Freddie and Paul McCartney

Hi folks,

as christmas tunes playing along all the time Paul's "Once upon a long ago" came on the radio.
Loving this track for years i searched it at wikipedia. Here's what i found:

"Originally it was intended that this song would be a duet between McCartney and Freddie Mercury. The two had known each other only casually: Mercury was a fan of Buddy Holly and would occasionally attend McCartney's Holly inspired events over the years. However, they became friends properly following socializing that took place after Live Aid. McCartney (who had a lot of sympathy for Mercury due to the press stalking him for stories about his health) wrote the song with Mercury in mind. Mercury however was inundated with work, both solo and with Queen and was also, at this point, in the advanced stages of his battle with AIDS and an understanding but saddened McCartney continued the project without him. However McCartney's pitch, phrasing and key on the finished track are all very similar to the guide vocal demo he created for Mercury when he was attached to the project. Linda McCartney revealed that Paul was devastated by Mercury's death when she appeared alone on British TV a few days after Mercury died."

Never heard that story before. What do you think?

cheers

Other sources say it seems to have been written for The Princess Bride. The doesn't rule out that wiki paragraph of course.

Interesting indeed. Nice find.

I haven't heard it either, but it's nice to know that. Everytime I watch the Live Aid finale I can feel they had good chemistry. So sad they couldn't record it together, it'd have been so great! :)

Bollocks.

Anybody can write anything on Wikipedia. Backing it up with sources... that's a different matter.

I remember in an interview possibly Mike Read 89 (I may be wrong) Freddie mentioning talking to Paul McCartney in the studio however I do think it was while Queen was working on the Miracle album so it may of been 88 as the song was in 87, I did find that similar story so there could be a chance it may be true or as Mooghead stated it could be Bollocks. It's a nice song imaging Freddie may of wanted to put something with McCartney on a potential solo album with the likes of The Great Pretender etc
It's just a thought.
great post Martin S.

So, because they bumped into each other whilst working on their respective projects, that automatically renders any distantly-related rumour truthful?

There's a photo of Sting and John Deacon together taken around 1985. That's incontestable proof that John was due to play triangle on 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles' and Sting did the cello on 'One Year of Love'.

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

So, because they bumped into each other whilst working on their respective projects, that automatically renders any distantly-related rumour truthful?

There's a photo of Sting and John Deacon together taken around 1985. That's incontestable proof that John was due to play triangle on 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles' and Sting did the cello on 'One Year of Love'.[/QUOTE]

it's that kind of thinking that won the last american election. you don't need evidence, proof, facts, whatever that fake stuff is called. if a lot of people are saying it, it must be true!

Gaybony and Straightvory

" However McCartney's pitch, phrasing and key on the finished track are all very similar to the guide vocal demo he created for Mercury"

In those "Tell me darling" in the verses , the bridge ( especially the way he sings pleasure) , and the overall approach to the song does seem Mercurial to me.