VOICES of QUEEN: a Literary Analysis of Queen Lyrics of the 1970S and 80S

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VOICES OF QUEEN: A Literary Analysis of Queen Lyrics of the 1970s and 80s

Diplomarbeit

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie

an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz

vorgelegt von Christine SCHAUER

am Institut für Anglistik Begutachter : Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Hugo Keiper

Graz, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1

2 COMMUNICATION IN LITERARY TEXTS...... 2

2.1 Lyrical I and Lyrical You...... 2

2.2 Persona, Alter Ego and Voice ...... 3

3 VOICES OF…...... 3

3.1 Freddie Mercury...... 4 3.1.1 Establishing Lover, Musician and Teller of Tales...... 6 3.1.1.1 The Bipolar Lover...... 6 3.1.1.1.1 Desperate and Obsessive ...... 8 3.1.1.1.2 Faking it ...... 13 3.1.1.1.3 Jealous ...... 19 3.1.1.1.4 Left and Lonesome ...... 20 3.1.1.1.5 Melodiously Melancholic ...... 24 3.1.1.2 The Musician ...... 25 3.1.1.2.1 Idealistic Artist ...... 26 3.1.1.2.2 Businessman ...... 28 3.1.1.3 The Teller of Tales...... 33 3.1.1.3.1 Magical ...... 33 3.1.1.3.2 (IR)Religious ...... 40 3.1.2 Extracting the Bipolar from the Lover ...... 46

3.2 Brian May...... 47 3.2.1 Establishing Lover, Musician and Conscience of Society ...... 48 3.2.1.1 The Miserable Lover...... 48 3.2.1.1.1 Failing ...... 49 3.2.1.1.2 Compensating ...... 51 3.2.1.2 The Musician – From Rags to Riches to Rags...... 53 3.2.1.3 The Conscience of Society...... 55

3.2.2 Pro Sex and Anti Guns...... 57

3.3 Roger Taylor ...... 58 3.3.1 Establishing Rebel and Musician ...... 59 3.3.1.1 The Rebel – Escape through Music and Love for Cars ...... 59 3.3.1.2 The Musician – Critic and Artist...... 63 3.3.2 Still Rocking Hard ...... 67

3.4 John Deacon ...... 67 3.4.1 Establishing Lover and Musician...... 68 3.4.1.1 The Successful Lover and His Journey...... 68 3.4.1.1.1 Yearning ...... 69 3.4.1.1.2 Falling in Love ...... 70 3.4.1.1.3 Living in the Moment ...... 71 3.4.1.1.4 Finding his Soul Mate...... 72 3.4.1.1.5 Parting Ways ...... 74 3.4.1.2 The Critical Musician ...... 76 3.4.2 The Lover’s Journey Continues ...... 78

4 CONCLUSION...... 79

5 REFERENCES ...... 81

6 APPENDIX: LYRICS ...... 88

1 Introduction

The aim of this thesis is to isolate and identify the main voices of each member of Queen through the literary analysis of song lyrics. The texts used for the analyses have been carefully selected from the many songs written in the 1970s and 1980s that can be clearly assigned to each member of the band, making it therefore possible to locate and isolate their voices.

The thesis is divided into two parts, of which the first part is a brief introduction into literary theory, defining what is meant by ‘voice’ in terms of literary criticism. In the second part the focus lies on the individual members of Queen. Making up the main part of the thesis, it contains detailed song analyses of selected song material from each band member from the 1970s to establish their voices and summaries of the major changes their voices underwent in the 1980s. The conclusion gives an outline of the various voices of Queen that have been established in part two. Also, the advantages of Queen being polyphonic are stressed and an outlook on further possible research is given.

Since the album The Miracle in 1989, all songs were attributed to Queen, showing on the one hand the unity of the band but on the other hand making it more difficult to locate the unique and valuable voices of the members of the band, all songs selected for the analyses have been taken from albums before The Miracle. The aim of this thesis is not to give an account of all Queen lyrics of the 1970s and 80s but focuses on the main voices one is able to extract in the 70s and their most important changes over the 80s.

2 Communication in Literary Texts

Before one can delve into a selection of lyrics from the vast array of Queen songs of the 1970s and 80s, it is essential to establish the concept and terminology that is the basis of this thesis. The main concept this paper is based on is that in a literary text (e.g. a lyric poem or song) communication is taking place, not on just one but on two different levels at the same time. The first level is the communication taking place between people who are outside of the text i.e. communication between author and readers, or singer and audience. The second level is the communication inside of the text, occurring between the lyrical I and the lyrical you. Since the main focus of this paper is on the latter, the next step is to take a closer look at the participants of the inner textual communication.

2.1 Lyrical I and Lyrical You

The ‘lyrical I’ and the ‘lyrical you’ are terms used to refer to the speaker of a literary text and the audience of a literary text. Both are “implied, literary created versions” of the real thing and are therefore sometimes also referred to as the “implied author” and the “implied auditor” (Abrams and Harpham. 2005: 227). However, the more fitting expressions used in this paper for lyrical I are ‘persona’ and ‘voice of the alter ego’. The lyrical you is referred to as addressee or simply ‘you’. It is important to note that the lyrical I per se does not have any specific qualities other than being the speaker of the text. However, the authors of the texts analysed in this paper identified as male and the lyrical I is “related to the actual author” (Abrams and Harpham. 2005: 228) to some degree. Thus the lyrical I is referred to as he, assuming that the speaker of the text is male unless there are specific clues that this might not be the case.

2.2 Persona, Alter Ego and Voice

Depending on the topic of the song, the lyrical I takes on a different ‘persona’ i.e. ‘alter ego’ or ‘voice’ (e.g. the topic of the song is love, therefore the alter ego is the lover and the voice of the lyrical I is the voice of a lover) in every song. Every single one of the various alter egos has a voice that can change and sound quite differently since it always depends on how the topic is treated in the text (e.g. the alter ego lover can be sad, therefore his voice becomes the voice of the sad lover). The term voice can be used to refer to the alter ego and persona in general and also when trying to define them more specifically.

3 Voices of…

In 1989 the band decided to attribute every song to ‘Queen’ on their album The Miracle and really speak with ‘one voice, also reflected by the artwork of the cover of the album showing the faces of all four members of the band merged into one. Before that, Queen was made up of four writers, all of whom dealt with various topics in their own and unique style, leading to a great variety of songs from the early 1970 to the very late 80s. The best way to explain this diversity can be achieved by comparing the band to something similar to a ‘Chinese Box’: Think of the band as a box labelled ‘Queen’ and when you open said box, you find four smaller boxes labelled ‘Mercury’ ‘May’, ‘Taylor’ and ‘Deacon’. When you open those boxes, you find smaller boxes, each labelled with the name of a different alter ego and opening those boxes, you find smaller boxes still, labelled with the different voices of the alter egos. This is the kind of hierarchy one has to keep in mind when looking at a song of Queen. The band is made up of the four members, who are all writing songs as their alter egos. The voices that can be heard in the songs are the voices of said alter egos. The aim of this thesis is to find out what the main voices are the ‘Queen-box’ holds, to whom they belong and what they are saying. In the following chapters, each of the four members (i.e. writers) of Queen

3 is introduced and their alter egos’ voices are established via text analyses and interpretations. Even though every chapter on a member of Queen begins with a short biographical text, in the subsequent analyses and interpretations of the songs allusions to the actual person who wrote the songs are avoided whenever possible, since it is the alter ego or ‘writer personality’ one wants to define via the analysis, not the actual writer himself. The members of Queen are introduced according to the amount of song material they contributed during the 1970s and 80s, beginning with the person who wrote the most songs in that period of time (Freddie Mercury) to the person who wrote the least amount of songs in two decades (John Deacon).

3.1 Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury was not only the lead singer of Queen but also wrote most of the songs of the band from 1973 to 1985. This is why the majority of people might consider him to be ‘The Voice of Queen’, especially since most of the songs – written either by him or the other members of the band – were sung by him. He was a true artist not only because he was a musician but because he had also obtained a diploma in art and graphic design. He designed the logo of the band, the so called ‘Queen Crest’, which is a combination of the zodiac signs of the four members of the band and was initially introduced in the booklet of Queens second album (Queen II) as a black and white drawing, later being on the cover of two albums (A Night At The Opera and A Day At The Races) in colour and two different styles, reflecting each album’s title and theme.

The depiction of the ‘Queen Crest’ (© Queen Productions 1975) on the album covers of A Night At The Opera (on the left, magical and childlike) and A Day At The Races (on the right, sophisticated and noble).

It shows two lions (Deacon and Taylor are both Leo), a crab (May is Cancer), and two fairies (Mercury was Virgo). At the centre of the logo is a stylised version of the letter ‘Q’, surrounded by the bands zodiac signs: the fairies and the lions are positioned one on each side of the letter and the crab is sitting on top of it. The lions are wearing crowns, sometimes there is also a crown in the middle of the letter. Last but not least, a mighty phoenix spreads its wings over the entire logo. It is likely that the ‘Queen Crest’ is supposed to bear a resemblance to the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. The logo of Queen already makes Mercury’s fascination with the fantastic - especially fairies - obvious. Not only did he use fairies to symbolise himself (his own zodiac sign) but it is believed that he also named himself after the character “Mother Mercury” from his song called “My Fairy King“, changing it from Bulsara to Mercury. Freddie is the pet name he was given by his classmates at boarding school and which kept. It is the shorter and probably more English version of his ‘real’ name, Farrokh. Not only did he design the logo, he also chose the name ‘Queen’ for the band, stating that he was aware of the homosexual connotations the word had but that it was just one facet of it. This statement reflects the way Mercury thought and the way he wrote his songs. For him, meaning was never just on the surface, restricted to one connotation of a word usually there was at least a second or even a third meaning hidden

5 somewhere, allowing one to read and interpret the words and sentences in several ways. He wrote the most poetic and sophisticated texts in the band, understanding how to use metaphors and symbols like no other, being interested in many fields (e.g. literature, art, music, religion etc.) In 1991, Freddie Mercury died from bronchial pneumonia, a complication of AIDS, being only 45 years old (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(band)).

3.1.1 Establishing Lover, Musician and Teller of Tales

In the 1970s Mercury establishes three main voices: the voice of the lover, the voice of the musician, and the voice of the ‘Teller of Tales’. Mercury himself seems to be very interested in contrasting extremes in his texts, which is not only reflected by the content of the text (i.e. the story that is told) but also by his alter egos’ character.

3.1.1.1 The Bipolar Lover Mercury’s alter ego of the lover is a devotee of the extreme because either the lyrical I is experiencing the highest high or the lowest low. Since it is either ecstasy or depression, it is hardly surprising that none of Mercury’s texts about love are about a lasting relationship. If anything, his songs about love deal with the opposite of a healthy and realistic relationship. In fact, if one were to define the character of the alter ego or the voice of the lover through Mercury’s texts about love, it is quite an unsettling picture that is forming. In the beginning (before the lyrical I finds someone) it is a person who is driven by longing, almost mad from loneliness (i.e. the lyrical I in “Somebody To Love“). The person wants to fall in love because of certain high-strung expectations of what might happen when one is in love. Such expectations of course can only be disappointed because no one can comply with

6 the unrealistic standards the lyrical I sets, making it impossible to have a working relationship. Still, there are people (i.e. the lyrical I in “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy“) who use these expectations and clichés about romantic love to get what they want, which most of the time is intimacy. They will promise others everything just to get into bed with them. But since even they do not fulfil the expectations - they might promise to do so but may very well never keep the promise - the (once again) lonely lover (i.e. the lyrical I in “You Take My Breath Away“) develops an extremely unhealthy and stalker-like obsession with his object of affection. The other person becomes everything for the lyrical I, making the existence of the lyrical I valid because the lyrical I exists through and because of the other person. An almost parasitic and sometimes threatening relationship evolves. Since the loved one has to be everything for the lover, the relationship is condemned to fail inevitably because the lover imposes unrealistic expectations on his object of affection. The lover enjoys sexuality being a sensual person (i.e. the lyrical I in “Get Down, Make Love“) but even in this part of a relationship he is too intense, too demanding for the other person. The relationship has to fail, leaving the lover once again hurt, left and alone (i.e. the lyrical I in “Nevermore“, “Love Of My Life“ and “My Melancholy Blues”).

In “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy“ Mercury shows that the perfect romantic lover does not exist but has to be created since this is the only way to fulfil the clichés about love stemming from people’s imagination. Almost half of all the songs Mercury wrote in the 1970s deal with love of some kind, almost all of them with a love that is unsatisfactory, one-sided and, most of the time, leaves one party heartbroken. This leads to the conclusion that the topic of the love that is unfulfilled and the heartbroken lover that has been left by his loved one was of great interest and importance to the writer of these songs. Interestingly, it is never quite clear whether the lyrical I in the love songs is talking to a man or a woman, except for the song “Get Down, Make Love“ which deals with sexuality and in which one can find several allusions through slang words referring to intercourse (and, if one were

7 to assume that the lyrical I in the text is also male, homosexual intercourse in particular).

3.1.1.1.1 Desperate and Obsessive One of the most pathetic and miserable creatures in the universe of love is the desperate lover (hereafter referred to by the acronym DL). To find such a person, whose entire existence is dedicated to longing, because every day is filled with pain and loneliness, one has to take a close look at the lyrical I of the song “Somebody To Love“ (the despair and loneliness of the lyrical I are already expressed through the title). The song tells the story of the life of a depressed lyrical I who feels miserable and desperately wants others to find him somebody to love. He feels that he is not complete without a partner, someone he can love. The severity of his emptiness and sense of loneliness become obvious when one takes a closer look at the way he describes his life. The lyrical I is someone who feels so bad about being alone that he compares getting up in the morning - for a day to be spent alone - with dying. He is a person who starts to cry when he looks in the mirror, having almost no self-esteem and feeling ashamed and hurt by his mere existence.

The person desperately looking for love is someone who is ultimately turning to God, telling him that since he was not able to help him in finding someone fitting he now will ask anybody. The DL does not have any specific criteria for the possible lover, he just wants somebody to love. There is great emphasis on “to love”, not to be loved by, which is interesting because this may suggest that the DL is not longing for something he can obtain but rather something to give away. Loving for the DL might include that the person loves him back but the first and foremost wish of the lyrical I is to find someone he can love. The DL is a very hard worker, working so long and hard that his bones ache. But he doesn’t have any benefits from being a hard worker because when he takes home his pay he does so only

8 for himself. Again, religion or religious beliefs come into play because the lyrical I goes down on his knees and starts to pray until “the tears run down from [his] eyes”. Again he turns towards God, this time for comfort. He is not only a hard worker but also a religious person thus definitely someone who thinks that he deserves to find someone to love. This loving might not only apply to sexual needs but rather to emotional needs of the lyrical I. Of course, sexual needs might also be part of the relationship and are not specifically ruled out. The DL stresses that he tries very hard every day to stay patient and hopeful but he experiences that everybody wants to “put [him] down”. People even suggest that he is insane, when “they say [he’s] going crazy”. To experience a state close to insanity because one feels alone might not be uncommon.

The DL then introduces notions that are in fact quite absurd because he makes the simple fact that he has “got a lot of water in [his] brain” sound like something unhealthy. This is utter nonsense since the human brain is to75% made up of water (see http://www.nursingassistantcentral.com/blog/2008/100-fascinating-facts- you-never-knew-about-the-human-brain/), making it nothing special to have “a lot of water in [the] brain”. But then again he also states that people don’t think that he has “common sense”. He is not quite certain what to make of the things others tell him because first he believed in God but he has disappointed him since he did not provide him with someone to love. He now has “nobody left to believe” because the people around him also tell him things that do not make sense to him. In the last verse however, the speaker finally tries to stand up for himself and at least to admit some responsibility for his own life. A metaphor that sees life as music is introduced, the lyrical I sees himself as someone having “no rhythm”, always “losing [his] beat”. His life is a fight he is unwilling to lose, finding someone to love is a challenge and he is not ready to “face [a] defeat”. His ultimate goal is to free himself of the life he is leading now, which he experiences as a “prison cell”. The only thing in his mind that can set him free is love but he is hopeful that this day will come, “someday [he’s] gonna be free”. The lyrical I of the song “Somebody To

Love“ is the perfect example of the desperate lover. He is a very needy person (he expects others to find someone for him) and his loneliness makes him so very depressed that in a cry of despair he calls out to the world and begs others to find him somebody he can give his love to. He is completely driven by the one thing he thinks he is missing in his life and that will finally set him free: someone he can shower with his love. “Somebody To Love“ is written in a tone of despair and conveys feelings of depression through the author’s use of words evoking negative emotions (verbs: “die”, “ache”, “losing”, “going crazy”; nouns: “defeat”, “prison cell” and the repeated exclamation: “Lord”). “Down” is also used several times in the text, not only as a word but also the meaning, to transport the mood of depression of the lyrical I: “down on my knees”, “down from my eyes”, “put me down” and the expression “can barely stand on my feet” (i.e. I am so depressed, I am hardly able to keep myself up). There is also a very strong image of contrast at the beginning of the text, when the lyrical I states that every time he is “getting up”, he “dies a little”.

One might expect that getting up from bed and last night’s sleep might be more like a rebirth but since the lyrical I experiences so much pain during his waking hours, for him it is like dying every time since he knows that he has to face the pain again. Furthermore, the religious aspect to the text, undermined by the appearance of the words “Lord”, “believing” and “pray” stresses how desperate the lyrical I is, if one reads the praying as something only desperate people would do since they see God as their last resort. It is indisputable that the key to a relationship are strong emotions. However, sometimes these emotions get too intense and the relationship is merely one sided. When the lover almost smothers his “object of affection” (in this context, this is to be seen literally), one can safely assume that the relationship is neither loving nor healthy. One person no longer just loves the other, he is obsessed with her and has become her stalker. This is the situation one is presented in Mercury’s song “You Take My Breath Away“. In this song, the lyrical I reveals his rather unhealthy obsession with another person. The person

10 speaking is completely obsessed with the “you” he is addressing in the text. With this text, Mercury makes obvious that the meaning ‘you are everything for me’ is equally threatening as it is flattering, that there are two sides to a love that is this extreme. What “you are everything for me” actually means is “I am nothing without you”. Mercury likes to use expressions that have more than just a surface meaning, as the title shows. The title “You Take My Breath Away” can either be read as something positive, namely that one person is breathtakingly wonderful or something very negative, that one person feels suffocated by another person. The genius in choosing this title is that the lyrical I of the text finds another person so wonderful and breathtaking while at the same time he himself takes another person’s breath away in the most negative sense (he is stalking her). In the text, the lyrical I is talking to another person, telling her how painfully in love he is with her. The tone of the lyrical I is of complete devotion, he sees himself as the other persons slave and shows a love for the other person that has definitely a destructive quality to it. This is very well expressed by the words the lyrical I uses to refer to the feelings the other person invokes in him and what effects the actions of the other person have on him. She “stole [his] heart”, “destroys [his] mind”, “takes [his] breath away” and is even able to “reduce [him] to tears”.

He tells the other person how tortured he feels by her and how much power she has over him. The lyrical I sees himself as some kind of servant of the person he addresses, he is afraid to be “dismissed” from the person’s love, he sees himself literally as the other’s slave. What makes this relationship so very problematic is that the lyrical I can not exist without the other person and their relationship is by no means of an equal nature. The lyrical I worships the other person, putting her on a pedestal and uttering that he is not worthy of the other person. However, this changes the moment the other person seems to move away from the lyrical I. Now the lyrical I warns the other person not to leave him because he does not want to feel lonely, a common and expectable reaction to being left. However, the lyrical I shows that he is not as powerless as he seemed at first glance because now he

11 starts to threaten the other person. Should the other person ever leave him, he will find her, anywhere she will go, the lyrical I will follow her, “until the end of the earth”. This is an open threat, telling the other person that she will not be able to escape the lyrical I and his love for her. The lyrical I then reveals his true nature when he tells the other person that he “will find no sleep till [he] finds” her. At first glance this promise could be interpreted as a lover promising another his undying love and interpreted as a very romantic gesture but if one takes a closer look, it becomes evident that the lyrical I’s entire existence is founded on the relationship with the other person. If the partner should ever leave him and disappear, the lyrical I also has to disappear, which the lyrical I of course can not let happen. Worshipping the other person gives the lyrical I some sense of identity and makes him a parasite feeding on the others life, a stalker. According to the Crown Prosecution Service (i.e. the Government Department responsible for prosecuting criminal cases investigated by the police in England and Wales):

“There is no legal definition of 'stalking'. Neither is there specific legislation to address this behaviour. Rather, it is a term used to describe a particular kind of harassment. Generally, it is used to describe a long-term pattern of persistent and repeated contact with, or attempts to contact, a particular victim. Examples of the types of conduct often associated with stalking include: direct communication; physical following; indirect contact through friends, work colleagues, family or technology; or, other intrusions into the victim's privacy.” (http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/stalking_and_harassment/)

As already mentioned, the relationship of the lyrical I with the other person is not an equal one and because one party is so very much obsessed with the other, it can never be a healthy relationship. The lyrical I and his object of affection can never have a future together because the lyrical I literally takes the other person’s breath away, he suffocates the partner. This is also very well reflected in the utterances of the lyrical I, who is always talking about how the other person makes him feel or what he would do for the other person but not once talking about them as a “we” because in this suppressing relationship is simply not enough space for this concept. The lyrical I describes every sound the other person makes as “a whisper in [his] ear”, showing how attentive and very much like a stalker he is,

12 since even the slightest movement is detected. Furthermore, the lyrical I sees himself very much unworthy of the other person and her love, he “could give up all [his] love for just one kiss”, showing how much he worships and adores this person. He even goes as far as saying that he “would surely die if [the other person] dismissed [him]” from her love. This utterance is interesting because – like the title of the song – can have two meanings. On the one hand, the lyrical I expresses his devotion to the other person and sees himself as her servant and slave. On the other hand, it is an open threat to the other person, never to leave the lyrical I unless she wants the lyrical I to kill himself. The relationship the other person and the lyrical I have is one about power. The problem about the relationship they are having is that it is not healthy and never will be since only one person in the relationship can have said power. At first, one might assume that it is the person addressed by the lyrical I, since the lyrical I degrades himself in almost every utterance, stressing the other’s superiority. But if one goes as far back as to the first two lines of the song, when the lyrical I says “look into my eyes and you’ll see/I’m the only one” it becomes obvious that there can be only one who is in charge of this relationship, the obsessive stalker i.e. the lyrical I.

