Who wrote which of the songs attributed to 'Queen'?

@ Tom Christie: Thanks for updating the list. I'd dispute the following ones (besides, obviously, 'Slightly Mad'):

tomchristie22 wrote:

Party - Freddie
Khashoggi's Ship - Freddie (music & lyrics), Roger (lyrics)
The Miracle - Mainly Freddie & John, with lyrics from all four.
These Are the Days of Our Lives - Roger, Freddie (chord progression for guitar solo)
The Hitman - Freddie (music) and Brian (lyrics)

'Party' had the germinal idea from Freddie, but it was then worked on by Freddie, John and Brian.

'Khashoggi's Ship' had lyrics by all four.

'Miracle' was mainly Freddie with some musical contributions by John and some lyrical contributions by all four (but chiefly Freddie and Roger).

There's absolutely nothing, to my knowledge, to support the theory of Fred writing the chord progression behind the 'Days' guitar solo. As far as I know, Rog wrote both music and lyrics (of course, the actual solo is Brian's, but that's part of arranging the song, not composing it).

On 'The Hitman', I'd say music was a collab between Fred and Brian. Fred had the original idea and the first version of the riff, then Brian took it over. So it was team work. Lyrics are indeed chiefly Bri's.

tomchristie22 wrote:

[List edited 24/10/15]

Innuendo - Freddie (music & lyrics), Brian (music), and Roger (lyrics)
.

Just to add a little something to this subject, Roger admited in an interview that he wrote 80 to 90% of the lyrics to Innuendo.

It´s in Spanish, but it´s a great inteview.
http://www.rockaxis.com/revista/133/#page/44

On a side note, Roger admits that they never recorded the complete "New York, New York" for Highlander. It´s in the last page of the interview.

In "This are the days of our lives", i read in a Roger Taylor interview - maybe from the past five years - that he was stuck with the song. He didn´t knew where to take the song next, so Freddie helped him out and gave it a new direction.

The only thing i cannot not recal is if he stated clearly that Freddie wrote the basis for the guitar solo, or if i reached that conclusion based on the implications of what he was saying, because the instrumental segment is the only new direction i see on that song after two verses and and two choruses.
I can´t present a source to this because i probably just read it on the internet, and i usually don´t keep track of the sources on the internet unless it is a big deal. In this case, i just made a mental note about it and moved on.
Maybe another Roger fan has read this interview and can add something to this. For the time being, people can trust that Roger said that Freddie helped him out with the music to TATDOOL.

edit- just to correct that the interview might be from before 2010.

Mr.QueenFan wrote:

For the time being, people can trust that Roger said that Freddie helped him out with the music to TATDOOL.

Well ... no, not really, since there's no evidence Roger ever said that.

Mr.QueenFan wrote:

tomchristie22 wrote:

[List edited 24/10/15]

Innuendo - Freddie (music & lyrics), Brian (music), and Roger (lyrics)
.

Just to add a little something to this subject, Roger admited in an interview that he wrote 80 to 90% of the lyrics to Innuendo.

It´s in Spanish, but it´s a great inteview.
http://www.rockaxis.com/revista/133/#page/44

I'd never seen that interview, thanks.

I removed Freddie from These are the Days of Our Lives for the time being - I'd have to read or hear the quote from Roger specifically. Plus, Freddie's 'new direction' for the song might not necessarily have been musical - it could have been a lyrical idea.

tomchristie22 wrote:

I removed Freddie from These are the Days of Our Lives for the time being - I'd have to read or hear the quote from Roger specifically.

Exactly. That's how you research.

tomchristie22 wrote:

I removed Freddie from These are the Days of Our Lives for the time being - I'd have to read or hear the quote from Roger specifically. Plus, Freddie's 'new direction' for the song might not necessarily have been musical - it could have been a lyrical idea.

And i respect your decision, and assume that you have applied the same principle to everything you now have updated on your first post. And because i don´t see many sources being shown here, i assume you´ve received it through P.M., like for example on the "Let me Live" claim.

As far as i´m concerned i will stop adding information to this and your other thread:

http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1442417/contributions-by-other-members-to-songs-with-single-writing-credits-.aspx

Mr.QueenFan wrote:

As far as i´m concerned i will stop adding information to this and your other thread

How about replying to this?

Sebastian wrote:

Mr.QueenFan wrote:
And i´m not counting the fact that when the Queen multitracks were leaked you were proved wrong in so many assumptions that it´s not even fun!

Really? Which ones?

Talk about making a claim and then not being able to back it up...

Mr.QueenFan wrote:

tomchristie22 wrote:

I removed Freddie from These are the Days of Our Lives for the time being - I'd have to read or hear the quote from Roger specifically. Plus, Freddie's 'new direction' for the song might not necessarily have been musical - it could have been a lyrical idea.

And i respect your decision, and assume that you have applied the same principle to everything you now have updated on your first post. And because i don´t see many sources being shown here, i assume you´ve received it through P.M., like for example on the "Let me Live" claim.

