile still stays on' (TSMGO), and was probably sedated under heavy painkillers most of the time by then. On the other hand, insomnia is a common symptom of depression, as is muscle aching... and feeling isolated and helpless. Freddie didn't want to die - he squeezed the last enjoyment out of life until the very end, and only stopped taking medication when life was no longer fun for him. Brian knew him well, and would have known this as well as anyone. So for me, in terms of 'Mother Love' being a song primarily about Freddie, I just can't see it. As for why he didn't sing the final verse, I think that the most likely reason is exactly what Brian has said; that he was too tired at the end of the session.

^^^^^ You know, the thing that does not make sense if the song was about Brian, are the snippets of 'Going back' Freddie's 'dey-dop' and the baby crying... That points more towards a Freddie theme.

[QUOTE] [b]noorie wrote:[/b]

^^^^^ You know, the thing that does not make sense if the song was about Brian, are the snippets of 'Going back' Freddie's 'dey-dop' and the baby crying... That points more towards a Freddie theme. [/QUOTE]

But that could have been done afterwards (post production) - it doesn't mean it was the original inspiration for the song (much like 'Days of our lives', which was about Roger's family life when his children were small, but 'became' about Queen when Freddie sang it).

[QUOTE] [b]noorie wrote:[/b]

^^^^^ You know, the thing that does not make sense if the song was about Brian, are the snippets of 'Going back' Freddie's 'dey-dop' and the baby crying... That points more towards a Freddie theme. [/QUOTE]

and Freddie's baby picture. It is without doubt about Freddie. Brian's suicidal issues came post Freddie/his dad's/his marriage death, an anticlimactical point in his life, i.e., abundance of life, love, relationships that he perceived as gone.

Propably Freddie didn't made it to record the last verse,for me it's kinda logical,so I stick to this

I don't think the lyrics are about going back and do things over and different.

It's about a man who's about to die. It's known that (some) people just only ask for their mother when they're dieing. Longing back to the peace of the true love that takes care of them.

To me that's what this song represents.
"Mammy please, take me back inside" protect me, hide me, keep me safe.

That's why it starts with the lost longing for love from lovers.

The end is fantastic imho, it shows the greatness of freddie at his prime (stadium diedo's with everybody singing after him) back to the baby crying for his mother.

Show Must Go On was recorded much earlier, I guess that Mother Love was more related to a man who was actually dieing and having peace with that. while TSMGO was more about a man who was very ill but still fighting.

The last verse of ML is imho not any different from the first verses. And I love ML a lot, every part of it. Including Brian singing the last verse. Both the way he does sing it and how it gives much more dept to the song.