3.1.1.1.2 Faking it The saying “if something is too good to be true it probably is not (true)” has never been more fitting than when it is concerned with the perfect romantic lover in Mercury’s song “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy“. In this song the lyrical I promises another person romantic love but during the song the audience discovers that this will never happen, everything the lyrical I promises is a lie because all he really wants to do is get the other person into bed. The lyrical I of the song “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy“ can be called a womanizer, a playboy (player for short). He is a man who knows what women want to hear and sees it as some kind of sport to get involved with them. In order to get what he wants, presumably be intimate with the women he talks to, he promises them romance when in fact all he

13 is interested in is their bodies. Although it is never clear in the text, whether the lyrical I is talking to a man or women, one might assume that he is talking to a woman, since the clichés portrayed are very much meeting with fantasies of romantic behaviour primarily offered to females from a very young age, for example in trivial literature. When the player addresses his potential new lover in the text, he takes a very active role when telling her what can and will do for her. He will be the perfect lover because he can “dim the lights” or “sing songs full of sad things” for her. He is willing to “serenade” her and “gently play on her heartstrings” (a very clever play with words – the lover can play her like a musician plays his instrument), “be a Valentino” just for her. Rudolph Valentino was a star of the silent film era and is associated with romance since he was known as the “Latin Lover” and somewhat of an early sex symbol (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_Valentino).

In the refrain the player is talking to somebody else - possibly other men who envy him and want to know how he “does it” – and then he drops the act of the perfect lover. He reveals that he will “set [his] alarm” and “turn on [his] charm”, exposing him as the fraud that he is, alluding that he sees getting women as some kind of challenge or sport. When he is talking again to a possible lover of his, he asks her to let him feel her heartbeat (growing faster) and when he later talks about “love heat” and even invites her to sit in his “hot seat of love” one might safely assume that this are allusions to the two people having sex. But since the lyrical I is a “good old-fashioned lover boy” and knows that all women really want is to talk about their feelings, he wants her to tell him “how [she] feels right after” because all he rally wants for them both to do is “go romancing”, her “wish is [his] command”. Again, the audience experiences the player talking to others about his act, telling them that he keeps up his correspondence (“write my letter”) with his (probably numerous) lovers and then will use his “fancy patter on the telephone”, keeping in touch with his lovers. The author then switches again to part of a conversation between the lyrical I and his lover, making the author’s critique of the expectations

14 about love and telling others what they want to hear to get what one wants, very obvious.

“I miss you – (I miss those long hot summer nights) When I'm not with you Think of me always I love you - Love you –“

One person tells the other person that when she is not with him, she thinks of him always and misses him. The other person remarks that he misses the long hot summer nights, what might again be a reference to sexuality, before he finally answers that when he is not with her, that it is exactly what she should be doing, think of him always, that is. This part of the song is especially interesting, concerning the character of one of the two people of the conversation. One has to be very attentive as not to miss it but there is actually just one person missing the other person, not both missing each other, since one person tells the other to always miss them, instead of answering “I miss you too”. And the reply “I love you too” is also avoided by the more casual “love you” by the player. This (nearly) romantic conversation then again is interrupted by a switch of perspective when the lyrical I finally is asked where he “gets it from”, where he learned his trade, to which he replies that he “learned [his] passion in the good old-fashioned school of lover boys”. In letting the lyrical I state that he in fact learned his passion, the author creates a strong contrast. All the lovely things he said to his lover are meaningless because it is just an act. The act of the perfect lover then continues when the player talks again to his lover. He promises that they will have dinner at a very noble restaurant (“the Ritz”) and that he will be on time (“at nine precisely”). He will pay the bill, all of her duties will be to decide which wine to order (“you taste the wine”). After dinner they will drive back “in style“ – maybe in a limousine – to his “saloon” and then they will have a nice time. Finally, the woman gives in but states that she does not need everything he promised her, when she says “just take me back to yours that will be fine”. The success of the man and the following

15 shared intimacy by the two people are indicated by the very colloquial expression “come on and get it”. The song “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy“ can be seen as a great text critiquing the expectations and outer worldly fantasies usually associated with romantic love. In having a person use these romantic clichés (missing someone terribly, thinking about the other person all the time, having fancy dinners together, serenading the loved one etc.) in order to achieve a far more realistic goal (having intercourse with someone), Mercury makes the audience think about the strange expectations people have about romantic love, showing them through the text that the perfect romantic lover does not exist.

In his song “Get Down, Make Love“ Mercury lets the lyrical I not only talk about his sex life but uses it to reflect the entire relationship he is having with another person. The give and take in sex is used as a metaphor for the dynamic of the two people involved with each other. The song begins with the repetition of the title, introducing the rather physical motto of the relationship, the maxim on which it is based. Then the lyrical I addresses the other person in the relationship, making it clear from the first line, who is in charge: “You take my body / I give you heat”. Besides presenting the other person first, showing more concern for the other person than for himself and rewarding him with more power, the lyrical I introduces the first example of opposites. His partner is shown as the taking part of the relationship and he himself as the giving part. The very physical nature of the relationship is present from the beginning, becoming even more evident in the following lines. When the partner is “hungry”, the lyrical I provides him with “meat”. The hunger as well as the meat can refer to actual food but also feeding the sexual appetite of the other person, the meat being the body or even the penis of the lyrical I since “giving someone meat” is a slang expression for having penetrative sex (see http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=meat&defid=1446204). The lyrical I then describes oral sex, again using opposites – this time “suck” and “blow” - to contrast the different roles of the two people in the relationship: “I suck your mind / you blow my head”. This leaves one to speculate about the sexual

16 orientation of the lyrical I, since both verbs are typically used when referring to performing oral sex on a male partner. Therefore it is very likely that not only the lyrical I but also the person he is addressing, are both male. The lyrical I is repeating the title of the song like a mantra, conjuring up the images of love making when mentioning the bed of the partner. Both “get down” and “make love” but after their shared intimacy, the lyrical I starts an argument with his partner, uttering his dissatisfaction with the partner - inside the bed and in the relationship in general - by contrasting what the lyrical I wants and the things his partner wants: “every time I get hot / you wanna cool down / every time I get high / you wanna come down”. His frustration with his partner becomes evident when he finally admits that, for his partner “it’s enough / in fact it’s too much /”. This passage is particularly interesting because this might not only refer to the partner’s inability to commit and having a real relationship with the lyrical I.

The partner of the lyrical I is not only unable to have a real conversation with the lyrical I about their relationship but also unable to satisfy the lyrical I sexually, which is indicated by the lyrical I saying “every time I get a – “, not being able to finish his sentences as well as his orgasms. Although the relationship might be primarily of a sexual nature, satisfying it is not. The lyrical I describes his powerlessness and frustration as he goes on, saying that he “can squeeze”, the other “can shake” him and he can even feel “[the other] break [him]”. It is getting even more explicit when he is “coming on so heavy when [the other] takes him”. This allows again for a very sexual interpretation on the surface of the text, just being the description of what goes on in somebody’s bedroom. However, on a deeper level the utterances of the lyrical I show someone who is broken and shattered, not entitled to the fulfilment of his own needs, sexually and otherwise. The frustration once more bursts forth in the refrain, reminding the partner of his shortcomings. The song ends as it began, with the mantra of the relationship, the lyrical I and his partner getting down and making love, starting the cycle of sex and arguing anew. The song “Get Down, Make Love” deals with lust and sex on the

17 surface, on a deeper level the sexuality is used as a metaphor for the relationship of the two people having sex. Once again, Mercury writes about a relationship that is not balanced, where two individuals are not able to become ‘we’ but stay ‘I’ and ‘you’. They are in a relationship but still separated, wanting very different things as well as having different expectations. Interestingly, the lyrical I never actually says that he and the other person are actually having sex, since the author is using euphemisms like “make love” or expressions and phrases that can refer to sex but do also have other connotations (e.g. the parallelism “I suck your mind/you blow my head” can refer to having and performing oral sex on and with men but if you refer to something as mind blowing it means that it is so wonderful it is hard to believe that it is true). Using euphemisms and words with more than one connotation allows the lyrical I to be frank about his sexuality, without necessarily saying that all he is talking about is having sex, which in fact he is not. To express the different expectations about a relationship, Mercury contrasts the sexual wishes of the two people in the song.

Of course, these wishes can be seen not only in a sexual way but represent their entire relationship, mainly how the lyrical I experiences it. He sees himself as giving (“I give you heat […] I give you meat”) and his partner as taking (“you take my body”), the other person being the active and probably also not emphatic part of the relationship. The lyrical I is not offering himself, he is taken, making him the weaker of the two. But giving and taking is only the first contrast that is introduced, the next is the already mentioned allusion to oral sex (suck - blow) but the strongest opposition becomes evident in the refrain, when the lyrical I complains that “every time [he] get[s] hot” the other person “wants to cool down” and “every time [he] get[s] high” the other person wants to “come down”. This expresses not only their different wishes but clearly says that the other person does not want to go as far as the lyrical I, concerning their relationship. As mentioned before, the relationship described is again an unbalanced one, the two people are always going back and forth (I – you), there is no real development, nothing changes.

Worth noting about “Get Down, Make Love“ is that it is the only song written by Mercury in the 1970s about love, in which one can find clues that lend themselves to the interpretation of the sexual identity of either the lyrical I and the partner of the lyrical I as being male.

3.1.1.1.3 Jealous People in love, one might assume, are contended and happy to have found someone. Sadly, the fairytale ending ‘and they lived happily ever after’ rarely applies to real life situations. Even after one has found his soul mate, there can be still obstacles one has to overtake, in order to achieve total bliss. Mercury’s song “Jealousy“ is about a self created obstacle, telling the sad story of a person who let jealousy into his life, destroying his relationship. In this text the lyrical I is addressing not his former lover but the emotion itself, almost a personification of his jealousy. The song begins with the lyrical I admitting of having been wrong, saying that his falling in love was “the first mistake”. He did not know it better, was “far too much in love” to understand what was happening, not realising that he had already begun to let jealousy into his life. He asks his jealousy to look at him and see what has become of him because of it. Because it “got [him] somehow”, without a warning it took him by surprise and “led [him] on”. The song becomes a lament for his lost love but at the same time it is about the lyrical I’s frustration with his ‘current partner’, his very own jealousy. The lyrical I is addressing said jealousy directly with “you”, describing how easy it was for it to lure him in: “you couldn't lose / you couldn't fail / you had suspicion on my trail”. The lyrical I then seems to be addressing his former lover for the first time because he states that “[he] wasn't man enough / to let [her] hurt [his] pride” and all that he is now left with is his own jealousy, which does not seem to be a very kind partner. Then the lyrical I is feeling sorry for himself, asking the question how one could be so wrong “with matters of the heart”. He is aware that “life is much too short to while away with tears” and then asks his jealousy to stop torturing him, “if only [it] could see” and understand

19 what it was doing to him. His frustration with the way he is living reaches a new high when he then tells his jealousy that it is causing him pain and bringing him sorrow. In his desperation even asks when it will finally “let [him] go”. The lyrical I then tries to find an explanation how everything could develop the way it did, excusing his behaviour. In his opinion, it was not his fault that everything developed the way it did but jealousy’s, getting a hold of his “possessive mind” and turning him into “a jealous kind”. This is quite ironic because the possessive mind is definitely his own, it is much more likely that he invited and caused jealousy himself, being of a possessive nature. He then again laments the loss of his love because he “wasn’t man enough to let [her] hurt his pride” and now “all that [he] is left with is his own jealousy. That letting another one hurt his pride is what makes one really a man is a very sophisticated expression. One has to be sure of oneself to allow another person to hurt one’s pride. With this line the lyrical I criticises the false understanding of what kind of behaviour makes a man, letting him at the same time admit he was at fault. The end of the song is sad, since the lyrical I does not seem to have gained any knowledge from his experience with jealousy. Instead of focussing on the future and thinking about avoiding the mistakes he made this time, the lyrical I is wallowing in self pity. Partly accepting his own fault, partly holding on to what he still has (i.e. his jealousy), he is revealing his ambivalent character, stating that now all his soul searching and reflecting about what went wrong in the relationship does not really matter. He feels so miserable that in fact, it “matters not if [he] should live or die” because now all he is left with is own jealousy, which is next to nothing.

3.1.1.1.4 Left and Lonesome Whereas the coming together of two people in a loving a relationship is letting one experience the highest highs, the separation of two formerly intertwined souls is what causes hearts to break and tears to flow. After having introduced several possible reasons for the failing of a relationship (the lover being false, obsessive

20 etc.), the focus now is on the emotions of the two former partners. What it is like to be “dismissed from somebody’s love” - the one thing the obsessive lover is afraid of in “You Take My Breath Away“ - is very well explored in Mercury’s song “Nevermore“. It is in the form of a dialog, revealing that one person’s betrayal led to the loss of the other person’s love. Although the song is rather short, it is full of poetic imagery and the usual elaborate structuring typical for texts by Mercury. The song begins with the lyrical I describing the emptiness he is feeling now, not yet revealing what caused this emptiness, introducing the imagery of the land of love. Something terrible must have happened, since his live is not worth living anymore (“there’s no living in my life anymore”), even “the seas have gone dry and the rain stopped falling”. The water is representing live in general but in this particularly context refer to sympathy or affection. Just like water is needed to keep land fertile, these emotions nurture a relationship. Without water no plant can grow, without affection no relationship can develop. But the water and affection have gone (the seas dried out) and it is likely that they will never come back because if no rain is falling, they can not be refilled, though it is admittedly hard to refill entire seas. After introducing the wasteland that is all that is now left from a former flourishing land of love, Mercury lets the other person speak.

The lover of the lyrical I begs him not to “cry anymore” – a possible explanation why there is no water left for the seas of love, the lover cried all of it away, tears being salty after all – but does not have the intended effect. The lyrical I out of frustration with the lover, who just does not seem to understand that things will never be the same or even what hurt the lyrical I, asks “can’t you see” which the other person obviously does not. The lover asks the lyrical I to calm down (“listen to the breeze”), that they talk about what happened (“whisper to me please”) and not to be cast away by the lyrical I (“don’t send me to the path of nevermore”). However, the lyrical I has made a decision, using again the imagery of the ‘land of love’ to tell the lover that there is no way back. When the lyrical I says that “even the valleys below / where the rays of the sun were so warm and tender / now

21 haven't anything to grow” he expresses that he does not feel the least bit affectionate about the former lover anymore. Not only is there no more water in the ‘land of love’ but also no sun which makes the place now dried up and cold, making it impossible for anything to grow in a place like this, as the lyrical I remarked correctly. Also, he is asking the former lover again “can’t you see” why this had to happen. The lover’s question “why did you have to leave me” the lyrical I answers by asking a question himself: “why did you deceive me”. A question of course, that is merely asked to silence the former partner, an accusation of deceiving and possibly betraying what was once their own. How the lyrical I was deceived by the former lover is not quite clear but it had to be very hurtful since it caused his ‘land of love’ to wither away and die. The former lover then expresses that now his former partner really sends him to “the path of nevermore”, understanding that for them there is no possibility of reconciliation, the lyrical I will never change his mind, being unwilling to forgive whatever offence the lover committed. The lyrical I sends his partner away and when the former lover realises that for them there is no way to get back together, the lover uses the lyrical I’s imagery of the land of love expressing the feeling of being cast off to the path of nevermore (“send me to the path of nevermore”) when the lyrical I said that he “didn’t love [the lover] anymore”. Stressing the left lover’s desperation, the title of the song is repeated in the end, alluding to the lover’s fading out into nothingness, now also experiencing the deadness and cold of the former ‘land of love’.

While some people are not able to forgive and forget, others are careful not to burn too many bridges and hope that their partner will have a change of heart. The song “Love Of My Life“ is about a lyrical I, who is hoping to reconcile with the one person he can not bare to be without. It begins with the lyrical I addressing someone, using the most powerful expression when it comes to articulate one’s affection for another person (“love of my life”). In addressing the other person thus, the lyrical I puts great emphasis on the second part of the first line, which is “you’ve hurt me”. The lyrical I then begins slowly to reveal what has happened to him and his

22 partner. Not only did the partner hurt the lyrical I by breaking his heart (“you’ve broken my heart”) but now the lover is also leaving the lyrical I. The lyrical I is devastated and tries to plead with the partner, trying to make the partner understand what their relationship and love meant to him. Also, the other person has taken the love away and the lyrical I wants it back (“bring it back / don’t take it away from me”). The lyrical I admits fault in the next lines, confessing that it is not possible for his partner to know how much the partner’s love and support means to him (“you don’t know/ what it means to me”), probably because he never told his partner before. The lyrical I begs the other person not to leave him because now that his love is taken away by the other person, the lyrical I has to stay behind, feeling empty and lonely (“you've taken my love / you now desert me”). In this context, “my love” can have two meanings and refer to two very different things. On the one hand, it can apply to the love the lyrical I felt for the other person but at the same time it can refer to the love the other person showered him with. Now that he no longer feels this love, he realizes how much he misses the love that was reserved just for him (i.e. “[his] love”).

Again he urges his partner to bring the love back to him, not to take it away from him because his partner does not know what it means to him. Why the partner does not know what it means to him has to be at least partly his fault. The foregrounding of the partner’s unawareness of how much it means to him suggests that he always wanted to tell his partner but never did but also change for the future. According to the lyrical I everything will get better and the things he is about to tell his partner are so wonderful that the partner “will remember” them even when it is “blown over” and everything is “all by the way”. He wants to live his life with his partner and remind his partner always of his love, stating “when I grow older / I will be there at your side to remind you / how I still love you”. So he urges the other person to come back quickly (“hurry back”) and bring his love to him where it belongs (“bring it back home to me”). Still the other person does not know what it means to him but things are about to change, indicated at the end of the

23 song by the repetition of the title of the song and once again emphasising the strong feelings the lyrical I has for the other person, almost as if he were calling out of despair and longing. Sadly, almost all characters in Mercury’s love songs are of a rather narcissistic nature, either defining themselves through the other person they are involved with or demanding something from them they can not provide themselves. The lyrical I in “Love Of My Life“ does also belong to the category of the selfish lover but at least he tries to change, admitting fault, not being able to tell his loved one about his feelings until it is (almost) too late.

3.1.1.1.5 Melodiously Melancholic In “My Melancholy Blues“ the lyrical I is taking the saying ‘If live gives you lemons, make lemonade’ to heart. It is the story of the lyrical I who - after he has been left by his lover for the umpteenth time for somebody else – decides that he will now try to use his rather melancholy character to turn his unhappy life around. After all, there is one profession in which melancholy is valued, the profession of the blues singer. Thus “My Melancholy Blues“, is the story of how the alter ego of the musician came to be, told by the lyrical I himself. It begins with the lyrical I talking about how he found himself alone again after a party, once again been left “cold and sober” because his “baby left [him] for somebody new”. He seems rather nonchalant about being left, as if it were not the first time that something like that happened to him. He just does not want to talk about it and forget it, getting “intoxicated with that special brew”. The lyrical I awaits to be taken over by melancholy, wants to “get in that sinking feeling” which is lulling him in. The feeling “that says that [his] heart is on an all time low” because when he can hide behind his depression he is not forced to “behave perfectly” or “wear that sunny smile”. The lyrical I introduces weather imagery, referring to the smile as sunny. Also, the smile is something one can “wear”, like a mask but the lyrical I does not want to do that and hide behind it to disguise his true feelings (“I’m in for a cloudy and overcast [smile instead]). He advises others not to “try and stop [him]” because he

24 is “heading for that stormy weather soon”. He wants to get deeper and deeper into the melancholy, giving himself up to it completely, expressing it again via the use of imagery associated with the weather. He gets more and more depressed, waiting for it to get “stormy”, which lets one assume that he is after rather dark and strong emotions. He wants to get into contact with his negative feelings, not ignore them any longer but face them. The lyrical I is aware of the fact that the way he is consciously and openly exploring his negative emotions makes him quite unique (“I’m causing a mild sensation). It even provides him with an opportunity to make some money of it (“with this new occupation”). The lyrical I embraces his melancholy and decides not only to never let it go (“I'm permanently glued / to this extraordinary mood”) but to use it to his own advantage and use his pain to express himself artistically as a musician (“move over / and let me take over / with my melancholy blues”). He is successful, “in the news” but not yet used to being so melancholic in public and still “getting used to [his] new exposure”. At the end of the song the lyrical I invites the audience into his “enclosure”, the place he creates were others can meet his “melancholy blues”. “My Melancholy Blues“ is the original introduction of the alter ego of the musician who came to existence after the alter ego of the lover discovered that he could use his melancholy and sadness in a productive way. In the song, the lyrical I expresses his sad feelings through music and transforms them into something positive through art. Thus, music is the ultimate coping mechanism, the sad lover heals himself and becomes a musician who - finally arriving at a productive stage - uses his former negative feelings and converts them into music. He successfully achieves the transition from the hurt lover to a musician who uses his pain to be creative.

3.1.1.2 The Musician Having transitioned successfully from a person with low self esteem to someone who uses his sensitivity for his work, the alter ego of the musician has one main function: to criticise the music business. He warns other musicians to be careful

25 and not too naïve about being a musician and becoming famous. Furthermore, he exposes the dream job musician as just another job, showing that just wanting to make music is not enough if one wants to be successful and able to live of one’s art. Entertaining his audience and making money have become the two main interests of the artist. Mercury’s depiction of the musician as entertainer shows a person who has finally become a part of the big apparatus behind the music business, almost having become more of a businessman than a musician.

