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Under Pressure High Note.

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Both times I saw David live, his bass player hit the high note in Under Pressure both times. That part where Freddie says Why? Did Freddie ever hit it live?
I'm not sure if he did hit it high, I know Freddie speak sings the song alot though when live.
Fred didn`t, at least in the versions I`ve heard, and I guess, rather than know, that he wouldn`t risk his throat that early on stage (but he did sing even higher notes in Impromptu so perhaps he also gave it a try).

As for David`s bassplayer, I think she hits the note one octave lower
John hated Hot Space. Frederick's favourite singer was not Paul Rodgers. Roger didn't compose 'Innuendo.' 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hasn't got 180 vocal overdubs.
Sebastian wrote:
As for David`s bassplayer, I think she hits the note one octave lower
I think you're right... It doesn't sound quite the same.
"Elton John and I became really good friends. I don't mean 'good friends' in that sense. I just mean we slept together." -Billy Joel
If you try to hit a very high note during the first part of a concert, you might ruin your vocal chords for the rest of the concert and your voice could keep on cracking like Milton Keynes Fat bottomed girls "in this locality" section...
Did you ever drive to work early in the morning and sang along a Queen song with full capacity, and wondered why you had a sore throat the whole day???
Keep 'em mowing blades sharp!
When I heard gail sing, It sounds likes she hits it. Mind you I've only seen it done twice but I've heard about 50 bootlegs. Gail is amazing.
It's not impossible to do as I have done it myself. But it's a rare thing.

Scirocco1977 wrote:

Did you ever drive to work early in the morning and sang along a Queen song with full capacity, and wondered why you had a sore throat the whole day???


Not the same thing. That's because you didn't "warm up" properly. How do you think singers get up on radio or tv early in the morning and deliver fine vocals? And it won't ruin your vocals for the rest of the day.
Think of it like this:

What happened to Bruce Lee when he didn't warm up before lifting weights? He strained his back so bad that he was partially disabled for a long time after that. Same thing with your vocal cords. Don't treat them right and you're going to cause damage for an uncertain period of time.

Peace,
Adam.
Freddie reaches this note in the studio because he uses his "falsetto" voice to reach it. The only time I recall Freddie using a "falsetto" voice live was during the intro of "Hard Life" during the Rockin Rio gig.
"If I look half as good to you people as you do to me, I must look good."
And about a zillion other times. All the Impromptus sprint to mind.
...also in the earliest versions of In The Lap Of The Gods Revisited (Magic tour versions too) and You Take My Breath Away.
Queenzone is overrun with trolls and circling the drain - join us here instead: http://queenforum.net
RockitPJ wrote:
Freddie reaches this note in the studio because he uses his "falsetto" voice to reach it. The only time I recall Freddie using a "falsetto" voice live was during the intro of "Hard Life" during the Rockin Rio gig.


Usually Freddie sang the there's no reason for living line in a low octave!
"Spread your wings and fly away, fly away, far away!", "No one makes me sing lullabies and no one makes me close my eyes"
You are all right, he did use his falsetto voice frequently during live shows, but for whatever reason he didn't during Under Pressure to reach that High note during "Why". I think it would have sounded great! Freddie was the best at using
his falsetto voice and full range during the same song. It makes me cringe whe I hear other singers try to do it!
"If I look half as good to you people as you do to me, I must look good."
Under Pressure was one of the "biggies", so if Fred had some problem and did the wrong note he could ruin a special moment of the concert (unlike Impromptu which was... just that). So it was safer to do one octave lower. Roger did sing an equally high note every night of 1975 during Lap Of The Gods
John hated Hot Space. Frederick's favourite singer was not Paul Rodgers. Roger didn't compose 'Innuendo.' 'Bohemian Rhapsody' hasn't got 180 vocal overdubs.
Scirocco1977 wrote:
If you try to hit a very high note during the first part of a concert, you might ruin your vocal chords for the rest of the concert and your voice could keep on cracking like Milton Keynes Fat bottomed girls "in this locality" section...
Did you ever drive to work early in the morning and sang along a Queen song with full capacity, and wondered why you had a sore throat the whole day???



I don't think it was such a big risk, and as someone said, Freddie always warmed up his voice before the concert.. Further, it was a falsetto, and it's really not so hard to hit that exact note for anyone who has naturally high voice, and Freddie definitely had.
Give me a good guitar, and you can say that my hair's a disgrace, oh, just find me an open car - I'll make the speed of light out of this place...
Actually, in the Stuttgart (Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle) - 27.9.1984 (which you can Download here) during the high note part, Freddie goes WHYYY?!? in normal tone, then he goes into a a high "woooooooooh" with the echo thing
Queen

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