As far as i´m concerned i will stop adding information to this and your other thread:

http://www.queenzone.com/forums/1442417/contributions-by-other-members-to-songs-with-single-writing-credits-.aspx

You're right - I'm not painstakingly researching all of this - I've taken Sebastian's word for it in most cases. If someone makes a valid contestation of any of his claims, like he did for yours, I'll take them down too.

I'm really not interested in getting involved in this ongoing debate, so I'll leave it at that.

Mr.QueenFan wrote:

(...) I´m from Portugal (...)

Hey! I'm also portuguese! Not so many of us around here I think! :P

tomchristie22 wrote:

I've taken Sebastian's word for it in most cases.

Not a good idea, since I can (and frequently do) make mistakes. There are no authorities in science.

At the end of the day, it's not about whether this or that person (myself included, of course) claims Brian wrote a song or not, it's about whether there's evidence to support it. There's plenty of evidence to support the theory of Brian having written 'I Want It All' (including official evidence, since some releases credit only him), but the only argument Brian-ists had in favour of their hypothesis of him allegedly having composed 'Was It All Worth It' was that it had a lot of guitar (not solid evidence at all, since plenty of songs composed by Freddie, John and Roger have a lot of guitar as well). There's the difference.

tomchristie22 wrote:

If someone makes a valid contestation of any of his claims, like he did for yours, I'll take them down too.

And if you do that (quite likely, *when* you do that), I won't be moaning and whining and saying I won't contribute anymore to this or your other thread.

tomchristie22 wrote:

I'm really not interested in getting involved in this ongoing debate, so I'll leave it at that.

As far as I'm concerned, you're more than welcome to contribute (you created this thread to begin with) and there's no reason to think you'll get in the crossfire, so to speak. What could be added (and that's something we can work on collectively) is the extant evidence supporting each of those unofficial credits. A good comprehensive list with links and quotes could be incredibly useful.

Sebastian wrote:
A good comprehensive list with links and quotes could be incredibly useful.

Now that would be worth talking about.

It always irks me each time I read a claim in this site that I don't know where it came from.
I swear to God I don't trust anybody here, Sebastian or not ;)

I'll start with the easiest. The rest are for glorious you.

Soul Brother:
"Freddie told me one day he had a surprise for me - he said, 'I've written a song about you - but it needs your touch on it!' I think, curiously, we were both working on songs separately which referred to each other. Can't remember which one of mine it was, since a lot of my songs were obliquely aimed at him (as well as to be sung by him!). Anyway. we got in the studio and he played this song. Now whether it was really about me I don't know. But I thought it was fab. I know he wrote it in about 15 minutes!. As to why not on album (The Game) - well, Freddie deliberately wrote it as a B-side to fill a gap, so I imagine the album was already sewn up."
From Brian May, probably in 2003, according to http://www.queenpedia.com/index.php?title=Soul_Brother ,
probably from Brian's soapbox.

I can't remember where the original quote comes from, an interview or a soapbox. Please help.

Soapbox, circa '04 IIRC.

Thank you.

I can't find a link for that soapbox post. Seems like many things pre 2010 are not in archives.

Another soapbox for Bijou:

"Just following up on "Bijou" - written by Freddie and I together - it was really inspired (in us both!) by Jeff Beck ....

I don't know if you realize already, but the song has an unusual format - we wanted to make it a song "inside out" (with its heart on its sleeve). The main parts of the song are played on guitar instead of being sung, and in the middle, where the guitar solo would normally be, appears the short vocal section. The vocal is a succinct and very precise little verse, a little gem, a "Bijou" - a jewel buried at the heart of the piece: hence the name of the song. Each bit of the melody was alive in our heads and "hummed" before it was played - Freddie coming up with the beginning line which started us off on the trail. Those days were very creative - good times.... "

Brian May, from http://brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssbfeb04.html

I share Mr.QueenFan's view in that Brian didn't say that he had MORE to do with the vocal part in Bijou than Freddie and that Freddie had MORE to do with the guitar part than Brian. In the interview Mr.QueenFan provided Brian says: "I worked very closely with Freddie on that. He had a lot to do with the guitar line and I had a lot to do with the vocal lines." "A lot" isn't "more", and IMO it's just Brian's way of saying that it was a real collaboration and they stepped on each other's areas - not that they contributed more to the other guy's part.

I too remember reading that Freddie came up with the chord sequence beneath the guitar solo in TATDOOL. But I have no idea where I saw that, so i may have been here! :D

However, this isn't why I'm writing here. I'm writing because I have a question. You people have mentioned fascinating stuff like Brian saying in some interview that he played the Who Needs You solo. Not that I ever thought it was anyone else but Brian, but I'd love to see the interview where he discusses this kind of stuff - obscure Queen songs and fun trivia. Could someone post a link to that interview, or did he say it on his homepage?