3.1.1.2.1 Idealistic Artist In “Flick Of The Wrist“ the lyrical I advises other persons (likely aspiring musicians) to be careful about who they get involved with in the music business. Trying to warn others about what might happen to them, he is recounting what he experienced with people from the business. It is very likely that the people he is talking about in the song are people who are agents or managers who are usually not responsible for the creative part in the business (writing songs etc.) but merely interested in making money. In order to avoid ‘managers or agents’ every time the lyrical I refers to these people, the term “suit” will be used henceforth. According to the urban dictionary this term is an “expression to refer to businessmen or any authority figure wearing a suit” (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=suit) and thus seems rather fitting in this context. The song begins with the lyrical I describing such a suit as a gangster who is resorting to mafia methods (“dislocate your spine if you don’t sign he says / I’ll have you seeing double”) if one is not willing to sign his contract. At the same time he has strange powers to make one believe whatever he wants one to believe because he can “mesmerize you when he's tongue-tied simply with those eyes”. He then will “synchronize your minds” and then one will “see the beast within him rise”. This means that the suit will not only force the musician to sign the contract he offers him, but also knows how to manipulate the musician. After he finally got what he wanted, he is free to abuse the new found power he now has

26 over his client, the musician. In the refrain the lyrical I tells the other person “not to look back” and consider the offer one might get from one of those suits because if they get the chance to, they will definitely cheat (“it’s a rip-off”). All it takes is the signature to lose one’s identity as an artist (“Flick of the wrist and you're dead baby”), one should not even consider taking this road because it is pure madness to flirt with disaster (“Blow him a kiss and you're mad”). The suit will not take care of one’s interests but harm one (“he’ll eat your heart out”). It might not be detectable at first since he will pretend to be one’s friend but then he will be betraying one’s interests (“A dig in the ribs and then a kick in the head”). If one gives in to him, he will rob the musician of his money, taking more than he is supposed to (“He's taken an arm and taken a leg”). When the musician notices what has been going on, it will all have been too late because “all this time honey / Baby you’ve been had”. The lyrical I continues to paint the very dark picture of the suit in the business, depicting him as a person who manipulates the artist (“Intoxicate your brain with what I'm saying”). He suggests that he will never be successful in the business if he does not have him by his side as an advisor (“If not you'll lie in knee-deep trouble”).

The suit pretends to take an interest in what is best for the artist when in fact he only thinks about how to make the most money of the artist. To illustrate the suit’s abuse of the artist, Mercury chose verbs that are associated with violence against one’s body. He demands of the artist to “prostitute” himself, “castrate [his] human pride” and “sacrifice [his] leisure days” because he wants to “squeeze [him] till [he has] dried”. The choice of words suggests that the suit has absolute power over the artist, in a sense he is his procurer since he can decide to whom the artist should sell himself to. Then the lyrical I takes on the artist’s perspective, voicing the artist’s frustration about the situation he is in. Even though he is working very hard (“Work my fingers to my bones”) and completely exhausted (“I scream with pain”), the suit does not care about his well being (“I still make no impression“).

The perspective shifts again to the lyrical I who is now talking about what is about to happen next, criticising the suit’s methods. After tricking aspiring artists with promises about money and fame into signing their contracts (“Seduce you with his money-make machine”), they manipulate them and rob them of their individuality (“Cross-collateralize, (big-time money, money)”). Finally, when they have reduced them to creators of trivial background music (“Reduce you to a muzak-fake machine”) they let them go (“Then the last goodbye”) because all they do is cheat. The refrain is repeated, reinforcing the lyrical I’s warning about being careful who to trust in the music business. Mercury’s “Flick Of The Wrist“ is a text against the artists exploitation through people who have no interest in music but only in making money, foregrounding the role of the musician as a victim of the music industry. It is directed at future musicians and meant as a warning not to be uncritical when it comes to trusting people.

3.1.1.2.2 Businessman Whereas the lyrical I in “Flick Of The Wrist“ directs his advice and warning towards his fellow musicians, “Let Me Entertain You“ is intended for the musician’s audience. The intention of the lyrical I in the song is the exposure of the amount of work behind a successful show, deconstructing the job of the musician and revealing how much the artist is willing to sacrifice just to entertain his audience. At the same time, it can be read as a warning for the audience because the entertainer is portrayed as someone who is willing to do almost everything for his audience if only he can make money of it. “Let Me Entertain You” begins with the lyrical I’s announcement “It’s a sell out”, introducing the theme of money-making. He then welcomes his audience, asking them if they are “ready for some entertainment” and a show. The lyrical I guarantees his audience that they will have a good time because the music he and his band are making is so good (“gonna rock you gonna roll you”). In fact, he promises them “dancing in the aisles” and entertainment “with a little bit of style”, if only they will let him entertain them

(“C’mon let me entertain you”). The lyrical I’s request is then repeated three times, stressing on the one hand the musician’s role as entertainer who wants his audience to have a good time. On the other hand, it makes him appear like a broken record, repeating the same line over and over. Very much like a musician who repeats the same songs again and again until they have lost all meaning. It might also function as mantra for the entertainer to put him into a trancelike state and get into the right mood for his performance. In the next verse, Mercury exposes the lyrical I as someone who is interested in making money of his audience but at the same time makes him seem very vulnerable in having the lyrical I state “I’ve come here to sell you my body”. However, this utterance can be interpreted quite literally - not only meaning that the musician exposes himself entirely to his audience - because in the next line the lyrical I mentions that he “can show [them] some good merchandise”, which could be for example a picture of the artist on a t-shirt. In this way, he would actually be able to sell his body to his audience.

They lyrical I then stresses the fact that he will do absolutely everything to entertain his audience, “pull[ing] and pill[ing]” them, even “Cruella De Vil[ling]” them because “to thrill [them he will] use any device”. The alliteration “pull and pill” mirrors the effect the entertainer has on the audience and his intentions towards them, getting their attention first and then numbing them. When they are distracted, he can skin them (i.e. take their money), just like the fictional character Cruella De Vil - originally from the Dodie Smith novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians from 1956 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruella_de_Vil) - who wants to skin Dalmatian puppies for their fur. The perspective of the lyrical I then switches to a lyrical we, speaking as the entire band. The members of the band are promising their audience a “crazy performance”, which has to be a very extravagant show indeed, since it qualifies as “grounds for divorce”. According to the law firm ‘Wooley and Co’, there is only one ground for divorce in the United Kingdom, which is “the irretrievable breakdown of a marriage”, which “is proved by establishing one or

29 more of the following ‘facts’: unreasonable behaviour, adultery, two years’ separation, five years’ separation without consent and desertion” (http://www.family-lawfirm.co.uk/Divorce-and-Separation/Grounds-of- Divorce.aspx). Of all these facts the first two seem to be the most fitting for the description of the show the band will put on for the audience and what a show this must be if it involves or causes adultery and unruly behaviour. Since the members of the band do not seem to be the least bit modest about how good their show really is, they are not afraid to call their performances “piece de resistance” and a “tour de force” for their audience. However, they do not only contribute the quality of their show to their own capability to entertain but other factors that come into play when organising a concert. First of all, one needs a place to hold a concert (“we found the right location”), people responsible for the right lighting (“lot of pretty lights”) and a sound crew (“the sound and the amplification listen hey”). There are even more people responsible for the show the musicians are putting on, and if one wants to have a good time these are the people one needs to go to.

Nothing can be accomplished without a tour manager (“if you want a high / Stickells will see to that”) or, even more important, a big record label (“with Elektra and EMI /we’ll show you where it’s at”). This part is very self referential, since the lyrical we mentions people and corporations that were actually affiliated with Queen: Gerry Stickells was Queen’s tour manager (see http://www.queenonline.com/en/news-archive/gerry-stickells-feature/) and Elektra and EMI were their record labels (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(band)), Elektra being an American label and EMI a British label. The perspective switches again in the refrain when the lyrical I speaks to the audience, trying to hypnotize them once again with his mantra “Let me entertain you”. In the next verse the imagery of a restaurant is introduced (“Just take a look at the menu / We give you rock a la carte”), again referring primarily to the ‘shop situation’ at a concert. The audience are the customers and the musicians are providing a service. The artist caters to every need of the audience and since one bought a ticket to the show,

30 one is entitled to be part of an extraordinary experience. The show they are putting on is indeed special, since the lyrical we promises the audience something as special and glamorous as “breakfast at Tiffany’s”. They are referring to the fictional Character Holly Golightly - originally from the Truman Capote novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s from 1958 which was 1961 adapted into a movie with the same name – who likes to pretend to be glamorous and wealthy, having her breakfast after a long night out in front of the shop windows of Tiffany’s, still in her evening gown (see http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%BChst%C3%BCck_bei_Tiffany_(Film) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_at_Tiffany's).

Just how dedicated the members of the band are to their fans becomes apparent in the next line of the song, when they reveal that they are willing to “sing to [their audience] in Japanese” and “only here to entertain [their audience]”. This is the second part of the song in which the lyrical we is self referential – the lyrics of the Queen song “Teo Torriate” are half Japanese and half English. This might be due to the fact that Queen toured Japan in the 1970s (see http://www.queenonline.com/en/the-band/about/) and wanted to cater to the many Japanese fans. It can be interpreted as appreciation for the fans on one hand; on the other hand it might be a clever move to get the people to spend more money. In the next verse, the focus is once more put on the show the audience will be part of. Like a market crier praising his goods, the lyrical we tells the audience to come to the show if they “want to see some action” because there they will “get nothing but the best”. Their show seems to be very special and in fact x-rated, mentioning the “the S & M attraction” – S & M referring to Sadomasochism – “the pleasure chest” - an American shop for adult entertainment (i.e. shop for adult sex toys) founded in the 1970s (see http://www.thepleasurechest.com/sex-toys-history.htm) - making the shows nothing for the fainthearted. The lyrical we then mentions several places in America, where the audience will have a chance to see them perform (“Chicago”, “New Orleans” and “New York”), promising that they will have a great time if they decide to come (“we’ll have a son of a bitch of a time”). This

31 part might also be self referential since Queen toured through the USA in the 1970s (see http://www.queenonline.com/en/the-band/about/). At the end, the lyrical I once more chants his mantra, finally being ready to start the show and asking the audience to leave reality behind and entering his world of fantasy by letting “[him] entertain [them] tonight”. If there ever was a song that expressed the dilemma of being in the music business it was “Let Me Entertain You”. In this song Mercury paints a picture of the musician as entertainer that is not very flattering. The musician is willing to do almost everything to entertain his audience. However, it is just a job for him and his main concern is to make money of his audience.

The lyrical I of “Let Me Entertain You“ is making a very strong point, saying that he will give a wonderful performance for his audience since they have paid for the ticket for one evening but it is a show he would put up for anybody who is willing to pay for it. Mercury exposes the business part of the life of a musician that has nothing to do with music or a message one might want to convey and stresses the fact that the musicians as well as the audience are part of a business. Mercury shamelessly promotes the band but at the same time exposes what is really behind a good concert or show. It is not just the musicians but people responsible for lighting and sound, people who sell merchandise of the band and of course the labels of the musicians. The band is touring throughout the country, even singing in the language of the fans of another country only to entertain them. “Let Me Entertain You“ can be seen as an anthem for live music, a great opening song for a concert, getting the audience into the right mood. It is a song about how being a musician is not simply about making music but selling something else entirely - a concept, an attitude - and putting up a show that will leave one’s audience awed. Like a drug dealer he hooks them up, making them want to come back for more.

3.1.1.3 The Teller of Tales Technically speaking every song tells a story and therefore every voice that can be heard in a song can be called the voice of a storyteller (i.e. someone who tells tales). However, to be more specific, other than the lover or the musician the ‘Teller of Tales’ (hereafter also referred to by the acronym ToT) does not refer to worlds that can be reached physically but only through one’s imagination. It is the alter ego that allows one to explore and create fantastic worlds, providing one with a place to escape to. The songs of the alter ego ‘Teller of Tales’ can be divided into two categories: the magical tales that speak of worlds that are populated by wondrous creatures like fairies and ogres and are to be seen as escape from reality and the songs about religion, focussing on the life of Jesus and whether one is to believe the Bible or not, showing a scepticism towards religion. The ‘Teller of Tales’ speaks either about a story he witnessed, experienced or heard about from another person. He is an important alter ego of Mercury, not only because this voice allows him to enter fantastic worlds - where dragons fly and ogres fight - but also because it is believed that he found his stage name – Mercury - through one of these songs (the song in question is called “My Fairy King”). Therefore, one could argue that the lyrical I’s identity is rooted in the fantastic texts and is making up the main part of the identity of the lyrical I. However, since the lyrical I and Freddie Mercury the singer are not to be confused, this might not be the case. Nevertheless, if one takes into account that almost one third of Mercury’s songs in the 1970s have been written with the lyrical I as this particular alter ego, it is safe to say that the “ToT” is the second strongest voice of Mercury, only being preceded by the alter ego of the lover, whose texts make up almost half of all songs written by Mercury during this decade.

3.1.1.3.1 Magical The songs that show best what wondrous and magical creatures at times inhabit the worlds of the ‘Teller of Tales’ are ”Ogre Battle” and “My Fairy King”. Besides

33 the song “The Fairy Feller’s Master – Stroke”, which was inspired by the painting as well as the poem of the same name by Richard Dadd (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fairy_Feller%27s_Master-Stroke) which deals with the gathering of fairies and one fairy’s challenge of cracking up a nut, “Ogre Battle” and “My Fairy King” can be seen as model texts for the magical tale of the ToT. In these texts, the lyrical I allows one to catch a glimpse of a world populated by fairies and ogres, where heroic deeds are still to be done and fights are to be fought. Like stepping in a fairy circle, reality is put on hold while one is part of this world and allowed to dream of worlds were nothing is impossible.

In the song “Ogre Battle” the lyrical I tells a story he once heard himself from another person, introducing thus the fairy tale motive with the sentence “Now once upon a time - an old man told me a fable”. The lyrical I states that what he is going to tell now is not something he himself experienced but it is a story that has been told to him once. This opening sentence as well as his referring to the story as a fable not only introduces the fairy tale motive but also sets the mood for magical world that is about to unravel. The lyrical I then continues with his story, recounting a prophecy by listing the necessary signs that tell one when an ogre battle is about to happen: When there can be no music heard (“When the piper is gone”), the soup is cold (“and the soup is cold on your table”) and all crows seem to have disappeared (“And if the black crow flies to find a new destination”), that is the night when everybody will be at the ogre sight and one can join them in the fight against the ogres (“come to the ogre battle -fight ”). The lyrical I then describes the creature that is the ogre as something that is enormous (“he can swallow up the ocean”) and amphibian like, catching flies with his “mighty tongue”. As the story teller points out, it is of “incredible size” being as big as “the palm of a hand”. The ogre also has “one great big eye” that is always looking in the direction of the attacker (“focused in your direction”) which makes him very dangerous. Now that the people have been instructed and know what their enemy looks like everybody is ready for the fight and “the battle is on”. The story continues with the humans

34 going to the ogre site, the place where the ogres live. The humans have to wait because the ogre men have not yet come out of “the two-way mirror mountain”. The human fighters are told to be careful when approaching the mountain (“You gotta keep down right out of sight”), since it is impossible to see what is going on inside of the mountain but the ogres can see everything that is going on outside (“You can't see in, but they can see out”). One last instruction for the humans to ‘”keep a look out” and then the battle begins, “the ogre-men are coming out from the two-way mirror mountain”, surrounding the humans who seem to be trapped (“They're running up behind and they're coming all about / can't go east cos you gotta go south”). After the important battle is over (“the great big fight is over”) only the “ogre-men are going home”, which indicates that the humans lost and retreated if they survived. The lyrical I mentioning the blow of the bugle (“bugle blow”) as well as the cry of the trumpet (“trumpet cry”) seems to indicate this also, the bugle being a simple horn used mainly for communication and signalling (e.g. charge, retreat etc.) during battle, just like the trumpet (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugle). Since there is also a special bugle call that is played at funerals – the so-called “last post” (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugle_call) - , this part of the song might also refer to the many humans that died during the battle against the ogres, given that in the following line it is declared that “ogre battle lives for ever more”. Not only does this refer to the ogres winning the fight but also to the legendary quality the ogre battle has. If one wants to become legendary himself, he should also go to the battle, be part of it and “come along”. Maybe one day, the humans will be able to defeat the ogres, until then they will sing their songs about the fight and try to recruit others who are eager to fight and want to become famous themselves.

Whereas the “Ogre Battle“ is a mixture of a fairy tale and a battle song, telling an action packed story about the fight of humans versus ogres as an experience of many, “My Fairy King“ focuses on one individual’s encounter with a mysterious little winged creature – the fairy. It is the song of a person who had an encounter with fairies, stepping into a fairy circle and had to leave said circle forcefully. The lyrical

I begins the song by describing the land the fairies took him to and which he was able to see when inside the fairy circle. The fairy land is described as a strange and wonderful, where horses have wings (“horses born with eagle wings”) and bees have lost their stings (“honey bees have lost their stings”) there everybody is without pain or sorrows (“there’s singing forever”). This sounds like a remarkable place, where one can go wherever one wants to go - for a flying horse not even the sky is the limit – and even something as precious as honey is easily attainable since the bees are not able to sting the honey thief being born without stings. It is a land, in which no living thing has to be afraid of falling prey to another (“lion’s den with fallow deer”) and the ever flowing rivers are made of wine (“And rivers made from wine so clear / flow on and on forever”). Besides the flying horses, dragons inhabit the land and the sky in such great numbers that they are an every day sight and one gets used to them (“Dragons fly like sparrows thru' the air”). The land is in fact so safe that even the weakest and tiniest creatures can walk without being harmed where otherwise only the strongest would hardly dare to move (“baby lambs [walk] where Samson dares to go”).

The land the lyrical I describes is definitely a place out of this world, he has clearly been charmed by fairies. The first two lines of the song make the mischievous fairy work obvious since they are lines that are uttered by a formerly charmed child from Robert Browning’s version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin from 1888 (see http://www.queenpedia.com/index.php?title=My_Fairy_King). In this story, the piper takes away the children of Hamelin after the townspeople did not pay him for leading the rats out of their town. He blows his whistle and leads all children into a mountain. One child that was “lame” and therefore unable to keep up with the piper and the other children can not follow them into the mountain. After all his playmates have gone, he remembers that the piper promised to lead them into a “joyous land” where everything was “different and new”, among other things there would be “honey-bees [that] had lost their stings”, ”and horses born with eagles’ wings” (http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/piper/text.html) Like the piper

36 charmed the children, the fairies charmed the lyrical I, promising him a magical world if only he will stay with them. The lyrical I is completely under the spell of the fairies when he utters something that could be interpreted as a pledge to the fairy king. The lyrical I could renounce his Christian faith and accept the fairy king as his one and only leader. This would make sense since fairies are believed not to be to keen on religion since one might be able to break their spell by uttering the name of God (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring). In his pledge to the fairy king, the mortal recognises the king’s omniscience (“my fairy king can see things that are not there for you and me”), godlike powers (“rules the air and turns the tides [and] guides the winds”) and that everything the king does is right (“my fairy king can do right and nothing wrong”). The lyrical I clearly worships the fairy king and therefore it is not surprising that he is devastated when humans seem to be of the opinion that he needs to be rescued. In his eyes, the people who want to help him are brutes who do not fight fair, sneaking up on the fairies during the night (“then came men to savage in the night”). They are deceitful, quick and merciless (“run like thieves and kill like knives”). The men are not fighting an honest battle, all they care about is to destroy the fairy land and dethrone the fairy king (“to take away the power from the magic hand / to bring about the ruin to the Promised Land”). The lyrical I is still in some kind of haze, not realising what is really going on. All he understands is that someone wants to take him away from the place where he experiences total bliss.

He does not want to leave the fairy land because staying with fairies has made him realise that humans tend to make everything worse (“they turn the milk into sour”). Also, he does not want to face reality, that he in fact is one of the evil humans (“Like the blue in the blood of my veins”). Having blue blood also refers to being of noble descent but since the lyrical I refers especially to the blue in his veins (and veins appear to be blue in everybody) it is rather unlikely. Venous blood is actually of a deep red because of its low oxygen content and not blue. The veins only appear blue because the fat under the skin absorbs light with a low-frequency,

37 therefore only permitting the penetration and reflection of the dark vein through highly energetic blue wavelengths (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vein). He even pleads with his rescuers to leave him where he thinks he belongs (“why can’t you see it”) but it is already too late. The humans try to pull the lyrical I out of the fairy circle, but the lyrical I does not want to leave and now even experiences physical pain because of the humans (“Fire burning in hell with the cry of screaming pain”). In his desperation, he utters the name of God (“Son of heaven set me free and let me go”) but this does not have the intended effect of the humans letting go of him but makes the fairy land disappear since one way to break a fairy circle is to utter the name of God and “Son of heaven” is used to refer to Jesus (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring#Cultural_references). After the lyrical I has broken the fairy ring – a natural ring on the ground, usually formed by mushrooms, in which fairies are believed to dance (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring) - everything changes drastically. The fairy world disappears, dies away in front of his eyes. The “sea turns dry” and without it, there is no salt since one can not make salt from sand (“no salt from sand”) which is a very clear statement.

