Queen: The Complete Works (94 page)

As for the original version, it reached a modest No. 4 in its US double-bill pairing with ‘We Are The Champions’, and didn’t chart at all when released in its live format. The song took on a new life in the live setting: it was the fast-paced opener for many years, but as the second encore it carried an extra
air of expectation. The audience knew by that point that the show was approaching its conclusion, but they still sang as vociferously as ever, while Freddie would let them take over the choruses as he pranced around the stage, working the crowd into a frenzy. “At concerts, I discovered, people tend to do three claps rather than two stamps and a clap,” Brian told
Guitar World
in 1993. “The amazing thing is to go to football matches, or sports events in general, and hear people do it. It’s very gratifying to find that it has become part of folklore, sort of. I’ll die happy because of that.” And it doesn’t matter which sport, either – baseball, football, rugby, or soccer – as long as there’s some sort of participatory vibe at the venue, the song (or even just the stomp-stomp-clap rhythm) is likely to emerge.

A video was constructed in January 1978 at Roger’s mansion in Surrey. By that point, the members had become wealthy businessmen as well as musicians. They decided, then, that they need not be managed by an outsider any longer. Unfortunately their current manager, John Reid, was also managing Elton John and had decided one megastar was enough. So, between takes for ‘Spread Your Wings’, the band rushed off in Freddie’s Rolls-Royce and terminated their contract with Reid before going their separate, amicable ways. As a celebration of their freedom, they ran through ‘We Will Rock You’ for the cameras almost as an afterthought.

“It’s really odd, but it wasn’t really something we considered important at the time,” Brian said of the low-budget, almost slapdash video constructed for the song, “and then, in the fullness of time, ‘We Will Rock You’ just became this incredible anthem which – along with ‘We Are The Champions’ – represented us all over the world.” In the commentary for the 2003 DVD
Greatest Video Hits 1
, Brian confirmed that “Yeah, I do feel very proud of it, really, in a sense. That’s kind of my gravestone, I suppose.”

WE’RE GOING HOME
(Lee)

A variation of Ten Years After’s track ‘I’m Going Home’ was performed by Ibex on 9 September 1969 at The Sink Club, Liverpool. This would be the final track of the standard set, with an encore coming shortly after. Unfortunately, the available tape cuts off prematurely so it’s not known what songs made up the encore. Doubly unfortunate is the fact that Brian and Roger, then of Smile, joined Ibex on stage, making this the first known performance of the embryonic Queen.

WE’RE GOING WRONG
(Bruce)

Originally released by Cream on their 1967 album
Disraeli Gears
, ‘We’re Going Wrong’ was a regular in the Ibex set list, with a recording coming from The Sink Club, Liverpool on 9 September 1969.

THE WEDDING MARCH
(May)

• Album:
Flash

A suitably over-the-top rendition of the traditional marriage anthem, sounding like a perverse cross between Hendrix’s interpretation of ‘Star Spangled Banner’ and Queen’s own ‘God Save The Queen’. Brian’s guitar arrangement of ‘The Wedding March’, lasting a little under one minute, appeared on
Flash Gordon
and appropriately accompanied the scene in which Ming and Dale are married.

“I make sure that the whole thing is planned and treated like you would give a score to an orchestra to do,” Brian told BBC’s Radio One in 1983. “It’s a complete orchestration. So, it’s a different kind of approach really but I enjoy doing those things. It’s sort of indulgence really but, at the same time, I thought it would be funny for that ‘Wedding March’ to come out that way. Because all our people, who know our music, would recognize that immediately as one of our treatments and anyone else in the cinema would think of it as a strange ‘Wedding March’. It’s meant to be a musical joke anyway, in the film, so it was just heightening that joke really.”

WHAT ARE WE MADE OF
(May)

• Album (Brian):
The Adventures of Pinocchio

Of Brian’s two contributions to
The Adventures Of Pinocchio
soundtrack in 1996, ‘What Are We Made Of’ is the most conventional. Written by Brian, the song features Norwegian singer Sissel duetting with Brian on a touching set of lyrics that are more universal than would normally be expected of a soundtrack composition. With orchestral arrangements by Lee Holdridge, the song was recorded at Allerton Hill and features a strong, ballad-like backing, performed almost exclusively by Brian (except for the drums, by Cozy Powell). But the emphasis is on the vocals: Brian’s voice had matured greatly since the release of
Back To The Light
, and he’s in fine form here, meshing beautifully with Sissel’s angelic
voice to truly poignant effect.

