Did Freddie ever sing the correct lyrics to Black Queen, live?

Perhaps somebody well versed in Queen's Sheer Heart Attack and Night at the Opera shows can save me the trouble of finding it in all the recordings. To my knowledge, Freddie at least almost always sang 'I rule with my left hand, I rule with my right', rather than 'I [b]reign[/b] with my left hand, I rule with my right'.

It's interesting that he made a habit of this. It doesn't sound particularly good, and is a bit redundant (Might as well just say he rules with both hands) but perhaps rule was easier to enunciate than reign.

This is one of fairly few cases of Freddie changing up the lyrics to his own songs in the live setting (others being Lap of the Gods Revisited and Great King Rat), whereas it wasn't especially uncommon for him to do so with the songs written by the others (Modern Times Rock and Roll, 39, Spread Your Wings, White Queen, Tie Your Mother Down, Keep Yourself Alive with simplified chorus lyrics). On that matter, a side question - can anyone think of any songs where they prefer the live lyrics, changed by Freddie, over to the studio, where the writer was presumably making sure he sang them as they'd intended?

'shovel shit' was never sung live (Son & Daughter).

I've heard versions where Freddie sings the line correctly, but in this moment I can't really recall exactly which versions.

Need Your Loving Tonight... did he ever get the lyrics even remotely close to the original on that one?

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[b]Oscar J wrote: [/b] Need Your Loving Tonight... did he ever get the lyrics even remotely close to the original on that one?[/QUOTE]

Almost every version has different lyrics! :D

[QUOTE] [b]Rick wrote:[/b]

'shovel shit' was never sung live (Son & Daughter). [/QUOTE]

That's right - at that stage they were censoring the show, whereas by 1986 Freddie was throwing the F-bomb into Tutti Frutti and in his speeches between songs.

Now Tom, not alone 1986 was Freddie's famous F-bomb, I heard the F word in 1978, and almost on any show I have attended....


Tom

True, Tom. Freddie definitely started being more crass in his stage banter in the late 70s - 1986 was just the first example that popped into my head.

In fairness....I don't believe he ever sang the right words to the end of Love of My Life either and every time i heard it sang, it hacked me off, rightly or wrongly. It should, of course, have been "Hurry back, hurry back, please bring bring it back home to me...." Maybe there's a live recording somewhere to prove me wrong, (the earliest recording I have of the song is Philadelphia 1977 and it was wrong then and i don't believe it ever changed thereafter)

Was always surprised no one ever commented on it, to the best of my knowledge. Still a magnificent part of any Queen gig and ultimately didn't really change the sentiment of the song in any way (although I think the original is simply miles better and far more poignant) but always wrong and I always heard it that way.

i doubt very much that they would go back to the record to re-listen to the lyrics while on tour. so if Freddie got the lyrics to his own songs wrong, i'm guessing no one corrected him and he just carried on. in the case of march - he may have actually thought the words were rule with my left hand, rule with my right the whole time while on tour.

I have heard him stuff up the words from 'Father to Son' dont ask me what bootleg its from though

Tie Your Mother Down (Live):

"I've got a sweetheart hand
To put a stop to all that
Sniping and grousing"

changed to

'I've got a sweetheart hand
To put a stop to all that
Shouting and fighting all night"

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[b]Elektra wrote: [/b] I have heard him stuff up the words from 'Father to Son' dont ask me what bootleg its from though[/QUOTE]

If you're talking about the Golders Green Hippodrome concert in '73, they're playing the demo live. He didn't stuffed up the words of the song, the thing is that it wasn't even finished.

Freddie did sing the songs to suit himself most of the time,
but mainly all the correct lyrics were mainly used, unless he was drunk!

Seven Seas of Rhye at Wembley. Freddie really messed up the lyrics. But really, how does it matter? It is still Freddie singing!