The salt symbolises the magic in life and since the sea of imagination is dried out, the world of the fairies is dead and gone because there is no place in the world for believing in fairies and magic anymore. The person that broke the fairy circle represents humanity that gave up the old beliefs. Now, the seasons of the year change hastily and the people are no longer telling stories about how and why things happen in nature (“Seasons fly no helping hand”). The lyrical I then finally marks the end of the magical era with the sentence “teeth don't shine like pearls for poor man's eyes”. The lyrical I expresses that for a person who does not have imagination, the world will never be as magical and colourful a place as it could be. The sentence might also be another reference to Browning’s version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, in which the children following the piper are in one scene described as having “sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls” (see http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/piper/text.html). In the last verse, the lyrical I

38 laments the loss of the fairy land and the old belief. He accuses “someone” of destroying the fairy land and robbing him of his imagination and soul, basically of his identity (“someone has drained the colour from my wings”). The lyrical I uses a metaphor, comparing himself to a butterfly and the belief in magic is the colour of his wings that has forcefully been stripped off his wings. Just like butterflies’ wings become more and more cheerful due to tiny coloured scales on them (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly#Wing_development), the lyrical I’s imagination and fantasy world made his life more colourful, allowing his soul to reach unknown highs. However, after the “fairy circle ring” has been broken and the fairy king shamed into hiding forever (“shamed the king in all his pride”) the lyrical I’s entire world is upside down and everything is amiss (“changed the winds and wronged the tides”). Since the lyrical I feels equally confused and helpless and does not know who to address, he is trapped in between an old and a new faith. He calls out to “Mother Mercury”, which might be a blending of Mary, the mother of Jesus and the Greek God Mercury. After the fairies and also the humans left him (“Look what they’ve done to me”), he asks her for protection and shelter since he has nowhere else to go “I cannot run I cannot hide”. Like the lame boy from The Pied Piper of Hamelin he is left behind, not knowing to whom he belongs. The story behind the song “My Fairy King“ can be read on several different levels. On the one hand, it is the story of an individual, experiencing the charm of fairies in a fairy circle. He experiences any interference from the outside with his being inside the fairy circle as threatening and does not want to leave the place he is currently at. However, since fairies are known for their rather mischievous behaviour and toying with mortals, it would be understandable that they would do anything to make the mortal want to stay with them.

Just like The Pied Piper of Hamelin lures the children away with promises and music, the fairies lure the mortal into their circle. The humans want to help the lyrical I since they know that he is under the spell of the fairies. However, the only way to break the fairy ring is by pulling the mortal out of it or uttering the name of

God (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring#Cultural_references). Since the helpers are not able to pull the lyrical I out of the fairy ring, they force him to speak the name of God and he is released from the magic spell. However, the lyrical I behaves almost like an addict without drugs, having experienced the colourful world of the fairies, the real world now seems dull and grey. The other way of interpreting “My Fairy King” is to see it as a metaphor for the Christianisation of the pagan peoples. The lyrical I is to be seen as the representative of the so called pagans, the men are representing the new belief (i.e. the Christians). However, in any interpretation the lyrical I remains confused at the end, not knowing where he really belongs, maybe not even certain of what has happened to him. In any case, Mercury shows with “My Fairy King” that small winged magical creatures (i.e. fairies) can be as equally dangerous as huge amphibian like magical creatures (i.e. ogres). The only difference is that where the ogre fights physically, the fairy charms its possible enemies.

3.1.1.3.2 (IR)Religious Since the pagan beliefs are no longer en vogue, which has been made rather clear already in the song “My Fairy King“, the ToT - being the ingenious and indiscriminating person that he is – now focuses on the ‘new religion’, which is Christianity. A story is a story after all, whether one group calls its protagonist its (son of) God or not. The songs “Jesus” and “Great King Rat“ fall into the category of (ir)religious songs, since they either deal with the life of Jesus, praising the arrival of the leader of men, or challenge the Bible and the Christian belief system. Characteristically for Mercury, each of the songs is expressing an extreme position on Christianity. Whereas the lyrical I in “Jesus” can be called a disciple who even witnessed Jesus’ work and talks only positively about it, the lyrical I in „Great King Rat“ vigorously tells people not to believe everything they read in the Bible, reminding them to be critical of what they hear or read about a person and their good deeds. Mercury does not only contrast the opinions of the lyrical I’s in each of

40 the songs but also the people they are talking about (i.e. Jesus and Great King Rat). The lyrical I begins his story about Jesus with the first encounter he had with him. He saw him “in the crowd [and] a lot of people had gathered round him”. He introduces Jesus as a man of the people, who is not afraid to surround himself with outcasts of society: those that were poor (“the beggars shouted”) or ill (“the lepers called him”) or simply old (“the old man said nothing he just stared about him”). In the refrain the lyrical I states that they all had the same destination, they were “all going down to see the lord Jesus”. The “going down” of the people is stressed through its repetition in the refrain, putting emphasis on the motion. The people were not only going to meet Jesus, they were also bowing down to him. The lyrical I continues his story about Jesus and remembers that a man fell before Jesus (“Then came a man before his feet he fell”) who was not any man but a person suffering from leprosy (“Unclean said the leper, rang his bell”). Whereas it can be doubted that the lepers in Jesus’ time had bells, in the Middle Ages it was custom that the leper rang his bell as he was approaching people.

On the one hand he wanted to draw attention to himself for charitable reasons as well as to warn others that he was a carrier of disease (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy). Jesus did not step back in fear that he might catch the disease but touched the man on his head instead and told him that he was healed (“Felt the palm of a hand touch his head / Go now, go now you're a new man instead”). Jesus did actually heal a leper, though it happened not quite as in the song. According to the Bible Jesus did heal a leper after the man had asked him to do so. Jesus told him not to tell anyone about his healing, only to show the priests that he had been healed and offer sacrifices for cleansing according to Moses’ commandments. However, the man spread the word about his healing and forced Jesus to leave town and stay in “lonely places but the people came to see him still” (see http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%201:%2040- 45&version=NIV) The lyrical I once again begins to chant the refrain, that “all [are] going down to see the lord Jesus”, now more than ever since he performed a

41 miracle. The repetition of the refrain might also indicate the ever growing amount of followers of Jesus Christ. The lyrical I then reveals that it had been Jesus’ destiny to lead others from his birth by telling the story of the three wise men that followed a star to Bethlehem and came to see Jesus:

It all began with the three wise men Followed a star took them to Bethlehem And made it heard throughout the land Born was the leader of man

According to the Bible there did come Magi - they are traditionally referred to as wise men - from the east to Jerusalem. They were looking for the child born king of the Jews because they saw his star when it rose and wanted to worship him. […] They went on their way, following the star they had seen until it stopped at a place where the child was. They bowed down before him and his mother and worshipped him. They also brought him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (see http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew 2:1-12). The number of the Magi is never mentioned but the three gifts led to the widely held believe that the men from the east were also three (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi). Jesus is also not mentioned as leader of man but a person born “king of Jews” and “a ruler who will shepherd” his people (see http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew 2:1-12). After the refrain, the entire verse is repeated, putting much emphasis on the beginning of the story of Jesus. Mercury decided to portray Jesus in his song as a very positive figure who is a healer and leader for the people, both literally and figuratively speaking. He is letting the song end with the birth of the “leader of man”, which shows once again the genius behind Mercury’s song writing. The decision to tell the story backwards allows him to end the life of Jesus with a positive climax.

If “Jesus“ is to be considered the example for a positive attitude towards religion – especially Christianity – “Great King Rat“ (hereafter referred to by the acronym GKR) can be considered its counterpart. The two songs are not only contrasted via

42 the very different lives their protagonists led but also through their titles. The song about the ‘Son of God’ is simply titled “Jesus” whereas Mercury chose to call a song about a common sinner „Great King Rat“. This title seems almost like a contradiction in itself because for it Mercury combined the high and mighty monarch with a small rodent that is to be considered dirty and carrier of disease. However, if one continues to compare the two songs, one comes to the conclusion that they are not only opposed through their titles but that their oppositeness is also achieved through the reversed structuring of the songs. This can already be seen in the first line of the text, when the character is introduced by the lyrical I through his death (“Great King Rat died today”). Whereas Mercury had the story of Jesus end with a positive climax, he chose to introduce the character that is the GKR with a negative climax, his death. The lyrical I then tells the story of GKR, revealing information about his birthday (“the twenty first of May”), the cause of death (“died [of] syphilis [and was] forty four on his birthday”), his social background (“he was the son of a whore”) and his reputation (“always wanted by the law”).

According to what the audience learns from the lyrical I, the GKR was very different from Jesus. He was not only committing blasphemy (“every second word he swore”) but also born by a whore, the very opposite of Mary, who - according to the Bible - was still a virgin when the angel told her that she would conceive and give birth to Jesus (see http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%201:26- 38&version=NIV). Furthermore, GKR’s death of syphilis indicates that he led a rather different life than Jesus. Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease and although it is possible for a mother to infect her child while it is still in her womb (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syphilis), it is more likely that syphilis as cause of death is mentioned to emphasise the differences between the GKR and Jesus. However, the GKR was not only sexually active but also a criminal, suggested by the line “always wanted by the law”. The lyrical I addresses his audience - the people he is telling the story to and interacting with - and tells them that if they want to know more about GKR, he is the one to ask because he knows all about him

(“wouldn’t you like to know people”). He claims that the GKR really was nothing but “a dirty old man” and to prove his point, he will tell the audience what he knows about it (“Now hear this”). This is the part in the song where the perspective changes, the lyrical I is now talking no longer from the story teller’s point of view but the GKR himself. It might in fact be still the story teller who assumes the GKR’s point of view in order to deliver the story in a more lively manner for his audience. In any case the GKR is portrayed as someone who is only concerned with living in the now, enjoying every moment of his life (“Where will I be tomorrow / will I beg / will I borrow / I don't care, I don't care anyway”) and also wants others to have a good time with him (“come on the time is right”). The perspective changes once more and the lyrical I speaks again as the story teller, interpreting the GKR’s behaviour for his audience. He condemns it (“the man is evil and that is right”) and by stating that “[he] told [the story to] them and that’s no lie” he assures the people that he is not telling just any story but the truth.

He then again begins to chant his refrain (“Wouldn't you like to know”), asking people whether they want to know the story of GKR. Like the stories about Jesus and his life of good deeds and miracles were spread by Jesus’ followers, the story teller spreads the story of the GKR, not really wanting to condemn the man but raise his listeners’ awareness to be more critical. The story teller’s real mission (i.e. raising awareness) becomes clearer the next time he addresses his audience directly (“now listen all you people”), warning them not to “believe everything [they] read in the Bible”. He is aware that the message that sinners will be more important than saints (“[the] Saints you [will] leave far behind”) is very appealing and will lead to Jesus having many followers (“very soon you're gonna be his disciple”). The story teller then urges the audience to follow their own path and judgement, not listening to what other people say, even people as close as family members (“don't listen to what mama says”). If you do not follow your own path, you will always stand in your own way (“you’ll find yourself being the rival”). Slowly and very subtly the lyrical I has turned the story of GKR into the story about Jesus

Christ. He talks about how Jesus died (“the great lord before he died knelt sinners by his side”), crucified with two other men who were criminals (see http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2023:26-43&version=NIV) and how he asked God to forgive the people who sentenced him to death and carried out the sentence, not being aware that they were crucifying the Son of God (“you're going to realise tomorrow [what you have done]”). This is very close to what can be found in the Bible, since in the gospel according to Luke Jesus said “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” when he was crucified (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2023:34&version=NIV). The story teller then retreats, claiming that is not his intention to tell stories that have been told so many times that they have actually lost all meaning (“time and time again / the old man said it all a long time ago”) and are known by anybody anyway (“I'm not going to tell you /what you already know”).

After blending the story of the GKR and Jesus, the story teller once more divides their lives through the decisions they made. Whereas Jesus let the people crucify him, the GKR would never have simply accepted his fate, following his creed to live every moment to the fullest (“come on the time is right”) and therefore “this evil man will fight”. The story teller supposedly comes to the end of the story about the GKR only to reveal that there is never going to be an end to it (“the last time I tell you / would you like to see”), at least not from his perspective. As long as he has an audience, he will go on talking about the GKR. However, since the stories of Jesus and the GKR are obviously intertwined – at least in the mind of the story teller – he will also go on telling the story of Jesus Christ. The „Great King Rat“ is not a song about rejection of religion per se but about scepticism in general. The question arises whether the lyrical I in the song, who is after all the story teller, is really a trustworthy source and what actually makes a source – whether it is a human being or a book like the Bible – trustworthy. Another question that Mercury poses and he wants people to answer is “Just because a story has been told many

45 times, does it become true?” Who does actually verify that Jesus and the GKR are actually two different people? What if – hypothetically – they were actually one and the same person but the way they were to be remembered simply depended on who was telling their story? One might never know for sure but the fact of the matter is that one only is able to grasp how ingenious Mercury’s writing is when looking at both songs as being two very different ways of looking at the same story.

3.1.2 Extracting the Bipolar from the Lover

Whereas Mercury’s voices are rather extreme in the 1970s, they seem to have matured by the 1980s. The voice of the lover is still very strong since more then half of Mercury’s songs deal with this subject, however in a much more positive way then in the 70s. In “Play the Game” love is depicted by the lover as a game worth playing and in fact “easy when you know the rules”. The lover’s attitude towards sexuality also seems to have changed over time, since in the song “Body Language” the lyrical I is now the person desiring another person’s body. He is definitely the active part in the relationship, almost ordering the other person to be offered to him (“give your body to me”). Compared with the lyrical I from the song “Get Down Make Love” from the 70s, he has become more active and demanding but also less interested in defining the relationship (“don’t talk baby”). However it is the song “It’s a Hard Life” that provides the best example for the positive development of the lover. In this song the lyrical I faces the end of a relationship but is able to bear it with dignity since “you win – you lose / it’s a chance you have to take with love”. The lyrical I’s reaction suggests that he has probably experienced this before and now has no more unrealistic expectations about what a relationship should be like. He knows that the end of a relationship does not mean that the world ends and even though he feels hurt at the moment, he “will always live for tomorrow” because there are better times ahead.

3.2 Brian May

Brian May was not only Queen’s lead guitarist but also the member of the band who, after Mercury, wrote the most songs. According to ‘The Official Queen Homepage’, he became an astronomer and taught at a comprehensive school, after studying astrophysics (see http://www.queenonline.com/en/the-band/faqs/). It was during that time that he met John Staffel and Roger Taylor and together they formed the band ‘Smile’. When Staffel left the band, first Freddie Mercury and later John Deacon joined the band now renamed ‘Queen’ and together they ‘made rock history’. May remained an active musician after Mercury’s death as well as an active scholar, receiving his PhD in 2008 in astrophysics, completing his thesis “A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud” more then 30 years after starting his research (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_may) and even became the Chancellor of the Liverpool John Moores University. As Professor Michael Brown CBE, the Vice Chancellor of the University stated at May’s installation ceremony in 2008:

The ethos of this University is summed up in three simple words: Dream, Plan, Achieve. No one embodies this more perfectly than our new Chancellor, Dr Brian May. While gaining global recognition as a musician, and supporter of the performing arts, he never lost sight of his dream, his passion for astronomy and science. Thirty years after starting his PhD, he achieved his doctorate, proving himself a true polymath and exemplifying the power of lifelong learning. (http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/NewsCentre/94778.htm)

Besides being a musician and a physicist, May is also an animal rights activist and part of the group “Save Me” (named after one of his most famous songs from the 80s). According to their webpage, they are “a group founded by Brian May to promote decent treatment for animals. We believe that every creature deserves a decent life and a decent death” (http://www.save-me.org.uk/). They are a non- political organisation, opposing the cruel sport of fox hunting among other things.

As May states himself

Save Me is a non-political organisation; we do not align ourselves with any political party. In the recent election, we never campaigned against the Tory party - only against David Cameron and his core team, all advocates of hunting with dogs, and of killing our native badgers. (http://www.save-me.org.uk/)

Though Brian May has accomplished many things in his life, he is still of a rather humble nature, which became obvious in a BBC interview in 2010, when he stated in the programme HARDtalk, that instead for his music or science, he would much rather be remembered for his animal rights work (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_may).

3.2.1 Establishing Lover, Musician and Conscience of Society

In the 1970s May establishes three main voices: the voice of the lover, the voice of the musician and the voice of the ‘Conscience of Society’. During this period of time May’s alter egos tend to focus on negative emotions such as grief, disappointment and anger.

3.2.1.1 The Miserable Lover The strongest voice of May is, without a doubt, the voice of the lover (more than half of all of his songs are about love). However, since in almost every song about love May focuses on the negative and painful aspects of love and the lover’s failing in his relationships, his alter ego lover can fairly be called ‘miserable’. He is not able to sustain a relationship for very long, getting easily bored with it, which leads to him either leaving his partner - sometimes only temporary, seeking fun and excitement elsewhere - or being left by his partner who is no longer willing to tolerate his behaviour (i.e. his unfaithfulness). As soon as he experiences the slightest notion of stress, he is prone to flee his relationship, searching for the thrill and excitement of the early stages of a newfound love, before everything gets

48 tedious and predictable. Like Mercury’s lover, he is not a person who seems very healthy, belonging definitely to the miserable and brooding kind. Unless he is sexually aroused, he is very apathetic. Only when he is expressing his bodily needs, he is taking on the active role and initiating things, presenting himself as strong which might be the reason why an affair is often his choice for escaping the routine of a relationship. The best way to look at May’s lover is through a model text, in which his character and behaviour in a relationship is fully exposed. This text is “Leaving Home Ain’t Easy”, exploring the psyche of the lover leaving his partner and showing him as the active part on his way to a new adventure. Other texts about the lover either leaving or betraying his partner are “Brighton Rock”, “Teo Torriate (Let Us Cling Together)” and “It’s Late”. The second model text to expose the way the lover acts when sexually aroused is “Tie Your Mother Down”, showing him as sexually frustrated man on the prowl, depicting him as someone who is seeking sex to compensate for his failing relationship. Other texts showing the lover as highly sexual being are “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Sweet Lady”. The texts show how differently the lover experiences his relationship as opposed to having an affair since the relationship is exhausting whereas the affair is exciting and gives him the feeling of being in charge. This makes him a sad - and to a certain extend weak - person who can not have a fulfilling relationship since he flees it as soon as things get complicated.

3.2.1.1.1 Failing After being in a relationship for quite some time and having lost some of the excitement that falling in love brings with it, routine slowly takes over and conflicts arise. The lover has now two options: either staying with his partner and ‘working it out’ or leaving the partner, deciding that for him the relationship failed. May’s alter ego is not called the ‘miserable’ lover for no reason, so he lives up to his name and chooses option number two. In “Leaving Home Ain’t Easy” the lyrical I is telling the story of how he left his partner, being no longer able or willing to work on their

49 relationship. The song begins by the lyrical I physically removing himself from the suffocating relationship (“I take a step outside / and I breathe the air”) as well as the house he was in (“And I slam the door / And I'm on my way”). The slamming of the door indicates a rather sudden and violent break up but the lyrical I insists that he does not want to “blame” anyone or even “call [his partner] names” because for him everything is in the past (“’cause I’ve made my break”) and he does not want to “look back” on the “endless games” they played. He has decided that for him it is all over, he severed his ties (“I’m all through with ties”) and being the “happy man” he is (“Don’t I look that way?”), does no longer want to face the drama of the relationship (“I’m all tired of tears”). He is ready to move on and leave everything behind (“there’s a road ahead / and there’s no way back home”) but still he has to admit that “leavin' home ain't easy”. The lyrical I has spent a considerable amount of time and invested an equal share of feelings into this relationship, otherwise he would not call it “home”, considering that he is not only referring to his (former) house as home.

Emphasising that it is not an easy decision for him because “there is a million things calling [him] back”, he also acknowledges that it is even harder for the person he is leaving “Leavin' home ain't easy / on the one you're leavin'”). In the following verse the perspective shifts, the person speaking is no longer the man leaving his partner but his partner, asking him to stay (“My love, please stay”). Not only does this indicate that his partner is still in love with him but the next line even indicates that he might not be leaving his lover forever but he is leaving to see other people (“don’t stray my love”). They both seem to have lost the ability to communicate their needs and stopped talking all together (“what’s wrong my love / what’s right my love”). At the end of the song the lyrical I once more speaks from the perspective of the lover leaving his partner. He reminisces how he once thought it impossible to ever leave his partner (“I thought how could I think of leavin'?”) who is “still tryin’ to persuade [him] that leaving home ain’t necessarily the only way” because his partner still has hope. However, the lyrical I does not share

50 his partner’s optimism because even though it is not an easy decision, for him it “may be the only way”. “Leaving Home Ain’t Easy” is the song about one person’s decision to leave his old relationship - at least for a short amount of time - behind him. The lyrical I depicts his relationship as something so stressful and tiresome he needs to escape it, in order to be able to breathe again. For him, the relationship failed and even though he admits feeling hurt and being sorry for how everything ended, he is thinking rather optimistically about his own future, being already on his way to somebody new.

3.2.1.1.2 Compensating After leaving his old life (i.e. the relationship that he perceives as a failure) behind, the lover wants to compensate for his failure by accomplishing something that will make him feel strong and confident again. Looking for something that can easily be done and will spare him the investment of emotions, he tries to have a sexual adventure and seduce a woman. This is exactly the scenario depicted in “Tie Your Mother Down”, a song about a lyrical I who tries to get the family of a young woman out of her house, in order to sneak in and have sex with her. The lyrical I might be as young as his lover since he behaves like a hormonal teenager, eager to finally have an intimate relationship with his girlfriend. However, the lyrical I might also be someone older who is simply expressing how madly he desires the woman he is addressing. The song begins with the lyrical I telling his girlfriend to make herself ready (“Get your party gown / Get your pigtail down / Get your heart beatin' baby”) because tonight will finally be the night they can have sex since he “got [his] timin' right” and his “act all tight”. However, he also presents her with an ultimatum, saying that if they do not do it soon, it will never happen (“It's gotta be tonight my little / Schoolbabe”). Referring to his lover as “schoolbabe” and her hairdo as “pigtails”, one can assume that she might be rather young, probably a teenager. The impression of her being hardly of age is supported by the next verse, in which the lyrical I talks about his girlfriend’s parents who want her ‘to

51 behave’ (“Your mamma says you don't / and your Daddy says you won't”) meanwhile the lover is “boilin’ up inside”. He has had enough of being sexually frustrated and promises her that there “ain't no way [he’s] gonna lose out this time”, indicating that he either tried to have sex with her before or another girl and did not succeed. In the refrain he urges his girlfriend to get rid of her parents (“tie your Mother down / lock your Daddy out of doors”) because he does not want to have them around so she can “give [him] all [her] love tonight”. Considering his intentions towards their daughter, it is not surprising that the girl’s parents are not especially fond of him, of which the lyrical I is well aware of.

