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. 1 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,