Whose was the best songwriter of the 4?

For me, Brian. Freddie probably had an edge over him in the earlier years, though.

Depends. Tie between Freddie and Brian, I think I'd say. They all had different styles & content, though, so it's hard to judge.

I couldn't choose... they all have such good and different qualities when it comes to song writing.

They are all very good songwriters. Their songwriting style was different and I can't make a more relevant classification than this:

1.Brian, Freddie, John, Roger.

Brian
Freddie
John
Roger


I don't think there's something like 'best' you can't measure 'best' It just in the eye of the beholder. One may think lyrics about ogres and fairy's are best, and one may prefer lyrics about the 50's and girls.

Ofcourse you can say who wrote the most complex music or something like that. But ofcourse complex isn't a synonym for best.

If a Freddie song like My Fairy King is musically great, with keychanges and unusual harmonic structures but it can't deliver a feeling to me like a simple song like Dear Friends can do.
Then Dear Friends is the best song for me

I think Freddie wrote the best songs e.g Bo Rhap, MOTB, The Miracle, Ogre Battle because of his classical attention to detail and the little flourishes he would add to otherwise straight ahead songs. Death On Two Legs for example is fairly direct hard rock but that clasical, swirling piano intro he does just adds an extra layer of class. His songs were also very witty at times e.g IGSM nad GOFLB and he wrote in the spirit of vaudeville greats such as Noel Coward.
His songwriting powers definitely diminished in the eighties though, and I actually blame his lifestyle for that. The disco of the bars in Munich made him write lesser works such as Staying Power, DTS and BL; not classic Fred at all.

Brian was more consistently good than Freddie and improved as a song writer. I didn't like the folk ditties he wrote early on but his rock taste saved the band in the eighties, no doubt there. Hammer to Fall, tear it Up, I Want It All etc. are Queen's best songs of that decade, h ekept the music anthemic. Also, Brian wrote songs with meaning. Who Wants To live Forever is so very poignant and even the likes of NME, acknowledge Hammer To Fall as a clever depiction of the Nuclear Age.

Roger wrote quite basic songs I felt, I loved his early rockers MTRR, IILWMC, SHA etc but I think he went too pop in the eighties with Don't Lose Your Head for example. Roger was a good pop/rock crossover man though Breakthru particuarly was an example where his direct, simple approach was effective in comparison with Brian and Freddie.

John, for me wrote the weakest songs. His pop style was important yes and I don't doubt the lushiosness of YMBF or Spread Your Wings, but his increasing prominnece as a song writer co-incided with Queen moving away from rock and going more pop/dance. For me, it's no coincidence that Innuendo-Queen's strongest effort since Jazz saw little of his songwriting.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Scott_Mercury wrote: [/QUOTENAME][QUOTE]
If I am not mistaking, on Queen's swansong, Innuendo... I do believe a dying Freddie is confirmed as to writing six of the albums songs.[/QUOTE]

Wait, just because I'm curious :)

The Innuendo credits are, if I remember from wherever I read this:

Innuendo - ?
Slighty Mad - Freddie
Headlong - Brian
I Can't Live With You - Brian
Don't Try So Hard - Freddie
Ride The Wild Wind - Roger
All God's People - Freddie
These Are the Days - Roger
Delilah - Freddie
The Hitman - Brian
Bijou - ?
The Show Must Go On - ??Brian??

But that's only 4 Fredie songs, not six. Enlighten me, please, I <3 my Innuendo :)

> I don't think there's something like 'best' you can't measure 'best' It just in the eye of the beholder.

Exactly. If only complex or (pseudo)clever lyrics could work, nobody would listen to popular music. Just classical suites and technobable poetry :)

> One may think lyrics about ogres and fairy's are best, and one may prefer lyrics about the 50's and girls.

I do think you can objectively measure a lyric, but it's not because of its subject. Not all poems must make you meditate in order to be nice. A Winter's Tale, for instance, is a beautiful lyric, and it doesn't speak about anything profound. But it's well-done, using nice wording, a beautiful metric, phrases flow quite well. Save Me is wonderful without having to deal with the peace of the world or Jungian animas.

> Ofcourse you can say who wrote the most complex music or something like that.

And even then. Note how Brian played effortlessly with parallel (or related) modulations (eg '39). When Fred did it, the changes were more abrupt. So there you've got one feature in which Brian had notably more practice, and then of course knowledge, than Freddie. Mercury's songs probably had more modulations in average, but it may reflect simply that he preferred so, not that the others couldn't: Brian's demonstrated many times (from Keep Yourself Alive to No One But You) that he was a key-change genius too. Roger has written some nice modulations as well, if he didn't do them as often is mainly because he didn't like them, not because they were out of his reach.

Yet of course there are some facts: Bo Rhap was out of Brian's, Roger's or John's league. Yet it doesn't mean it was 'better' than White Queen, Days Of Our Lives or My Life Has Been Saved.

> His songwriting powers definitely diminished in the eighties though

I disagree. He was still a genius: Princes Of The Universe, It's A Hard Life, Barcelona, La Japonaise, The Fallen Priest, The Miracle, Was It All Worth It, The Kiss, Innuendo, Under Pressure, Slightly Mad. Judging Fred's 80s songwriting for Hot Space and Mr Bad Guy is like judging his 70s output for Get Down Make Love.

> The Innuendo credits are, if I remember from wherever I read this:

Innuendo is Freddie's with lyrics from both Roger and himself. Hitman is Freddie's as well as Bijou, so there you've got the six songs.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Sebastian wrote: [/QUOTENAME]
Innuendo is Freddie's with lyrics from both Roger and himself. Hitman is Freddie's as well as Bijou, so there you've got the six songs. [/QUOTE]

That makes 7, no?

Innuendo
Slighty Mad
Don't Try So Hard
All God's People
Delilah
Hitman
Bijou

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Sebastian wrote: [/QUOTENAME]>

Innuendo is Freddie's with lyrics from both Roger and himself. Hitman is Freddie's as well as Bijou, so there you've got the six songs.[/QUOTE]

Ah! Forgot about those :)

Yes, my maths failed :)

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Sebastian wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Yes, my maths failed :) [/QUOTE]

Oh, whew! I kept cross-referencing the info and thought I was losing my mind. :-/

So, 7 for Freddie just on Innuendo... is that the most for one of them on an album?

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Sebastian wrote: [/QUOTENAME]>

I disagree. He was still a genius: Princes Of The Universe, It's A Hard Life, Barcelona, La Japonaise, The Fallen Priest, The Miracle, Was It All Worth It, The Kiss, Innuendo, Under Pressure, Slightly Mad. Judging Fred's 80s songwriting for Hot Space and Mr Bad Guy is like judging his 70s output for Get Down Make Love.

QUOTE]

No, I don't think it is possible to even tender an argument there, Sebastian. A sure sign of his diminishing powers was his relative lack of songs on Hot Space and AKOM. I'm sorry but even his best songs of the decade e.g princes of The Universe, Keep Passing The Open Windows are not fit to lick the boots of Death On Two legs, killer Queen or In the lap of The Gods. The vision remained but I don't think he could be bothered with detail anymore so the songs suffered. You only need to listen to the tightness of Killer Queen with those wonderful vocal harmonies, little guitar flourishes. There was none of that in his eighties songs.

Now, I do agree that post 86 he improved gain but even on the Miracle we get RMF and MBDM,I never liked those Deacon collaborations.

Vocal harmonies - It's A Hard Life, Innuendo, the Barcelona project

Guitar flourishes - The Miracle, Was It All Worth It, It's A Hard Life

how can you choose?! shame on you for choosing!