They call him “a dirty louse” and want him “outta [their] house”, “in fact [he does not] think [that he] ever heard a single little civil word” from them. However, he tells his girlfriend that he does not care anymore about them (“I don't give a light”) because he will finally accomplish his goal and “make out all right”. He and his girlfriend being together will at last “put a stop to” their unfriendly behaviour towards him. When he repeats the refrain he urges his lover once more to get rid of her family (“tie your Mother down”), this time including her brother whom he does especially not feel to warmly about since he proposes she “take [him] swimmin’ / with a brick (that’s all right)”. He also stresses the fact that, should she not be able to clear the house of her family for him to come over and have sex with her, he would break up with her (“you ain't no friend of mine”). However, in the next verse he emphasises that everything is really just a big misunderstanding, which is her parents’ fault because they “plague [him] till [he] die[s]” and do not understand that he actually is a “peace lovin’ guy”. The refrain is repeated once more, stressing the increasing desire of the lover (“Get that big big big big big big daddy out of doors”), urging his girlfriend again to “give [him] all [her] love tonight” however this time he demands her to give him “every inch of [her] love”, which can be read as an allusion to her body and the sex they are going to have later on. “Tie Your Mother Down” introduces the lover as active part and whereas he “stepped out” of a house in “Leaving Home Ain’t Easy”, he is trying to get into a house in this song. This

52 suggests that the ‘house’ represents his relationships with various people, being something he can visit or call his home. However, it can be expected that, should he feel bored with the relationship, he decides to leave his lover and look out for the excitement and strong emotions (especially sexual arousal) he feels during the early phases of a relationship, elsewhere. Unless he is willing to break this cycle, he will never be able to sustain a relationship but continue to make others feel as miserable as he is himself.

3.2.1.2 The Musician – From Rags to Riches to Rags How sudden success in the music business can ruin a man - in a material and a moral sense - is shown in May’s song “Sleeping On The Sidewalk”. It is a song in which the musician is portrayed as a simple man who only was interested in making music but was corrupted by the music business. May depicts the business as both something that can fulfil one’s wildest dreams and something that can cost one everything. The song “Sleeping On The Sidewalk” is the story of a trumpeter who, after being discovered and famous for a short amount of time, gets back to where he once came from, the streets. The story is told by the musician himself, most likely a homeless person who tries to earn money by telling his life’s story. The lyrical I begins, telling his audience about growing up in the city (“I was nothin' but a city boy”) and being so poor that all he ever had to play with was his trumpet (“my trumpet was my only toy”). However, when he says that he has “been blowin' [his] horn since he knew [he] was born but there ain't no nobody wants to know” he reveals that he was not only poor in a material sense but also had no one to look after him or who took interest in what he did. ‘Blowing his horn’ in this context might in fact refer to two things: the actual blowing of the trumpet and the person himself nobody was interested in. Furthermore, the use of the expression “no nobody” and the lyrical I’s manner of speaking in general indicate that no one took an interest in his education. The trumpeter continues his story by introducing the refrain in which he reveals that he is in fact homeless and has “been sleepin’ on the sidewalk [and]

53 rollin’ down the road”. Furthermore, he makes clear that even though the life on the streets is hard (“I may get hungry”), it is still better then going back home (“But I sure don't want to go home”) since on the streets he is at least able to do what he pleases. Also, he might not have a place he could call ‘home’ and go to in the first place. After spending some time on the streets, the trumpeter was discovered by people in the music business, probably a record company (“So round the corner comes a limousine and the biggest grin I ever seen”), who offered him a contract (“sign right along the dotted line”). The refrain is repeated, stressing the life the lyrical I led before he was discovered, the lyrical I then addresses his audience directly, continuing his story (“[I] tell you what happened…”). The people from the record company took him to a sound booth and recorded him playing a song on his trumpet (“They took me to a room without a table / they said ‘blow your trumpet into here’”). He “played around as well as [he] was able” and the record was a success.

From that moment on, the lyrical I was known throughout the land (“legend all through the land”) and playing in front of many people (“blowin’ to a million fans”). However, he admits even though he had everything (“nothin’ was a-missin’) he was not as happy as he could have been (“you’d have thought I was a happy man”). The refrain reflects the lyrical I’s success and his newfound fortune. It is to be seen as a contrast to the refrain of the time when the lyrical I was still homeless. The successful lyrical I was “sleepin’ like a princess”, “never touch[ed] the road”, “[he didn’t] get hungry” and he “sure [didn’t] want to go home”. He wanted to enjoy his success and its benefits (“have to have some fun…”) as long as he could but after a while the trumpeter’s music went out of style (“I ain’t so fashionable”) and he owed the government taxes (“I owe the man a million bucks a year”). The expression ‘the man’ “is a slang phrase that refers to the government and other authority figures in general” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man). The lyrical I does no longer want to be part of the music business (“I told ‘em were to stick the fancy label”) and went back to his old life (“it’s just me and the road from here”). However, now that he knows what life could be like he is no longer satisfied with

54 living on the streets. Now he is telling his life’s story to people on the streets in order to earn money because now he wants to go home (“I sure do wanna go home”). “Sleeping On The Sidewalk” is the story of a musician whose career ends at the same place it began, the streets. May is criticising the music business in which people are not looking out for each other, only care about making the highest profit. The people from the record label depicted in the song are only interested in making money, using the artist who is the real loser in this business. Since the lyrical I in the song is not a learned man, the exploitation through the people from the music business is even more apparent, because after the audience loses interest in him and he does not make the label money, they drop him, even though they know perfectly well that he is not educated and playing the trumpet is really all he can do, forcing him back on the streets.

3.2.1.3 The Conscience of Society May’s alter ego ‘Conscience of Society’ (hereafter referred to by the acronym CoS) is talking about controversial issues that are usually relevant for more than one person. The CoS is the critical voice questioning society’s actions and fighting injustice of any kind or form. Depending on whom the CoS is speaking for or the topic of his song, the lyrical I can take on either the role of a victim or an agitator. In May’s song “White Man” the story of the Native Americans (hereafter referred to by the acronym NAs) almost entire annihilation by the settlers from Europe is told by a Native American, making the lyrical I at the same time a victim and an advocate of the victims. The Native American speaking in the song exposes the hypocrisy of the early settlers in the USA (i.e. the Puritans) by contrasting their actions with their words and showing that they are in fact the savages who need to be civilised, not the NAs. The song begins with the lyrical I introducing himself as a “simple man with a simple name”. His people have lived and died in the land for generations (“From this soil my people came / in this soil [they] remain”), making it their own. The choice of the word “soil” is emphasising the return of the people to the land,

55 giving back their energy and enriching the earth. The lyrical I continues, describing the way of life of the NAs as a peaceful coexistence with nature (“And we made us our shoes / And we trod soft on the land”) whereas the settlers tried to work against it and thus ultimately against the NAs (“But the immigrant built roads / On our blood and sand”). Also, the soft treading of the NAs with their hand made shoes on the land is contrasted with the building of artificial roads of the settlers. The lyrical I finally unleashes all his anger and frustration in the refrain when he is addressing the settlers (“white man), how they even can see “the light behind [their] blackened skies”. Furthermore, the lyrical I accuses the “white man” of robbing his people of their “sight” and “blind[ing of their] simple eyes”. The “blackened skies” refer to the smog that came with the white civilisation and their factories in the big cities. The use of coal fires did not only cause the white people to lose sight of the sky but also blind the NAs and were common in the 19th century due to the industrial revolution (see http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/air/smog.htm).

The lyrical I then warns the white people that if they move even farther into the land, there soon will be no place left untouched by them (“white man / where you gonna hide / from the hell you’ve made”), referring to the “19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic Seaboard to the Pacific Ocean” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_Destiny). The term ‘Manifest Destiny’ also implies that it is actually God’s will that the (white) people settle across the land, which is very well contrasted by the lyrical I in calling the creations of the destined settlers a “hell” instead of a heaven on earth. The lyrical I acknowledges that the NAs knew “war” even before the white settlers came but only fought using “hands and knives” and not dirty like the hypocritical settlers who swear on the Bible (“on the Bible you swore”) but then “[fight their] battles with lies”. The NA warns the “white man” to leave him and his people be, he already “shamed [their] bodies” and “disgraced [their] souls”, it would be much more important to use all his prayers for his own race after what he did to the NAs (“But by every God's name / Say your

56 prayers for your race”). The lyrical I continues to accuse the “white man” of destroying their lives as well as destroying the land (“Our country was green and all our rivers wide […] You came with a gun and soon our children died”). He then desperately asks the “white man” if he does not even care enough about what he has done to the NAs to light a candle in their remembrance (“Don't you give a light for the blood you've shed”), referring to the tradition of lighting candles in churches, usually accompanying peoples’ prayers (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Votive_candle). At the end of the song the lyrical I’s rage and frustration overwhelms him, as he repeats the “white man[‘s]” wrongdoings, especially fighting dirty against the so called ‘savages’ (“Fought your battle with lies […] but weren't too civilised”) as well as almost starving them to death (“Take a look around [at] every skin and bone”) in reservations. When the NA raises the question about “what is left of [his oppressor’s] dream”, he reveals that if the “white man” continues on his path of destruction all that will be remembered of him will be “the words on [his head] stone: ‘A man who learned how to teach / Then forgot how to learn’”. The contrast of “teach” and “learn” expresses the settlers’ incapability of accepting other peoples’ way of life but at the same time forcing their beliefs onto others, leading to conflicts and the NAs long period of suffering. In “White Man” the ‘Conscience of Society’ takes on the perspective of a Native American and condemns the crimes the European settlers committed against the indigenous people of the USA, speaking for those who otherwise might not be heard.

3.2.2 Pro Sex and Anti Guns

In the 80s May’s voices of both the lover and the ‘Conscience of Society’ have gained in force. The lover is no longer interested in having a relationship but now focuses entirely on having sexual adventures. He is only interested in satisfying his bodily needs like the lyrical I in the song “Dancer” (“you feel fantastic / my body cries”) and also uses tricks to get the other person into bed, like the lyrical I in

“Tear It Up” (“I love you for your mind but give me your body”). This development is rather understandable since he was not able to sustain one single relationship in the 70s and the only time the lover was able to show strength was when he used sex as a coping mechanism for his failing relationships. The voice of the Conscience of Society also appears even stronger than in the 70s, raising his voice furiously in “Put Out The Fire” criticising openly the reigning gun law in the USA (“Just tell me that old fashioned gun law!!!!!! / is dead”).

3.3 Roger Taylor

Roger Taylor was the drummer of Queen and interested in music and performing on stage from his early childhood on, playing the ukulele in his first band “The Bubblingover Boys” at the tender age of 7. At 15, he was part of the semi professional rock band ‘The Reaction’ and when he went to London three years later - initially to study dentistry – he began to play in the band ‘Smile’, which became later known as Queen. He contributed at least one song for each album of Queen, usually singing the lead vocals on his own songs. Besides playing drums, he is also able to play guitar, bass and keyboards. During the 80s he not only played for Queen but also had a side project called ‘The Cross’. After the breakup of ‘The Cross’ he continued his work with Queen and also produced solo albums. After Mercury’s death Taylor continued his musical career by touring as a solo artist, working with ensembles and occasional performances with May as Queen. After 2004, he and Brian May formed with Paul Rodgers ‘Queen + Paul Rodgers’ (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Meddows-Taylor). However, not all remaining members of Queen were part of the band since John Deacon had retired in 1997 from the music business. In 2009, Paul Rodgers announced that the collaboration between him and Queen had come to an end and that “it was never meant to be a permanent arrangement”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_%2B_Paul_Rodgers)

3.3.1 Establishing Rebel and Musician

Roger Taylor establishes two main voices in the 1970s: the voice of the rebel and the voice of the musician. His concern with youth and rebellion seems as important to him as music and being an artist, since more than half of all the songs he wrote are dealing with either topic. With “I’m In Love With My Car” he also wrote a rather twisted love song, about a person falling for his automobile (as the title already suggests). However, it is mainly the alter ego of the rebel and his journey from being the wild and reckless youngster escaping his rather dismal circumstances and finally becoming a rock and roll star, one witnesses. The twisted lover is merely one facet of the rebel but not an alter ego by himself, as opposed to the alter ego of the musician, who can bee seen as the grown up version of the rebel. Taylor’s musician is a critic of the business but also a serious artist who talks about the difficulties arising when trying to be original and creative as a musician (e.g. when writing a song).

3.3.1.1 The Rebel – Escape through Music and Love for Cars Roger Taylor wrote more than the half of his songs in the 1970s about young people who are feeling displaced. In focusing on their search for identity and the rejection of their parent’s values he is turning typical teenagers into rebels. Taking a closer look at Taylor’s songs, one finds out that his rebels all have certain things in common. The rebel Taylor depicts is: male, young, eager to get out into the world, interested in cars and rock and roll music. The lyrical I in his song „Tenement Funster“ – the word ‘funster’ being a neologism created through the blending of the two words ‘fun’ and ‘youngster’ – is the prototype of the ‘Taylor Rebel’ and shall therefore be used as model text for all of the songs dealing with this topic. Other songs by Taylor, where the lyrical I either fits the description of the rebel, or talks about things the rebel is interested in (i.e. being young, music and cars) are “The Loser In The End”, “Shear Heart Attack” and “Fun It”. In “Tenement Funster” the lyrical I talks about his rather restricting life and day to day conduct

59 during which music provides him with a way to escape reality. What the lyrical I in this song does, is introducing a possible reason for becoming a musician, the second alter ego of Taylor. The lyrical I in „Tenement Funster“ is a young man who is living in a tenement and has to face some problems because of his housing situation. He talks about how almost everything he does is perceived by others as rather rebellious behaviour, from the way he dresses – his “new purple shoes” are “amazing the people next door” – to the music he likes to hear – his “rock ‘n’ roll 45’s” are “enraging the folks on the lower floor”. Suffice to say that probably because of his attire and taste in music his neighbours might already call him a rebel, thinking that he might not be up to any good. Also, the lyrical I seems to be successful when it concerns interaction with members of the other sex at the place he is living at (“I got a way with the girls on my block”). According to him this might result from him trying his best to “be a real individual”. The girls appear to find this very attractive because when he and his band play at “Smokies” they “line up like it’s some kinda ritual”. In the following refrain it becomes very clear that for the lyrical I music is the ultimate remedy. When he is making music, no insult or nagging adult bothers him (“Oh give me a good guitar, and you can say that my hair's a disgrace”). He is feeling free and able to escape from reality, leaving the place he is living at and all his problems behind, at least in his mind.

The rebellious lyrical I is in fact more than ready to leave is old life behind, all he needs is a car (“just find me an open car, I'll make the speed of light outta this place”). This makes him also appear as someone with criminal tendencies because if he found an open car he would take it and drive away with it. Even though he might drive away and finally be rid of his former live, he would be stealing nonetheless and starting his new life with a crime. However, the lyrical I likes “the good things in life” but is aware that everything in life has its price and “most of the best things ain’t free”. He is frustrated by the situation he is in, not being able to change anything about being “young”, “poor” and “crazy”. At least in his music he can escape the painful reality that “cuts like a knife”. When he is holding his guitar

60 nobody can bring him down, “or just give [him] an open car” and he will leave this place in no time. The lyrical I in „Tenement Funster“ may very well be the average male teenager, wanting to escape the live he is living and starting anew at some other place. It is a very realistic depiction of the feelings teenagers have to face when going through puberty, when they feel like adults but actually lack the experience to be considered grown up in anyway. However, what makes Taylor’s lyrical I stand out in this song is that he lays the ground stone for his career as musician. With this kind of background, it is not surprising that – assuming he is talented or lucky or both – the rebel should one day become the musician. Though the rebel never seems to be much interested in love or having a relationship - the topic love is not a very prominent one with this character– there is one song Taylor wrote, that qualifies as a love song. In „I’m In Love With My Car“ the lyrical I declares his love for his car, an inanimate object. From the booklet of the album one learns that the song is dedicated to “Johnathan Harris, boy racer to the end” (Queen. A Night At The Opera. Taylor. „I’m In Love With My Car“: 4). According to Wikipedia, the term ‘boy racer’ is used to refer to people who are:

“usually males in their late teens or early twenties, who ‘cruise’ around in vehicles modified with loud exhausts and stereos, or modified body kits. This behavior is frowned upon by members of the public irritated by the noise and the criminal behavior associated with it, including violence by skinhead and neonazi [sic] ‘boy racers’”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_racer)

The lyrical I is talking about his car and how wonderful it is, praising its appearance (“such a clean machine”) and even sexualises it (“with the pistons a pumpin’”). The lyrical I has a very strong emotional bond with his car because when he is driving, it enables him to get into an almost a meditative state, being entirely in the moment and forgetting everything else (“when I’m holding your wheel, / all I hear is your gear”). The tight bond between driver and car is also expressed by the change of audience in the text because after the first two lines, the lyrical I is directly addressing the car. The relationship he has with his car enables him to stay in control since his car does exactly what he wants and also arouses him sexually

(“with my hands on your grease gun / oh it’s like a disease son”). The imagery used in this line lends itself to be interpreted sexually, however, it is a rather one sided sexual experience that is being described. Even though the lyrical I has his hand on the car’s grease gun, it is very likely that he in fact is talking about masturbation or self love (the grease gun referring to the penis). The lyrical I then proudly states that he is indeed “in love with [his] car”, desiring it so much that it gives him a real “thrill when [its] radials squeal”. That the lyrical I was not always an ‘objectophile’, that is a person who falls in love with and is sexually aroused by inanimate objects (see http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,482192,00.html), he once was in a relationship with a woman but she was not prepared to share him with his car . The lyrical I ”told [his] girl” that he would have to “forget her” and much rather bought himself “a new carburettor”. This was obviously too much for his partner to take and she declared their relationship to be over (“she made tracks sayin’ this is the end now”). The lyrical I then gives a possible explanation for his devotion to cars, stating that they “don't talk back they're just four wheeled friends”. They have obvious advantages over real people since they do not talk back or have an opinion, yet they are always there for their owner except when they need to be repaired, which can be achieved rather quickly. The owner can use them as he pleases without having to think about anybody’s feelings but his own. The lyrical I does not want to care about others and is only concerned with himself, probably because he wants to spare himself the complications that can arise in a relationship with another human being (e.g. having an argument). It is much more convenient to have everything done exactly as one wants it.

This attitude also applies to the lyrical I’s sexuality and is expressed by the lyrical I in the lines “when I’m cruisin’ in overdrive / don’t have to listen to no run of the milk talk jive”. The verb cruising in this context has a double meaning since it refers to the lyrical I’s driving around with his car but at the same time cruising refers to “the act of walking or driving about a locality in search of a sex partner, usually of the

62 anonymous, casual, one-time variety” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruising_for_sex). Even when the lyrical I wants to have sexual relations he can solely rely on his car but without having to endure the endless arguments and talking to a possible partner. At the end of the song, the lyrical I expresses his total devotion to his car, being “in automolove” – ‘automolove’ is a neologism created by Taylor through blending the words ‘automobile’ and ‘love’. The lyrical I’s love and his car have become one thing, indistinguishable as well as inseparable. Taylor’s love song “I’m In Love With My Car” is not only quite unique because of its twisted lover who is an objectophile, but much rather because other than in that song, love or sexuality does not play an important role for any of the alter egos of Roger Taylor. This makes him the only member of Queen who does not have the alter ego of the lover as an independent voice.

3.3.1.2 The Musician – Critic and Artist In his songs featuring the alter ego of the rebel, the lyrical I is mainly concerned with establishing his identity and finding a path he is willing and able to take in life, in order to make a living. It is when the rebel finally finds his niche, Taylor’s second alter ego appears, the musician. The texts about the musician can be seen as almost a cycle of how the career of the rebel took off and he became what he is now, a famous artist. The cycle begins with the (already discussed) text called “Tenement Funster”, about a young man living in a tenement, who uses music as a means to escape his depressing reality. The next step in the career of the uprising musician is the song “Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll”, written by Taylor and Mercury, in which the young person is encouraged to find someone who will make a big star out of him, also foreshadowing a bit of the darker sides of the music business. “Fight from the Inside” is an open declaration of war on the music business, in which Taylor makes it perfectly clear that there is an enemy to be fought. Taylor then shows another side of the musician – the artist who is working hard - in “More

63 of that Jazz”, since the lyrical I in the song is not only criticising the business but also talks about the creative process and the work behind writing a song. The main functions the musician has in Taylor’s texts is to criticise the music business and exposing the dream job musician as the hard work it is, resembling in a way Mercury’s song “Let Me Entertain You”.

In “Fight From The Inside” the music business is depicted as something dangerous, especially for someone young and not used to getting much attention. It is the sudden fame and popularity that might lead a young person to get overexcited and throw caution to the wind. The lyrical I in “Fight From The Inside” might be a well meaning bystander as well as the inner voice of the person he is addressing, talking to himself. In any way, the lyrical I is addressing a young man (“hey you boy, hey you”), who he asks whether he is fully aware of what he is doing. The addressee might very well be a musician or another person whose job can be associated with being famous since the lyrical I then refers to him as “just another picture on a teenage wall”. The lyrical I is certain that the young man does in fact not know what he is doing. Even though he might “think that [he] know[s] what [he is] doing” and “set things to rights” he is about to experience failure soon (“you’re just another sucker ready for a fall”). If the young man is to ‘stay on top of things’ and wants to continue to be successful, the lyrical I advises him to “fight [the business] from the inside”. The music business is far from being perfect but since he is already part of it, he needs to stay in it if he wants to change something (“You can’t win with your hands tied”). However, he needs to stay alert at all times and even fight dirty sometimes (“attack from the rear”). The phrase “right down the line” refers to the dotted line on a contract where one has to sign with one’s name. The lyrical I tries to make the young man aware of the situation he is in and it seems as if he is someone who as already experienced everything he warns the other person about. He refers to the young man’s naivety, who does not seem to want see the negative sides of fame or the music business because everything has its price (“you think that out in the streets is all free”). The young musician is nothing

64 special, he is just one of many, being used by others and he is not aware of it (“you’re just another, money-spinner tool / you’re just another, fool”). The expression “money-spinner tool” might refer to the story of Rumpelstiltskin, a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, in which a strange creature called Rumpelstiltskin helps a girl to spin worthless hay into gold if she promises to give her first born child to him. (see http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Rum.shtml). The lyrical I once more tells the young man to fight, reminding him that he can not win if his hands are tied (e.g. by a contract) and he does not perceive the dangers around him as such. It is going to be a hard fight and it will have to be dirty too because unless he is willing to fight them, he will never be ‘free’.