It’s a shame, then, that the song didn’t receive a higher-profile release: the soundtrack to the film wasn’t exactly a hot seller, nor was the film all that popular at the box-office, and Brian’s two contributions remained largely unheard. It would have been a fine concluding track to
Another World
, and was certainly a stronger inclusion than ‘Cyborg’, but it appears that the song will remain obscure until an exhaustive sweep of Brian’s back catalogue is implemented.

WHATCHA GONNA DO ’BOUT IT?
(Potter/Samwell)

The Small Faces’ 1966 hit single was performed live by 1984 and The Reaction.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SATURDAY NIGHT?
(O’Brien)

• CD single (Brian): 9/98

Initially intended for Brian’s
Heroes
project, ‘Whatever Happened To Saturday Night?’ was written by Richard O’Brien and recorded for the cult classic film
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
. As originally performed by Meat Loaf, the song absolutely cooks and is a highlight of the film, but in Brian’s hands it’s a different story. Though the backing of Cozy Powell on drums, Spike Edney on keyboards and brothers Andy and Steve Hamilton on saxophones is rollicking and faithful to the original, the vocals ultimately let it down. Brian is no Meat Loaf, and is assisted by Madeline Bell, Gareth Marx, Shelley Preston, Anita Dobson and Emily May on backing vocals in an attempt to beef things up. It’s enjoyable enough, but its non-appearance on
Another World
(it was released on the US
Retro Rock
mini-album) was the right decision.

WHEN THIS OLD TIRED BODY WANTS TO SING

(LATE NIGHT JAM)

• Compilation (Freddie):
Solo Collection

A fast-paced jam between Freddie on vocals and Mike Moran on piano, ‘When This Tired Old Body Wants To Sing’ was recorded on 22 June 1987 and remained (largely) unreleased until the 2000 box set. The piano line that Mike is playing at the beginning of the jam, as well as the chanted “Sing it! Sing it!” vocals, was recycled into ‘Overture Piccante’ on
Barcelona
, but, with the full jam closing the second disc of rarities on the box set, it’s more at home here. One does wonder just how much vodka Freddie had imbibed by the time the tape started rolling, though.

WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
(Taylor)

• Album (Roger):
Electric

Though the title sounds like a tribute to Freddie, ‘Where Are You Now?’ is a ponderous song in which Roger makes reference to God and the placement of religion in Roger’s life. This might be looking a bit too deeply into the words, though with lines like “There must be more to life than this bum deal” and “Just trying to file a flight plan / Need some direction, need it now”, this is not a difficult connection to make.

Set at a mid-tempo pace with dominant keyboards played by Roger and Mike Crossley (the latter provides a sublime piano solo where a guitar solo from the mighty Jason Falloon may have otherwise featured), the song breaks down in the middle, leaving only Roger’s drums and vocals as the driving force, before each instrument is reintroduced. It’s interesting that Jason Falloon’s guitar melody recalls the opener’s riff in ‘Pressure On’. Perhaps it was this similarity that excluded the song from the live setting.

WHIPPING BOY

Not much is known about ‘Whipping Boy’ other than that it may have been recorded during sessions for
Hot Space
in 1982. Some collectors have insisted that it is an unreleased demo recording of a completely new song, while others have said that it may be a working title for Brian’s piano ballad ‘My Boy’, also recorded during the
Hot Space
sessions. The song was returned to in 1983 for sessions for
The Works
, and even ended up on the short-list of songs to appear on the album, but it was ultimately discarded.

THE WHISPERERS
(Taylor/Evans)

• Album (Roger):
Electric

In the press release for
Electric Fire
, it’s stated that “Nicholas Evans provided the inspiration for the spiritually inclined ‘The Whisperers’ ... tell[ing] of the ancient art of training wild horses via softly spoken verbal commands, a more subtle approach than the harsh tradition of dominating the animals through force.” Evans’
The Horse Whisperer
(which was the working title of the song but condensed for final release) was published in 1995 and features heavily in
the lyric, so much so that Roger gave Evans a co-credit. It also happened to be turned into a major motion picture in 1998, starring Robert Redford.