In “More Of That Jazz“ the lyrical I is talking to a musician, exposing the exhausting process of what it means to entertain an audience and produce song after song. In the first line, the lyrical I sets the rather depressing mood, describing something similar to a creative burn out, feeling “tired and only uninspired and lonely”. However, it seems like the lyrical I is addressing someone feeling like that, not directly saying that he himself actually feels that way, though this might actually be the case. He continues, describing the dilemma of the artist, always having to create something completely new even though this is impossible (“All you're given / Is what you've been given / A thousand times before”). All the ideas the person can come up with are ideas that someone else already had before him, being original is impossible. It is always the same, “just more of that jazz”. During the refrain, the perspective changes, the lyrical I no longer talks about somebody’s feelings but demands “gimme no more of that jazz”. This might refer to the everyday routine a musician has to face on tour - always playing the same songs, repeating himself over and over again - or the general conduct in the music business. The lyrical I then speaks as a we, talking for himself and fellow musicians who just see it as their job to make music but are actually more interested in sports (“only football gives us thrills rock and roll just pays the bills”) because “only [their] team is the real team”. This might very well refer to the band the lyrical I is in and nullify the

65 previous statement about sport since the ‘team’ might represent the band. Then the lyrical I uses sentences that one could consider platitudes (“bring out the dogs / get on your feet / lie on the floor”) and which might very well be used before or during a concert to get in the right mood and power oneself up before a performance. However, they really have no power because after being used over and over again, the meaning is gone and the emotional effect is practically nonexistent. The lyrical I thinks so too, uttering “think I’ve heard that line before”. For him it is just more of the same thing that never changes, just more of that jazz. It becomes obvious that the lyrical I is literally breaking down in the last verse of the song, which is made up entirely of lines from other songs of the album “More Of That Jazz” is on. Since the album is incidentally called ‘Jazz’, the title and usage of lines from other songs of the album was a very clever choice, especially since the last verse makes sense, still:

Fool got no business hanging round and tellin' lies Bicycle races are coming your way If you can't beat 'em join ‘em Fun it Oh you gonna let it all hang out Fat bottomed girls you make the rocking world go round

One can very well picture a musician before the end of a long tour or concert, feeling overwhelmed and in need of a well deserved break. All he is seeking is peace and quiet and definitely “no more, no more, no more of that jazz”. This last song can also be seen as an allusion to the essay Literature of Exhaustion, written by John Barth in the 1960s (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Literature_of_Exhaustion). It is a text about postmodernism in which Barth states that it is impossible to say anything new because everything has already been said before. Only if one can take a look at it ironically, one can create something new but one has to acknowledge that it is otherwise impossible to create something new (see http://jsomers.net/papers/barth_the-literature-of-exhaustion.doc and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Literature_of_Exhaustion). That is exactly what

Taylor did with the last verse of his song, taking things already said and putting them in another context, creating something new. “More Of That Jazz” is the last text in the cycle of the rebel, who now not only has become a successful by means of money and fame but also has grown artistically.

3.3.2 Still Rocking Hard

Taylor’s alter ego the musician is still very strong in the 80s, having not noticeably changed since the 70s. He shows that he has not lost his touch over a decade, still knowing what “real rock and roll” has to feel and sound like (as the lyrical I in “Rock It (prime jive)” does) but also that he has not forgotten where he came from i.e. what initially made the rebel want to become a musician. This led to yet another love song for an inanimate object, in this case the radio. Considering, that for the alter ego of the rebel music was the only escape from his depressing reality and now being a musician he is also depending on it, it is not surprising that in the 80s the musician (i.e. the former rebel) expresses in “Radio Ga Ga” his gratitude for “[his] only friend through teenage nights”, declaring his everlasting love for this medium.

3.4 John Deacon

John Deacon was the bass player of Queen and the last of the four members to join the band. With being only 19 years of age, he was also the youngest of the group, studying electronics prior to his ‘musical career’ that was about to follow. He married his wife Veronica in 1957 and they have been married since (they have six children together). Like the other three members of the band, he wrote songs for Queen but what makes him unique is that he never actually sang any of them himself, they were usually sung by Mercury. Thus he was never credited with lead vocals for a track or even for supporting vocals on any album. After Mercury’s

67 death in the 90s, his performances became rare and in 1997 he officially retired from the music business (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Deacon).

3.4.1 Establishing Lover and Musician

John Deacon establishes two voices in the 1970s: the voice of the lover and the voice of the musician. Whereas the alter ego of the lover is a successful person and the texts about love deal with one exception - the exception being the song “Who Needs You” - with very positive feelings, the voice of the musician is very critical and focuses on the dark side of the music business.

3.4.1.1 The Successful Lover and His Journey Though John Deacon did not write as many songs as the other members of Queen, he nevertheless managed to establish equally strong voices. The stronger voice of his two alter egos is the voice of the lover - almost all of his songs (5 of 7) revolve around ‘love’ - a successful lover to be exact. Deacon’s songs of the alter ego of the lover mark different stages of a relationship and assuming that it is indeed always the same ‘person’ speaking in the texts, one is able to watch him and his relationship grow. What makes Deacon’s songs about love particularly interesting in the context of Queen is that he is the only one in the band who allows ‘the lover’ in his texts to have a successful relationship. Deacon sends his lover on a journey for love, which allows him to touch on several aspects of love: (1) wanting to be in love (the lyrical I in “Misfire”); (2) falling in love (the lyrical I in “In Only Seven Days”); (3) the hormonal rush one experiences in the early stages of being in love (the lyrical I in “You and I”); (4) having a ‘real relationship’, facing ups and downs (the lyrical I in “You’re My Best Friend”) and (5) the relationship that ultimately fails (the lyrical I in “Who Needs You”). Interestingly, Deacon presents two possible outcomes for the lover’s journey: finding his soul mate or separating from his partner because he finds the relationship unsatisfying. Either way, the

68 lover in Deacon’s songs is exceedingly stronger and wiser than the lovers in his fellow band members’ songs. Not only is he wise enough to treasure his partner and telling her about it but also not masochistic enough to stay in a destructive relationship.

3.4.1.1.1 Yearning The song „Misfire“ is the starting point of the lover on his journey, in which the lyrical I is looking for love and asks his future lover – who is portrayed as cupid - to finally hit him, freeing him of his loneliness. The lyrical I is not yet in love but knows that he wants to experience it. He is rather desperate, being alone for probably some time now, feeling empty and somewhat depressed. He addresses his future lover to finally hit him, and “fill [him] up / with the desire to carry on”. He introduces cupid motive, modelling his lover after the roman “god of affection, desire and erotic love”, who shoots lovers with his arrows (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid). However, instead of bow and arrow he lets the other person carry a gun and bullets. In fact, the gun is loaded with “only one bullet” and he is frightened that the other person might actually miss him. Love is something the lyrical I desires and wants to finally experience but at the same time, his use of the cupid metaphor shows the destructive qualities love can have and his fear of it. The brutal aspects of love are stressed even more by the fact that his cupid is actually carrying a gun, loaded with bullets. The metaphor also shows that he sees himself as completely passive and his falling in love depends solely on the other person. The lyrical I has ambivalent feelings towards falling in love, seeking it desperately and at the same time being afraid of the consequences if it really were to happen to him. This ambivalence towards love is expressed by the lyrical I’s referring to love as “a game” where it is either “hit or miss” but at the same time urging his future lover not to “miss this time”. In the end, the lyrical I’s feelings of desperation and loneliness are lightly stronger than his insecurities and fears. In his last line he is begging the

69 other person “please don’t misfire”, revealing his wish to be finally rid of his loneliness by the other person’s action.

3.4.1.1.2 Falling in Love Having uttered his wish to fall in love after being scared and lonely for some time, „In Only Seven Days „marks the next important stage of the lover’s journey to potential bliss. It is the story of two people falling in love and experiencing a holiday romance in one week, showing that sometimes a week is long enough to grow accustomed to someone and fall in love. In the song „In Only Seven Days „the lyrical I describes what he does on every day of the week during a holiday, revealing how a romance evolves. The lyrical I starts his holiday on Monday, getting away from work and experiencing “freedom for just one week”. On Tuesday he has already seen “her down on the beach”, feeling encouraged by her because when he watched her for a while, she “looked and smiled at [him]”. On Wednesday he “didn’t see her” and his interest in her is growing because he “hoped that she’d be back tomorrow”. Finally, on Thursday his “luck had changed” because when she “stood there all alone” he mustered up all his courage and “asked her [for her] name”. The lyrical I is clearly overwhelmed by his feelings and probably also surprised by his own courage. Not in his wildest dreams would he have thought that something like the romance he is experiencing is possible let alone “in only seven days”. The short period of time it took him to fall in love is then contrasted with the long time it would take him to forget the woman he met, since it would take “a hundred [days] or more for memories to fade”, stressing how strong his feelings for her are and how special everything seems to him. Since everything is going so well, the lyrical I wishes that “Friday would last forever”, holding her close and not wanting to leaving her behind. On Saturday the lyrical I suddenly becomes aware of the fact that they only have “twenty-four hours” left because he is already “going back home on Sunday”. At the end of his holiday the lyrical I is back home and misses his lover, feeling “oh so sad” and “alone”.

3.4.1.1.3 Living in the Moment Whereas the song „In Only Seven Days „deals primarily with how and where the lyrical I met his lover, the focus of „You And I“ is put on the feelings occurring in the early stages of a relationship. The lyrical I and his lover are experiencing very strong emotions and (at least one of the two) is not really thinking about the future but mainly interested in living in the moment, hoping to be more intimate with the other person. In „You And I“ the audience witnesses a tête-à-tête taking place between the lyrical I and his partner. It is a romantic scene where there is music “playing in the darkness” and a lantern “swinging by”, making the lovers forget about everybody else (“just you and I”). Not uncommon in these early stages of a relationship, one of the two people has second thoughts and does not want to rush things (“not tonight, come tomorrow / when everything’s sunny and bright”). Maybe she does not want to be intimate on that particular level with her partner at all or just does not want to do it secretly. Since the love interest of the lyrical I in Deacon’s love songs is almost without exception depicted as female - and the for the sake of the lover’s journey, assuming that it really is always the same person in every love song - the lover of the lyrical I in this song will also be referred to as ‘she’. In any case, she ultimately saves the moment by saying that by waiting till tomorrow they will be “waiting for the moonlight”, which would of course be even more romantic. Suddenly the couple hears people laugh (“laughter ringing in the darkness”), reminding them that they are in fact not alone (in the world). The people they hear no longer live in the moment, all they do is celebrate their past (“drinking for days gone by”).

The lyrical I then emphasises that he is interested in the present and what is happening at the moment in contrast to the other people. When he is with his lover, “time don’t mean a thing / when [she] is by [his] side” and he asks her to “stay a while”. After this rather romantic statement he again stresses the fact that, since he is not able to “foresee the future years” and he cannot guarantee his lover that it they will “be together forever”, they might as well enjoy what they are having at the

71 moment. However, the other person is still reluctant and once again tells the lyrical I to “come tomorrow / when everything’s gonna be alright”. She obviously does not trust him and his feelings for her, as well as her own feelings towards him, adding that they should “wait and see / if tomorrow / we’ll be as happy as we’re feeling tonight”. She seems to be more level headed than her partner but also more cautious and probably afraid of giving in to her desires because all she seems to want to be doing with her partner is “walking in the moonlight”. The lyrical I then attempts for the last time to get his partner into the mood for love, focusing on the romantic setting (“music in the darkness / floating softly to where we lie”), silencing her (“no more questions now”) and simply taking her by surprise, telling her to focus on each other and not let anything else bother them for one night (“let’s enjoy tonight / just you and I”). The scene depicted in the song shows very clearly the dilemma of the early stages in a relationship. Both people are attracted to each other but have different expectations concerning love and where the relationship might go. For one person everything is about the moment, probably because he is the one being primarily driven by lust and thus the hormone adrenaline (see http://www.youramazingbrain.org.uk/lovesex/sciencelove.htm). The other person has certain expectations about romance and what a relationship is supposed to be like. She is also afflicted by the same hormones as her partner but she has been early taught by society that there are certain things one just does not do, unless one is married or at least engaged.

3.4.1.1.4 Finding his Soul Mate After sailing the stormy seas of love and coming out alive, the lover eventually arrives at the end of his journey. At best, the successful lover finds himself in a rewarding relationship with his soul mate. What makes a lover successful is that he is aware of how important his partner is for him and that he is not too shy to let his partner know about his feelings. The lyrical I in “You’re My Best Friend“ talks to his partner, telling her exactly what she means to him and how much he appreciates

72 her. Even after all the time they have spent together, she is still the most important person in his life and no matter what happens (“whatever the world can give to me”), she is “all that [he] see[s]” because she is the one that “make[s him] live”. No matter if the things that are happening to him are good or bad, if she is by his side it does not matter. In referring to her as “the best friend that [he] ever had”, he identifies her as a person whom he can trust and depend upon. Furthermore he calls her “[his] sunshine”, providing her with a pet name that might not only reveal something about his feelings towards her but also her character, making her seem very optimistic and warm. The couple has passed the first stages of a relationship and probably even has had some difficulties. The lyrical I wants his partner to know how he feels about her (“I want you to know / that my feelings are true”) and tells her that he loves her and that she is his best friend. After all, “[she] makes him live”. That the couple definitely had to face some difficult times in their relationship becomes evident when the lyrical I admits that he has “been wandering round” but he still comes back to his partner because she was always there for him (“in rain or shine / you’ve stood by me girl”). He feels at home with her (“I’ m happy at home”), stressing again that she is his best friend, giving him strength. Whenever he feels that the “world is cruel to [him]”, she is there to “help [him] forgive” and give him the support he needs when he has been treated unkind.

For the lyrical I, she is the rock he can cling to, the shoulder to lean on because she is always there for him (“you’re the first one / when things turn out bad”). Furthermore, he is quite confident about his romantic skills, telling his lover that he “will never be lonely” which she also knows but he wants her to know that she is his “only one” and that he “really love[s] the things that [she] do[es]”. Even though he could have other women, he reassures her that he is interested in her and what she does, only. She is his best friend, makes him feel at home and gives him the feeling of being alive. “You’re My Best Friend” tells the story of a man who perceives his partner as his best friend, thus putting companionship over mere lust and physical attraction. The woman addressed in the song is always there for the

(probable male) lyrical I in good but especially bad times. One might assume that the relationship of the two people has grown over time and they already spent a longer period of their lives together. However, the relationship described in the song is in no way perfect. The lyrical I uses his partner mainly to lean on and even admits to cheating on her (“I've been wandering round”) which she obviously forgave him, being the save haven to which he can return to whenever it pleases him. One might ask what the woman gets out of the relationship, since she is primarily portrayed as caregiver of the lyrical I. “You’re My Best Friend” is in no way depicting a perfect relationship but two normal people who are dealing with the ups and downs of a relationship. In doing so, Deacon accomplished to create the strongest and most positive love song written by any member of Queen.

3.4.1.1.5 Parting Ways Whereas “You’re My Best Friend” is about two people overcoming their problems, this is not the only possible development of the lover’s relationship. Deacon’s “Who Needs You“ provides an alternative to the positive ending of the lover’s journey and the love that transcends all in “You’re My Best Friend”. In “Who Needs You“ the lover and his partner are not able to overcome their difficulties, leading to the end of their relationship. The lyrical I is telling his partner to get out of his life, recounting what problems arose in the relationship because of her and what made it impossible for him to carry on. Her constantly playing games over who is in charge, making him wait for her and possibly her age (“you little spoilt thing, girl you kept me waiting”), is what makes him finally realize that this is not the way he wants to live. It is not the kind of relationship he wants to have with another person, she does not take him seriously because she is “never contemplating [his] point of view” and only interested in herself. When thinking about it now, he realises that it actually does not come as a surprise to him but finally he sees through her charade (“I’m a fool, for I believed your lies”) and admitting to her and himself, that he can do better (“who needs you?”). The lyrical I then lets out all his frustration, telling his

74 partner that he believed her, even “went on [his] knees to [her]”. He trusted her completely but she “turned him down”, probably refusing to marry him, to which the going on his knees and her turning him down might refer. This might have made the lyrical I quite bitter, referring to love as a “rat race” that leaves one “bleeding lying flat on your face”. He was apparently hurt but does not give up, still trying to “reach out for a helping hand” but there is no one there (“where is that helping hand?”). In order to improve the situation he is in, he has to help himself. He was treated badly by his spouse (“pushed around”) but never supposed to be affected by it. She “walked all over [him]”, which he should probably have ignored (“don’t you ever give in”). The relationship had come to a standstill, both “taking one step forward, slipping two steps back” but not going anywhere. The lyrical I finally seems to have understood that he is really the only one who can help himself. Because when he is looking for someone to help him (“reaching out for a helping hand”), there is nothing there except “an empty feeling [he] can’t forget”. In the last verse the lyrical I at last finds the strength to let go of his partner. Contrasting how his perception of her changed over time, considering her once to be “charming” and “oh so sophisticated” but in fact she was never “interested in what [he had] to say”. Telling her that she was “oh so sophisticated” already hints at not meaning what he says and stressing that she in fact was never interested in what he had to say.

For him, she was very desirable, making it impossible for him to sleep at night, so much was he in love with the idea he had of her. He admits, that he was rather “naive” then and she made him “swallow his pride”, having her fun with him (“took me for a ride”). But these things happened a long time ago, the lyrical I is no longer the same man he used to be. He is stronger (“now I’m the one to decide”) and knows that he has to let go of this destructive relationship, telling his partner that he and probably nobody else needs her and her escapades anymore (“who needs, well I don’t need, who needs you?”). Deacon’s possible final destinations of his lover are both equally realistic, one having the couple stay together and the other

75 having them go on with their lives in separate ways. Even though in one song the relationship ends and the other is the confirmation of the love the lyrical I has feels his partner, in both the lyrical I is successful because he evolves. At the end of both songs the lyrical I is stronger and wiser than in the beginning. What makes him as strong and positive in „Who Needs You“ - a song about the failure of a relationship - as in “You’re My Best Friend” - a song about love that transcends all - , is due to the fact that Deacon allows the lover to evolve and be strong. His alter ego of the lover is strong enough to let go of a destructive relationship, sending a very positive message, rejecting the drama of a relationship if it is not worth it.

3.4.1.2 The Critical Musician Deacon’s alter ego the musician is voicing his frustration about how artists are treated in the business, being not as present as the lover in Deacon’s texts but nonetheless a very strong voice. In his song “If You Can’t Beat Them“ Deacon presents a lyrical I that is a musician who sees the need to fight dirty if he does not want to be exploited by others. The theme of the song is already expressed in the title “If You Can’t Beat Them“, meaning that one should join his enemies if one is not strong enough to defeat them. The lyrical I than hast to become as ruthless as the people who want his money, in order to survive in the music business. The entire song can be read as an inner monologue - the lyrical I is either talking to himself or someone else, trying to encourage the other person -, in which the lyrical I describes the feelings and thoughts he had before he finally mustered up the courage and faced the people who treated him badly. The text begins with the lyrical I advising a person to “keep [one’s] chin up when feeling lonely” and not to “let ‘em get [one] down”. The person he is talking to feels alienated, and has no one to turn to. This suggests that the addressee is feeling depressed because he is bullied but it is not yet made clear by whom. The lyrical I then continuous by telling the other person that even if he feels mistreated life goes on and he has to ‘get back into the game’. There is “no use in [him] sitting all alone” and waiting “for

76 someone to call” because no one will come and no matter where he “run[s] and hide[s]”, he will still feel hurt. What he needs to do, is get on with his life and if the way he used to do things did not work, maybe he should try something else and give his bullies some of their own medicine.

The refrain follows, in which the lyrical I encourages the addressed person to adopt the behaviour of his adversaries promising that this kind of behaviour “makes [him] feel good”. Unless he becomes as strong and ruthless as his opponents, he will never be able to help himself. The person addressed finally seems to have made up his mind because the encouragement of the lyrical I - who tells the addressee one more time to “come on go, get up” - is answered by him with “sure feels good”. After the addressee finally spoke, the point of view shifts, the lyrical I who is now talking, is addressing his bullies and enemies. He has found the strength to tell them to “keep [their] big hands off [his] money” and they should not even “try and pull [him] down” because they would never succeed. They are trying to lure him in by “taking [him] out to wine and dine [him]”, trying to “bind [him] with [their] legal contract”. Though it may not have been clear who the people were, who were trying to manipulate and bully the lyrical I, the mentioning of money - especially legal contracts - suggests that the lyrical I is talking about the music business. The lyrical I knows that the others “play it dirty” but he will do that too from now on, willing to “play [them] at [their] own game”. The lyrical I is pleased with himself and his decision (“that’s good”), making it also clear in the refrain that he achieved the same level of ruthlessness as his opponents and from now on he will only be looking out for himself (“it’s everyone for themselves”). Though Deacon’s lyrical I never utters the phrase “I am talking about how people in the music business exploit the artists” and he might in fact talk about any business in which people get exploited and are taken advantage of, it seems rather obvious that he is talking about the frustrating experience of a musician. His song „If You Can’t Beat Them“ fits the same mould as the songs about the exploitation of musicians his fellow

77 band members wrote. Considering their texts, the interpretation of Deacon’s song as another critical text about the music business is the most logical thing to do.

3.4.2 The Lover’s Journey Continues

In the 1980s the voice of the lover is still the strongest voice of Deacon however it has changed dramatically. Since the lover in the 1970s experienced almost exclusively the positive aspects of love and relationships, Deacon seemed to have felt the need to balance the positive experiences of the 70s with very negative experiences in the 80s. In “Back Chat” the lyrical I has a quarrel with his partner, depicting the relationship as a warzone (“I’m ready to attack”) and never ending fight (“It’s a battle to the end, knock you down you come again”) between both partners. The lyrical I in “Need Your Loving Tonight „ has already been left by his girlfriend and can not let go of her (“I’ll love you baby, I’ll love you forever”). The lyrical I of “I Want To Break Free“ has the problem of moving to fast in a relationship (“I’ve fallen in love for the first time / and this time I know it’s for real”), just because he is afraid of being alone (“I don’t want to live alone”). However, he knows that he moves from relationship to relationship because he does not want to deal with his own life (“God knows, got to make it on my own”), using them as a remedy for all his woes. Since Deacon’s lover already accomplished everything in the 1970s, there was no room for progression; consequently his lover had to experience a fall. However, staying quite sensible and persistent as the lyrical I in “I Want To Break Free“ demonstrates the because even though he is not strong enough to do ‘the right thing’ yet, he knows what it is and keeps on trying.

4 Conclusion

Queen was a band made of four different writers, each of whom had different styles and unique voices i.e. alter egos: the lover, the musician, the ‘Teller of Tales’, the rebel and the ‘Conscience of Society’. All of these alter egos ultimately make up ‘The Voices of Queen’. The lover expresses the (basic) human need for companionship and is the strongest voice of Mercury, May and Deacon. It is the voice of the only alter ego that is allowed to show weakness, longing and yearning for somebody’s love. The lovers of Mercury, May and Deacon are hoping to fall in love and have a relationship, however, only Deacon’s lover is successful in finding a partner and staying in a relationship (at least in the 1970s). Taylor’s lover on the other hand – who is not even strictly speaking an alter ego by himself but much more a facet of ‘the rebel’- is not portrayed with the same weak spots as the lovers of the other three members of Queen. This might be due to the fact that Taylor wrote his ‘love songs’ about inanimate objects, one being a car (“I’m In Love With My Car” in the 1970s), the other a radio (“Radio Ga Ga” in the 1980s).

Besides the lover, there is another voice that was shared by all four members of Queen: the voice of the musician. Whereas the lovers of all four band members handle situations quite differently - Mercury’s lover being depressed, Deacon’s lover evolving, May’s lover phlegmatic and Taylor’s lover non-existing as an alter ego on his own - the critical voice of the musician is shared by all. All four band members are sending a very strong message in depicting the music business as a dangerous place, populated mainly by people concerned with making the highest profit. Though the musician is introduced as a victim of the music business, he is however never portrayed as being weak (as opposed to the lover) but angry, fighting back and defending himself. The other three voices that are not shared by all members but equally important and also part of the ‘Voices of Queen’ are: Taylor’s rebel who is young and poor and later becoming the musician; Mercury’s imaginative dreamer, the ‘Teller of Tales, who is escaping reality with stories and

79 finally May’s angry ‘Conscience of Society’. He is the opposite of the ‘Teller of Tales’ and the rebel, since he is not interested in providing an escape from depressing reality but to focus on it instead. As diverse as the voices of Queen was their audience, which might be due to the fact that the band was able to have different standpoints, which is reflected in their songs. Queen’s success proves that it definitely pays off to be different and to offer something for everyone, no matter what social background or education. For further research in trying to locate more voices and alter egos of the individual members of Queen, a more complex analysis of Queen lyrics could be the basis. After having successfully extracted all individual voices, it would be a real challenge to compare them with the songs attributed to the entire band and see whether it is possible to identify the original author behind the song. Another course of action could be to take a look at the song material per album and analyse the choice of songs. Last but not least, the interaction between audience and band during a concert is something that lends itself to closer inspection, especially since Mercury and Queen were famous for their interaction with the audience (e.g. the song “Love Of My Life” was usually sung as a duet by Mercury and the audience).

5 References Primary Sources Queen (1973). Queen. Queen Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd. (1974). Queen II. Queen Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd. (1974). Sheer Heart Attack. Queen Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd. (1975; 2005). A Night At The Opera. Queen Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd. (1976). A Day At The Races. Queen Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd. (1977). News Of The World. Queen Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd. (1978; 1994). Jazz. Raincloud Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd. (1980; 1994). The Game. Raincloud Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd. (1982; 1994). Hot Space. Raincloud Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd. (1984). The Works. Raincloud Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd.

Secondary Sources Printed Book Abrams, M. H., and Geoffrey Galt Harpham (2005). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.

Pictures Queen. “Queen Crest” (1975; 2005). A Night At The Opera. Queen Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd.

Queen. “Queen Crest” (1976). A Day At The Races. Queen Productions Ltd. / EMI Records Ltd.

Online Online Books and Articles Anon. “100 Fascinating Facts You Never Knew About The Human Brain”. Nursing Assistant Central. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “About The Band”. The Official Queen Homepage. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Brian May installed as fourth Chancellor”. Liverpool John Moores University. [Online] [2011 May 22]

Anon. “FAQs”. The Official Queen Homepage. [Online] < http://www.queenonline.com/en/the-band/faqs/> [2011 May 22]

Anon. “Gerry Stickells Feature”. The Official Queen Homepage. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Grounds for UK divorce”. Woolley & Co, Solicitors. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Home”. Save Me 2010. [Online] < http://www.save-me.org.uk/> [2011 May 22]

Anon. “(Luke 1:26-38) The Birth of Jesus Foretold”. BibleGateway. [Online]. [2011 May 9]

Anon. “(Luke 23:26-43) The Crucifixion of Jesus”. BibleGateway. [Online]. [2011 May 14] and [2011 May 9]

Anon. “(Mark 1: 40-45) Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy”. BibleGateway. [Online]. [2011 May14]

Anon. “(Matthew 2:1-12) The Magi visit the Messiah”. BibleGateway. [Online]. [2011 May 8]

Thadeusz, Frank (2007, Nov. 5). “Objectophilia, Fetishism and Neo-Sexuality”. Spiegel Online International. [Online] [2011 May 14]

The Brothers Grimm. “Rumpelstiltskin by Brothers Grimm”. Short Stories. [Online] [2011 May 16]

Anon. “Smog”. EduGreen. [Online] [2011 May 20]

Anon. “Stalking and Harassment Legal Guidance”. Crown Prosecution Service. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Barth, John. “The Literature of Exhaustion”. James E. Sommers Net. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Browning, Robert (1888). The Pied Piper of Hamelin. London: Frederick Warne and Co Ltd. [Online] Indiana U. [2011 May 14]

Anon. “The Pleasure Chest Sex Toys History”. The Pleasure Chest. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “The Science of Love”. Your Amazing Brain. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Wikipedia Articles and Online Dictionary Entries Anon. “Biblical Magi”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Boy Racer”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Brian May”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 18]

Anon. “Bugle”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Bugle Call”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Butterfly”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Cruella de Vil”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Cruising for Sex”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Cupid”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Fairy Ring”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14] and [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Frühstück bei Tiffany (Film)”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. John Deacon. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Leprosy”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Manifest Destiny”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 20]

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Anon. “Queen (band)”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Queen + Paul Rodgers”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 17]

Anon. “Roger Meddows-Taylor”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 17]

Anon. “Rudolph Valentino”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “Syphilis”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 14]

Anon. “The Literature of Exhaustion”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 17]

Anon. “The Man”. Wikipedia. [Online] [2011 May 18]

Anon. “Meat”. Urban Dictionary. [Online] [2011 May 14]

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6 Appendix: Lyrics

All texts were taken from the album booklets of Queen, except for the songs from the albums Queen and Queen II, which were taken from http://www.queenwords.com/lyrics.shtml since the booklets of those albums did not provide any lyrics. Mistakes in either the booklets or the online source were corrected i.e. if the text in the written form deviated from the sung version, the sung version was chosen. The following sequence of songs is arranged according to author and release date (the album is mentioned after the song in brackets).

Mercury Great King Rat (Queen) Great King Rat died today Born on the twenty first of May Died syphilis forty four on his birthday Every second word he swore Yes he was the son of a whore Always wanted by the law

Wouldn't you like to know ? Wouldn't you like to know people ? Great King Rat was a dirty old man And a dirty old man was he Now what did I tell you Would you like to see ?

Now hear this Where will I be tomorrow Will I beg ?, Will I borrow I don't care, I don't care anyway Come on, come on the time is right The man is evil and that is right I told you ah yes I told you And that's no lie oh no no

Wouldn't you like to know Wouldn't you like to know Wouldn't you like to know Great King Rat was a dirty old man And a dirty old man was he Now what did I tell you Would you like to see ? Show me

Oooh oooh oooh oooh Wouldn't you like to know Wouldn't you like to know people people Great King Rat was a dirty old man And a dirty old man was he Now what did I tell you Would you like to see

Hit it

Now listen all you people Put out the good and keep the bad Don't believe all you read in the bible You sinners get in line Saints you leave far behind Very soon you're gonna be his disciple Don't listen to what mama says Not a word - not a word mama says Or else you'll find yourself being the rival Sure, the great lord before he died Knelt sinners by his side And said you're going to realise tomorrow, oh woh oh woh oh who

No I'm not going to tell you What you already know 'Cause time and time again

The old man said it all a long time ago Come on come on the time is right This evil man will fight I told you once before

Hear it No

Wouldn't you like to know Wouldn't you like to know Just like I said before Great King Rat was a dirty old man And a dirty old man was he The last time I tell you Would you like to see

My Fairy King (Queen) In the land where horses born with eagle wings And honey bees have lost their stings There's singing forever, ooh yeah Lion's den with fallow deer And rivers made from wine so clear Flow on and on forever Dragons fly like sparrows thru' the air And baby lambs where Samson dares To go on on on on on on

My fairy king can see things He rules the air and turns the tides That are not there for you and me Ooh yeah he guides the winds My fairy king can do right and nothing wrong

Ah, then came men to savage in the night To run like thieves and to kill like knives

To take away the power from the magic hand To bring about the ruin to the promised land, aah, aah

They turn the milk into sour Like the blue in the blood of my veins Why can't you see it Fire burning in hell with the cry of screaming pain Son of heaven set me free and let me go Sea turn dry no salt from sand Seasons fly no helping hand Teeth don't shine like pearls for poor man's eyes, aah

Someone someone has drained the colour from my wings Broken my fairy circle ring And shamed the king in all his pride Changed the winds and wronged the tides Mother Mercury Mercury Look what they've done to me I cannot run I cannot hide La la la la la la la la la la la la

Jesus (Queen) And then I saw him in the crowd A lot of people had gathered round him The beggars shouted, the lepers called him The old man said nothing He just stared about him All going down to see the lord Jesus All going down (going down) to see the lord Jesus All going down

Then came a man before his feet he fell Unclean said the leper, rang his bell Felt the palm of a hand touch his head Go now, go now you're a new man instead

All going down (going down) to see the lord Jesus All going down to see the lord Jesus – alright All going down

It all began with the three wise men Followed a star took them to Bethlehem And made it heard throughout the land Born was the leader of man All going down (going down) to see the lord Jesus All going down (going down to bethlehem) to see the lord Jesus All going down

It all began with the three wise men Followed a star took them to Bethlehem And made it heard throughout the land Born was the leader of man Yes we're all going down to see the lord Jesus All going down to see the lord Jesus All going down

Ogre Battle (Queen II) Now once upon a time - an old man told me a fable When the piper is gone - and the soup is cold on your table And if the black crow flies to find a new destination That is the sign Come tonight Come to the ogre sight Come to the ogre-battle-fight

He gives a great big cry and he can swallow up the ocean With a mighty tongue he catches flies - the palm of a hand incredible size One great big eye - has a focus in your direction Now the battle is on Yeah yeah yeah Come tonight

Come to the ogre sight Come to the ogre-battle-fight

The ogre-men are still inside The two-way mirror mountain You gotta keep down right out of sight You can't see in, but they can see out "Ooh keep a look out" The ogre-men are coming out From the two-way mirror mountain They're running up behind and they're coming all about Can't go east 'cos you gotta go south

Ogre-men are going home The great big fight is over Bugle blow, let trumpet cry Ogre battle lives for ever more - oh oh oh You can come along You can come along Come to ogre battle

The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke (Queen II) He's a Fairy Feller The fairy folk have gathered round the new-moon shine To see the Feller crack a nut at night's noon-time To swing his axe he swears, as it climbs he dares To deliver... The master-stroke

Ploughman, "Waggoner Will", and types Politician with senatorial pipe - he's a dilly-dally-o Pedagogue squinting, wears a frown And a satyr peers under lady's gown, dirty fellow What a dirty laddio Tatterdemalion and a junketer

There's a thief and a dragonfly trumpeter - he's my hero, aah

Fairy dandy tickling the fancy of his lady friend The nymph in yellow "can we see the master-stroke" What a quaere fellow

Soldier, sailor, tinker, tailer, ploughboy Waiting to hear the sound And the arch-magician presides He is the leader Oberon and Titania watched by the harridan Mab is the Queen and there's a good apothecary-man Come to say hello Fairy dandy tickling the fancy of his lady friend The nymph in yellow What a quaere fellow The ostler stands with hands on his knees Come on Mr. Feller, crack it open if you please

Nevermore (Queen II) There's no living in my life anymore The seas have gone dry and the rain stopped falling Please don't you cry anymore Can't you see Listen to the breeze, whisper to me please Don't send me to the path of nevermore

Even the valleys below, Where the rays of the sun were so warm and tender, Now haven't anything to grow Can't you see? (nevermore nevermore) Why did you have to leave me? (nevermore nevermore) Why did you deceive me?

You send me to the path of nevermore When you say you didn't love me anymore Aah aaah Nevermore, aah Nevermore

Flick Of The Wrist (Sheer Heart Attack) Dislocate your spine if you don't sign he says I'll have you seeing double Mesmerize you when he's tongue-tied Simply with those eyes Synchronize your minds and see The beast within him rise

Don't look back Don't look back It's a rip-off Flick of the wrist and you're dead baby Blow him a kiss and you're mad Flick of the wrist - he'll eat your heart out A dig in the ribs and then a kick in the head He's taken an arm and taken a leg All this time honey Baby you've been had.

Intoxicate your brain with what I'm saying If not you'll lie in knee-deep trouble Prostitute yourself he says Castrate your human pride Sacrifice your leisure days Let me squeeze you till you've dried

Don't look back Don't look back It's a rip-off

Work my fingers to my bones I scream with pain I still make no impression Seduce you with his money-make machine Cross-collateralize, (big-time money, money) Reduce you to a muzak-fake machine Then the last goodbye It's a rip-off

Flick of the wrist and you're dead baby Blow him a kiss and you're mad Flick of the wrist - he'll eat your heart out A dig in the ribs and then a kick in the head He's taken an arm, and taken a leg All this time honey Baby you've been had

Love Of My Life (A Night At The Opera) Love of my life - you've hurt me, You've broken my heart and now you leave me, Love of my life can't you see, Bring it back, bring it back, Don't take it away from me, because you don't know – what it means to me.

Love of my life don't leave me, You've taken my love, you now desert me, Love of my life can't you see, Bring it back, bring it back, Don't take it away from me, because you don't know – What it means to me.

You will remember – When this is blown over

And everything's all by the way – When I grow older I will be there at your side to remind you how I still love you - still love you.

Back - hurry back, Please bring it back home to me, because you don't know what it means to me – Love of my life Love of my life…

You Take My Breath Away (A Day At The Races) Look into my eyes and you'll see I'm the only one You've captured my love Stolen my heart Changed my life Everytime you make a move You destroy my mind And the way you touch I lose control and shiver deep inside You take my breath away.

You can reduce me to tears With a single sigh Every breath that you take – Any sound that you make Is a whisper in my ear I could give up all my life for just one kiss I would surely die If you dismiss me from your love You take my breath away

So please don't go Don't leave me here all by myself

I get ever so lonely from time to time I will find you Anywhere you go, I'll be right behind you Right until the ends of the earth I'll get no sleep till I find you to tell you That you just take my breath away.

I will find you … etc. I'll get no sleep till I find you to Tell you when I've found you – I love you.

Somebody To Love (A Day At The Races) Can anybody find me somebody to love Each morning I get up I die a little Can barely stand on my feet Take a look in the mirror and cry Lord what you're doing to me I have spent all my years in believing you But I just can't get no relief, Lord! Somebody, somebody Can anybody find me somebody to love?

I work hard every day of my life I work till I ache in my bones At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own – I get down on my knees And I start to pray Till the tears run down from my eyes Lord – somebody – somebody Can anybody find me – somebody to love?

(He works hard)

Everyday – I try and I try and I try –

But everybody wants to put me down, They say I'm goin’ crazy They say I got a lot of water in my brain Got no common sense I got nobody left to believe Yeah – yeah yeah yeah

Oh Lord Somebody – somebody Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Got no feel, I got no rhythm I just keep losing my beat I'm ok, I'm alright Ain't gonna face no defeat I just gotta get out of this prison cell Someday I'm gonna be free, Lord!

Find me somebody to love Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (A Day At The Races) I can dim the lights and sing you songs full of sad things We can do the tango just for two I can serenade and gently play on your heart strings Be your Valentino just for you

Ooh love – Ooh Loverboy What're you doin' tonight, hey boy – Set my alarm, turn on my charm That's because I'm a good old-fashioned loverboy

Ooh let me feel your heartbeat (grow faster, faster) Ooh Ooh can you feel my love heat Come on and sit on my hot-seat of love

And tell me how do you feel right after-all I'd like for you and I to go romancing.

Say the word - your wish is my command Ooh love - Ooh loverboy What're you doin' tonight, hey boy Write my letter Feel much better I’ll use my fancy patter on the telephone When I'm not with you I think of you always I miss you – (I miss those long hot summer nights) When I'm not with you Think of me always I love you - Love you –

Hey boy where do you get it from Hey boy where did you go? I learned my passion in the good old fashioned school of loverboys – Dining at the Ritz we'll meet at nine precisely I will pay the bill, you taste the wine Driving back in style, in my saloon will do quite nicely Just take me back to yours that will be fine (Come on and get it)

Ooh love, Ooh loverboy What're you doin' tonight, hey boy – Everything's all right Just hold on tight – That's because I'm a good old-fashioned fashioned loverboy.

Get Down, Make Love (News Of The World) Get down, make love Get down, make love

100

Get down, make love Get down, make love – You take my body – I give you heat You say your hungry I give you meat I suck your mind You blow my head Make love – Inside your bed - everybody get down, make love. Get down, make love – Get down, make love Get down, make love –

Everytime I get hot You wanna cool down Everytime I get high You say you wanna come down You say it's enough In fact it's too much. Everytime I get a - Get down, get down, Make love –

I can squeeze - -You can shake me I can feel - when you break me Come on so heavy - when you take me – You make love, you make love, you make love, you make love You can make everybody get down make love, Get down make love

Everytime I get high You wanna come down Everytime I get hot You say you wanna cool down You say it's enough

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In fact it's too much Everytime I wanna, get down, get down get down –

Get down make love Get down make love Get down make love

My Melancholy Blues (News Of The World) Another party's over – And I'm left cold sober – My baby left me for somebody new – I don't wanna talk about it Want to forget about it Wanna be intoxicated with that special brew – So come and get me – Let me – Get in that sinking feeling That says my heart is on an all time low – So – Don't expect me – To behave perfectly – And wear that sunny smile My guess is I'm in for a cloudy & overcast Don't try and stop me Cause I'm heading for that stormy weather soon – I'm causing a mild sensation – With this new occupation I'm permanently glued – To this extraordinary mood, so now moveover – And let me take over – With my, melancholy blues

I'm causing a mild sensation With this new occupation I'm in the news

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Just getting used to my new exposure So come into my enclosure And meet my – Melancholy blues –

Jealousy (Jazz) Oh how wrong can you be Oh to fall in love Was my very first mistake How was I to know I was far too much in love to see

Jealousy, look at me now Jealousy, you got me somehow You gave me no warning Took me by surprise Jealousy, you led me on

You couldn't lose You couldn't fail You had suspicion on my trail How, how, how, oh my jealousy I wasn't man enough To let you hurt my pride Now I'm only left with my own jealousy

Oh how strong can you be With matters of the heart Life is much too short To while away with tears If only you could see Just what you do to me

Jealousy, you tripped me up Jealousy, you brought me down

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You bring me sorrow You cause me pain Jealousy, when will you let go

Gotta hold of my possessive mind Turned me into a jealous kind How, how, how, all my jealousy I wasn't man enough To let you hurt my pride Now I'm only left with my own jealousy

But now it matters not If I should live or die Cause I'm only left with my own jealousy

Let Me Entertain You (Jazz) It's a sell out

Let me welcome you ladies and gentlemen I would like to say hello Are you ready for some entertainment Are you ready for a show Gonna rock you gonna roll you Get you dancing in the aisles Jazz you razzamatazz you With a little bit of style C'mon let me entertain you

Let me entertain you Let me entertain you Let me entertain you

I've come here to sell you my body I can show you some good merchandise I'll pull you and I'll pill you

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I'll Cruella De Vil you And to thrill you I'll use any device

We'll give you crazy performance We'll give you grounds for divorce We'll give you piece de resistance And a tour de force Of course

We found the right location A lot of pretty lights The sound and the amplification listen hey Hey if you need a fix If you want a high Stickells will see to that With Elektra and EMI We'll show you where it's at So c'mon let me entertain you

Let me entertain you Let me entertain you Let me entertain you

Just take a look at the menu We give you rock a la carte We'll Breakfast at Tiffany’s We'll sing to you in Japanese We're only here to entertain you

If you want to see some action You get nothing but the best The S & M attraction We've got the pleasure chest Chicago down in New Orleans We get you on the line If you dig the New York scene

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We'll have a son of a bitch of a time

C'mon let me entertain Let me entertain Let me entertain you tonight

Play The Game (The Game Open up your mind and let me step inside Rest your weary head and let your heart decide It's so easy when you know the rules It's so easy all you have to do Is fall in love Play the game Everybody play the game of love When you're feeling down and your resistance is low Light another cigarette and let yourself go This is your life Don’t play hard to get It's a free world All you have to do is fall in love Play the game, everybody play the game of love My game of love has just begun Love runs from my head down to my toes My love is pumping through my veins Driving me insane Come come come play the game This is your life – don't play hard to get It's a free world all you have to do is fall in love Play the game

Body Language (Hot Space) Give me, body – give me – body – body – give me your body Don't talk, Baby don't talk

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Body language Give me your body Just give me your body Don't talk Body language You got red lips Snakes in your eyes Long legs, great thighs You've got the cutest ass I've ever seen Knock me down for a six anytime Look at me – I gotta case of body language Body language – body language – yeah Sexy body, sexy, sexy body I want your body Baby you're hot Body language hah

It’s A Hard Life (The Works) I don't want my freedom There's no reason for living with a broken heart.