“I read the book way before the movie came out, which I thought was disappointing,” Roger explained. “I thought it was a very elegantly written book and if I wanted a good ambient, wide-open spaces, Montana kind of feel to a song, I could not improve on that. I sent Nicholas Evans a copy of the song and he thought it was great and when I said would he like a credit on the song, I just lifted some of the words from the book.”

Set to a mid-tempo, keyboard-dominated backing atypical of Roger (at times, it sounds more like a Pink Floyd track than a Roger Taylor one), the song premiered at the 1998 Fan Club Convention along with ‘No More Fun’ and ‘Tonight’. Unlike those two songs, ‘The Whisperers’ was doomed to obscurity, and was never attempted in the live setting.

WHITE MAN
(May)

• B-side: 11/76 [2] • Album:
Races

One of Queen’s most forgotten rockers, ‘White Man’ (originally recorded in July 1976 as ‘Simple Man’) opens the second side of
A Day At The Races
in discordant style, with plenty of raw guitar and pounding drums that sound out of place on this album. The song takes a political stance, which was a rarity in Queen’s songs and is ultimately the major downfall of the track. The lyrics, about the Native Americans’ plight caused by white explorers and the Westernization of the natural environment, tend to preach a bit too much and, although the track moves along at a decent clip, it is one of the less memorable songs on the album.

“‘White Man’ is the B-side,” Freddie told
Circus
in 1977. “It’s Brian’s song, a very bluesy track. Gave me the opportunity to do raucous vocals. I think it’ll be a great stage number.” The song became a regular on the 1977
A Day At The Races
and 1977/1978
News Of The World
tours, interpolated into ‘The Prophets Song’.

WHITE QUEEN (AS IT BEGAN)
(May)

• Album:
Queen2
• EP: First EP • CD Single: 11/88 • Bonus:
Queen2

Slowing the mood down on
Queen II
after the raucous finale of ‘Father To Son’, Brian’s gorgeous ‘White Queen (As It Began)’ sneaks in with a hidden guitar introduction, as Freddie sings, virtually unaccompanied, his tale of the proverbial queen of his heart. Enriched by some of Brian’s most beautiful lyrics, the song’s delicacy transforms into a full-on assault as Brian, Roger and John launch into a fantastic instrumental section, showcasing The Red Special in all its glory.

“I wrote this at College, where I led a relatively sheltered life, even though the University on the whole was a pretty rampant pace!” Brian explained in 2004. “I had been reading
The White Goddess
by Robert Graves, which explored the role of the idealized Virgin/Mother/ Queen figure in art through history, and the name for our group, decided just around that time, fitted in with this perfectly – which was one of the reasons I was convinced to go with the name. The personal side is bound up with a girl (of course!) whom I saw every day at College, and was to me the ultimate goddess. It’s incredible in retrospect, but because I held her in such awe, in three years I never had the courage to speak to tell her, or even speak to her.”

The song was included in the live setting between 1974 and early 1977, before being dropped for the
News Of The World
US tour, though it was reprised once in 1978. A version recorded for the BBC on 3 April 1974 surpasses the original’s beauty thanks to a lovely piano-guitar duet that supplants the normal guitar orchestrations. This rendition, unfathomably, remains unreleased, but a live recording from Queen’s Christmas Eve 1975 show at Hammersmith Odeon was released in 2011 on the deluxe edition of
Queen II
.

WHO NEEDS YOU
(Deacon)

• Album:
World

A slightly comedic number, John’s ‘Who Needs You’ introduced a new style into Queen’s already expansive sound spectrum: Latin music. The instrumental line-up is interesting since it features Brian and John playing acoustic guitars, with the former also shaking maracas as Freddie taps a cowbell. The arrangement doesn’t get much more complex than that, except for some subtle guitar harmonies from Brian, but the acoustic guitar solo is absolutely sublime, and has been the cause of much debate over the years regarding its performer. In 2011, Brian confirmed on his website that it was he who played the solo, while John provided the rhythm guitar.

The words are vengeful, as Freddie sings of a sly girl who keeps the protagonist waiting until he can bear no longer, declaring that he doesn’t need her any more. Not surprisingly, ‘Who Needs You’ wasn’t performed live as it didn’t suit the setting (it would be difficult to
imagine the band performing the song in the expansive stadia they were dominating by this time), but it makes
News Of The World
that much more diverse.