This is a tricky situation – I've only got myself to blame It's just a simple fact of life It can happen to anyone –

You win – you lose It's a chance you have to take with love Oh yeah – I fell in love But now you say it's over and I'm falling apart.

It's a hard life To be true lovers together To love and live forever in each others hearts – It's a long hard fight

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To learn to care for each other To trust in one another right from the start When you're in love –

I try and mend the broken pieces I try to fight back the tears They say it's just a state of mind But it happens to everyone –

How it hurts – deep inside When your love has cut you down to size This life is tough – on your own Now I'm waiting for something to fall from the skies Waiting for love.

Yes it's a hard life Two lovers together To love and live forever in each others hearts It's a long hard fight To learn to care for each other To trust in one another – right from the start When you're in love – Yes it's a hard life In a world that's filled with sorrow There are people searching for love in every way –

It's a long hard fight – But I'll always live for tomorrow I'll look back on myself and say I did it for love Yes I did it for love – for love – oh I did it for love.

May Tie Your Mother Down (A Day At The Races) (“Sheer bloody poetry” – The Times) Get your party gown

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Get your pigtail down Get your heart beatin' baby Got my timin' right Got my act all tight It's gotta be tonight my little Schoolbabe

Your mamma says you don't And your Daddy says you won't And I'm boilin' up inside Ain't no way I'm gonna lose out this time

Tie your Mother down Tie your Mother down Lock your Daddy out of doors I don't need him nosin' around Tie your Mother down Tie your Mother down Give me all your love tonight

You're such a dirty louse Go get outta my house That's all I ever get from your Family ties, in fact I don't think I ever heard A single little civil word from those guys But you know I don't give a light I'm gonna make out all right I've got a sweetheart hand To put a stop to all that Grousin’ an’ snipin’

Tie your Mother down Tie your Mother down Take your little brother swimmin' With a brick (that's all right) Tie your Mother down,

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Tie your Mother down Or you ain't no friend of mine

Your mamma and your Daddy gonna Plague me till I die Why can't they understand I'm just a Peace lovin' guy Tie your Mother down Tie your Mother down Get that big big big big big big daddy out of doors Tie your Mother down Tie your Mother down Give me all your love tonight All your love tonight

Give me every inch of your love All your love tonight Yeah, gotta get my timin' right hey Ooh, all your love Tonight

White Man (A Day At The Races) I'm a simple man With a simple name From this soil my people came In this soil remain Oh yeah…

And we made us our shoes And we trod soft on the land But the immigrant built roads On our blood and sand Oh yeah…

White man, white man

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Don't you see the light behind your blackened skies White man, white man You took away sight to blind my simple eyes White man, white man Where you gonna hide From the hell you've made?

Oh the red man knows war With his hands and his knives On the Bible you swore Fought your battle with lies Oh yeah…

Leave my body in shame Leave my soul in disgrace But by every God's name Say your prayers for your race

White man, white man Our country was green and all our rivers wide White man, white man You came with a gun and soon our children died White man, white man Don't you give a light for the blood you've shed

Oh White man, White man (White man) White man, White man Fought your battle with lies, yeah White man, White man - but weren't too civilised yeah White man, White man Take a look around Every skin and bone Come on get it

What is left of your dream? Just the words on your stone

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A man who learned how to teach Then forgot how to learn Oh yeah

Sleeping On The Sidewalk (News Of The World) I was nothin' but a city boy My trumpet was my only toy I've been blowin' my horn Since I knew I was born But there ain't no nobody wants to know

I've been Sleepin' on the sidewalk Rollin' down the road I may get hungry But I sure don't want to go home

So round the corner comes a limousine And the biggest grin I ever seen Come on sonny won't you sign Right along the dotted line What you sayin' Are you playin' Sure you don't mean me?

Sleepin' on the sidewalk Rollin' down the road I may get hungry But I sure don't wanna go home

(tell you what happened...)

They took me to a room without a table They said "blow your trumpet into here" I played around as well as I was able And soon we had the record of the year

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I was a legend all through the land I was blowin' to a million fans Nothin' was a-missin' All the people want to listen You'd have thought I was a happy man

And I was Sleepin' like a princess Never touch the road I don't get hungry And I sure don't want to go home (have to have some fun...)

Now they tell me that I ain't so fashionable An’ I owe the man a million bucks a year So I told 'em where to stick the fancy label It's just me and the road from here

Back to playin' and layin' I'm back on the game

Sleepin' on the sidewalk Rollin' down the road I sure get hungry and I sure do wanna go home (Yeah)

Leaving Home Ain’t Easy (Jazz) I take a step outside And I breathe the air And I slam the door And I'm on my way I won't lay no blame I won't call you names 'cause I've made my break And I won't look back

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I've turned my back On those endless games

I'm all through with ties I'm all tired of tears I'm a happy man Don't it look that way? Shakin' dust from my shoes There's a road ahead And there's no way back home (no way back home) Oh but I have to say

Leavin' home ain't easy Oh I never thought it would be easy Leavin' on your own Oh there is a million things calling me back Leavin' home ain't easy On the one you're leavin' home

Stay, my love My love, please stay Don't stray, my love What's wrong my love What's right my love

Oh leavin' home ain't easy I thought how could I think of leavin'? Leavin' on your own Still tryin' to persuade me that Leaving home ain't necessarily The only way

Leavin' home ain't easy But may be the only way

Dancer (Hot Space)

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I'm not invited to the party Been sitting here all night I'm all alone here at the party I don't feel all right Ain't got no black coat Ain't got no tie I gotta shape up now You gotta know why Dancer, Dancer I can't live with it I'm gonna die without it Dancer, Dancer Ain't no doubt about it Dancer, Dancer Why don't you kick off your dancing shoes And come along with me You're the life and soul of the funk-tion It took me all night To get hold of the right introduction Blew me out of sight I taste your lipstick I look in your eyes You feel fantastic My body cries (CHORUS) (HOT SPACE) Dancer, Dancer Oh I can't believe your dancing Dancer, ha dancer Can't take you home, can't take you dancing Dancer, Dancer, dance the night away

Put Out The Fire (Hot Space) They called him a hero In the land of the free But he wouldn't shake my hand boy

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He disappointed me So I got my handgun And I blew him away That critter was a bad guy I had to make him pay You might fear for my reason I don't care what they say Look out baby it's the season For the mad masquerade Put out the fire You need a bullet like a hole in the head Put out the fire Don't believe what your granddaddy said She was my lover It was a shame that she died But the constitution's right on my side Cos I caught my lover in my neighbour's bed I got retribution, filled 'em all full of lead I've been told it's the fashion To let me on the streets again It's nothing but a crime of passion And I'm not to blame Put out the fire You need a weapon like a hole in the head Put out the fire And let your sons and your daughters Sleep sound in their beds You know a gun never killed nobody You can ask anyone People get shot by people People with guns Put out the fire You need a gun like a hole in the head Put out the fire Just tell me that old fashioned gun law!!!!!! is dead

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Tear It Up (The Works) Are you ready? – well are you ready?

Give me your mind baby give me your body Give me some time baby let's have a party It ain't no time for sleepin' baby Soon it's round your street I'm creeping - You better be ready -

We gonna Tear it up Stir it up Break it up – Baby –

You gotta Tear it up Shake it up Make it up – as you go along.

Tear it up Square it up Wake it up – Baby.

Tear it up Stir it up Stake it out – and you can't go wrong.

(Hey) I love cos you're sweet and I love you cos you're naughty I love you for your mind but give me your body I wanna be a toy at your birthday party Wind me up – wind me up – wind me up – let me go –

Tear it up Stir it up Break it up – let me go.

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Tear it up Shake it up Make it up – as you go along.

Tear it up Turn it up Burn it up.

Are you ready (Oh yeah) Baby baby baby are you ready for me? (Oh yeah) Baby baby baby are you ready for love? (Oh yeah) Are you ready – are you ready – are you ready for me? (Oh yeah) I love you so near, I love you so far I gotta tell you baby you're driving me Ga Ga

Taylor Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll (Queen) Had to make do with a worn out rock and roll scene The old bop is getting tired need a rest Well you know what I mean Fifty eight that was great But it's over now and that's all Something harder's coming up Gonna really knock a hole in the wall Gonna hit ya grab ya hard Make you feel ten feet tall

Well I hope that this baby's gonna come along soon You don't know it could happen any old rainy afternoon With the temperature down And the jukebox blowing no fuse And my musical life's feeling Like a long sunday school cruise And you know there's one thing

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Every single body could use Yeah listen to me baby Let me tell you what it's all about

Modern times rock and roll Modern times rock and roll

Get your high heeled guitar style boots and some groovy clothes Get a hair piece on your chest And a ring through your nose Find a nice little man who says He's gonna make you a real big star Stars in your eyes ants in your pants Think you should go far Everybody in this bum sucking world's Gonna know who you are Look out

Modern times rock and roll

Tenement Funster (Sheer Heart Attack) My new purple shoes, bin' amazin’ the people next door And my rock 'n' roll 45's, bin' enragin’ the folks on the lower floor

I got a way with the girls on my block Try my best be a real individual And when we go down to Smokies and rock They line up like it's some kinda ritual

Oh give me a good guitar, and you can say that my hair's a disgrace Or, just find me an open car, I'll make the speed of light outta this place

I like the good things in life But most of the best things ain't free And this same situation, just cuts like a knife

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When you're young, and you're poor, and you're crazy

But oh, give me a good guitar, and you can say that my hair's a disgrace Or, just give me an open car, I'll make the speed of light outta this place

I’m In Love With My Car (A Night At The Opera) (Dedicated to Johnathan Harris, boy racer to the end) The machine of a dream, such a clean machine With the pistons a pumpin', and the hubcaps all gleam. When I'm holding your wheel,

All I hear is your gear, With my hand’s on your grease gun, Oh it's like a disease son, I'm in love with my car, gotta feel for my automobile, Get a grip on my boy racer rollbar, Such a thrill when your radials squeal.

Told my girl I'd have to forget her, Rather buy me a new carburettor, So she made tracks sayin’ this is the end now, Cars don't talk back they're just four wheeled friends now,

When I'm holding your wheel, All I hear is your gear, When I'm cruisin' in overdrive, Don't have to listen to no run of the mill talk jive,

I'm in love with my car, gotta feel for my automobile, I'm in love with my car, string back gloves in my automolove!

Fight From The Inside (News Of The World) Hey you boy, hey you Hey you boy, think that you know what you're doing You think you're gonna set things to rights

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You're just another picture on a teenage wall You're just another sucker ready for a fall

You gotta. Fight from the inside Attack from the rear Fight from the inside You can't win with your hands tied Fight from the inside Fight from the inside Right down the line -

Hey you boy think that you know what you're doing You think that out in the streets is all free You're just another, money-spinner tool You're just another, fool

You gotta, Fight from the inside Attack from the rear Fight from the inside You can't win with your hands tied Fight from the inside Fight from the inside Right down the line -

More Of That Jazz (Jazz) If you're feeling tired and only Uninspired and lonely If you're thinking How the days seem long All you're given Is what you've been given A thousand times before

Just more more More of that jazz

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More No more of that jazz Gimme no more No more of that jazz

Only football Gives us thrills Rock and roll just pays the bills Only our team is the real team Bring out the dogs Get on your feet Lie on the floor Kinda think I've heard that line before

Just more More of that jazz More No more of that jazz Gimme no more No more of that jazz

Oh no matter Fool got no business hanging round and tellin' lies Bicycle races are coming your way If you can't beat 'em join ‘em Fun it Oh you gonna let it all hang out Fat bottomed girls you make the rocking world go round

No more No more No more of that jazz

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Rock It (prime jive) (The Game) When I hear that rock and roll, It gets down to my soul, When it's real rock and roll, oh rock and roll.

When I hear that rock and roll It gets down to my soul When it's real rock and roll, oh rock and roll Oh Oh, Oh Oh, You really think they like to rock in space? Well I don't know

What do you know? What do you hear? On the radio Coming through the air I said Mama I ain't crazy I'm alright – alright Hey, c'mon baby said it's alright To rock 'n' roll on a Saturday night I said shoot and get your suit and come along with me I said c'mon baby down come and rock with me, I said yeah.

What do you do? To get to feel alive? You go downtown And get some of that prime jive, I said Mama etc. We're gonna rock it……………………………….tonight. (We want some prime jive) (We want some prime jive) We're gonna rock it tonight C'mon honey Get some of that prime jive Get some of that, get, get down

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C'mon honey - we're gonna rock it tonight.

Radio Ga Ga (The Works) I'd sit alone and watch your light My only friend through teenage nights And everything I had to know I heard it on my radio Radio.

You gave them all those old time stars Through wars of worlds – invaded by Mars You made 'em laugh – you made 'em cry You made us feel like we could fly.

So don't become some background noise A backdrop for the girls and boys Who just don't know or just don't care And just complain when you're not there You had your time, you had the power You've yet to have your finest hour Radio.

All we hear is Radio ga ga Radio goo goo Radio ga ga All we hear is Radio ga ga Radio blah blah Radio what's new? Radio, someone still loves you!

We watch the shows – we watch the stars On videos for hours and hours We hardly need to use our ears How music changes through the years.

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Let's hope you never leave old friend Like all good things on you we depend So stick around cos we might miss you When we grow tired of all this visual You had your time – you had the power You've yet to have your finest hour Radio – Radio.

All we hear is Radio ga ga Radio goo goo Radio ga ga All we hear is Radio ga ga Radio goo goo Radio ga ga All we hear is Radio ga ga Radio blah blah Radio what's new? Radio, someone still loves you!

Deacon Misfire (Sheer Heart Attack) Don't you misfire Fill me up With the desire To carry on Don't you know honey, that love's a game It's always hit or miss, so take your aim Got to hold on tight, shoot me out of sight Don't you misfire… Don't you misfire… Your gun is loaded, and pointing my way There's only one bullet, so don't delay Got to time it right, fire me through the night Come on, take a shot Fire me higher

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Don't you miss this time Please don't misfire, misfire

You're My Best Friend (A Night at the Opera) Ooo, you make me live Whatever this world can give to me It's you, you're all I see Ooo, you make me live now honey Ooo, you make me live

You're the best friend That I ever had I've been with you such a long time You're my sunshine And I want you to know That my feelings are true I really love you You're my best friend

Ooo, you make me live

I've been wandering round But I still come back to you In rain or shine You've stood by me girl I'm happy, happy at home You're my best friend

Ooo, you make me live Whenever this world is cruel to me I got you, to help me forgive Ooo, you make me live now honey Ooo, you make me live

You're the first one

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When things turn out bad You know I'll never be lonely You're my only one And I love the things I really love the things that you do You're my best friend

Ooo, you make me live

I'm happy, happy at home You're my best friend You're my best friend Ooo, you make me live You, you're my best friend

You And I (A Day at the Races) Music is playing in the darkness And a lantern goes swinging by Shadows flickering My heart's jittering Just you and I

Not tonight Come tomorrow When everything's sunny and bright No no no Come tomorrow Cos then we'll be waiting for the moonlight

We'll go walking in the moonlight Walking in the moonlight

Laughter ringing in the darkness People drinking for days gone by Time don't mean a thing

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When you're by my side Please stay a while

You know I never could foresee the future years You know I never could see where life was leading me But will we be together for ever What will be my love, can't you see that I just don't know

No no not tonight Come tomorrow When everything's gonna be alright Wait and see If tomorrow We'll be as happy as we're feeling tonight

We'll go walking in the moonlight Walking in the moonlight

I can hear the music in the darkness Floating softly to where to lie No more questions now Let's enjoy tonight Just you and I Just you and I

Who Needs You (News of the World) I make it half past six you come at seven Always trying to keep me, hanging round You little spoilt thing, girl you kept me waiting Never contemplating my point of view This comes as no surprise I'm a fool, for I believed your lies But now I've seen through your disguise Who needs, well I don't need, who needs you?

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Oh I believed you Went on my knees to you How I trusted you But you turned me down But it's dog eat dog in this rat race And it leaves you bleeding lying flat on your face Reaching out, reaching out for a helping hand Where is that helping hand?

How I was pushed around "Don't let it get you down" You walked all over me "But don't you ever give in" Taking one step forward, slipping two steps back There's an empty feeling that you can't forget Reaching out, reaching out for a helping hand

When I met you, you were always charming Couldn't sleep at night ‘till you were mine You were oh so so sophisticated Never interested in what I'd say I had to swallow my pride So naive, you took me for a ride But now I'm the one to decide Who needs, well I don't need, who needs you?

If You Can’t Beat Them (Jazz) Keep your chin up when you're feeling lonely Don't let ‘em get you down Ain't no use in you sitting all alone Hanging around For someone to call They won't come knocking at all Don't run and hide Even if it hurts you inside

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So I said Give as good as you get yeah

If you can't beat them join 'em You’d better do it cos it makes you feel good If you can't beat 'em, join 'em You're never gonna help yourself

Come on go, get up, hey Sure feels good

Keep your big hands off my money Don't try and pull me down You're taking me out to wine and dine me Trying to wind me round and around And bind me to your legal contract Rumour has it that you can play it dirty

I'll tell you what I'll do about that, that yeah I'll play you at your own game

If you can't beat them join them You’d better do it cos it makes you feel good If you can't beat 'em, join 'em You're never gonna help yourself yeah

That's good Play it again

If you can't beat 'em join them You’d better do it cos it makes you feel good If you can't beat 'em, join 'em It's everyone for themselves

In Only Seven Days (Jazz)

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Monday Start of my holiday Freedom for just one week Feels good to get away

Tuesday Saw her down on the beach I stood and watched a while She looked and smiled at me

Wednesday I didn't see her I hoped that she'd be back tomorrow

And then on Thursday My luck had changed She stood there all alone I went and asked her name I never thought that this could happen to me In only seven days It would take a hundred or more For memories to fade I wish Friday Would last forever I held her close to me I couldn't bear to leave her there

Saturday Just twenty-four hours Oh no I'm going back home on Sunday

Oh so sad alone

Need Your Loving Tonight (The Game)

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No I'll never, look back in anger, No I'll never, find me an answer, You promised me, you'd keep in touch I read your letter and it hurt me so much I said I'd never, never be angry with you

I don't wanna feel like a stranger Cos I'd rather stay out of danger I read your letter so many times I got your meaning between the lines I said I'd never, never be angry with you

I must be strong so she won't know how much I miss her

I only hope as time goes on, I'll forget her My body's aching, can't sleep at night I'm too exhausted to start a fight And if I see her with another guy I'll eat my heart out 'cos I love her, Love her, love her, love her

Come on baby, let's get together I'll love you baby, I'll love you forever I'm trying hard, to stay away What made you change, what did I say? Ooh I need your loving tonight

No I'll never look back in anger No I'll never find me an answer Gave me no warning, how could I guess I'll have to learn to forgive and forget Oo I need your loving Oo I need your loving Oo I need your loving tonight

Back Chat (Hot Space)

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Back Chat Back Chat You burn all my energy Back Chat Back Chat Criticising all you see Back Chat Back Chat Analysing what I say Back Chat Back Chat And you always get your way Oh yeah see what you've done to me Back Chat Back Chat You're driving me insane It's a battle to the end, knock you down you come again Talk back, talk back you've got me on the rack Twisting every word I say Wind me up and get your way Fat chance I have of making a romance If I'm ever going to win I'll have to get the last word in Take it from there Twisting every word I say Wind me up and get your way Back Chat Back Chat You burn all my energy Back Chat Back Chat Criticising all you see Back Chat Back Chat Analysing what I say Back Chat Back Chat And you always get your way Wake up stand up and drag yourself on out Get down get ready Scream and shout Back off, be cool And learn to change your ways Cos you're talking in your sleep

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And you're walking in a daze Don't push your luck I'm ready to attack Cos when I'm trying to talk to you All you do is just talk back You stand so tall, you don't frighten me at all Don't talk back, don't talk back, don't talk back Just leave me alone Back Chat Back Chat You burn all my energy Back Chat Back Chat Criticising all you see Back Chat Back Chat Analysing what I say Back Chat Back Chat And you always get your way Yes you do…

I Want To Break Free (The Works) I want to break free I want to break free I want to break free from your lies You're so self satisfied I don't need you I've got to break free God knows, God knows I want to break free.

I've fallen in love I've fallen in love for the first time And this time I know it's for real I've fallen in love, yeah God knows, God knows I've fallen in love

It's strange but it's true I can't get over the way you love me like you do But I have to be sure

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When I walk out that door Oh how I want to be free, baby Oh how I want to be free, Oh how I want to break free.

But life still goes on I can't get used to, living without, living without, Living without you by my side I don't want to live alone, hey God knows, got to make it on my own So baby can't you see I've got to break free.

I've got to break free I want to break free, yeah I want, I want, I want, I want to break free.

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