This song where Brian says they realized just how beautifully Freddie could play the piano. "Someone, someone has drained the colour from my wings." Lord what a sad yet gorgeous lyric.
Another great reaction and analysis, I had a feeling you would enjoy this song! This is really Freddie's first epic type of song, I would say this is more progressive rock, but it can difficult to assign clear genres to some music. It is one of my personal favourites. From my perspective, the start of this song is like the opposite of the Great King Rat, this song start off incredibly whimsical and magical. We have changed Kings, but for all of his beauty and magical qualities, the Fairy King is not a good King, he loses the kingdom, though his pride. The beginning falsetto at the start is Roger Taylor, he had a great falsetto in the early 70's which was often used. Roger was a good singer, he had the most formal singing education out of everyone in the band. He received a scholarship to sing in the choir of a prestigious school because of his falsetto. As you heard it is a very distinct sound. Freddie also had a very high falsetto, but his falsetto sounded far more like his normal voice. (which is what singers usually want, singers often don't want people to notice that they using falsetto.) The section at the end is definitely more personal. It might go back to Freddie's days in boarding school, he did not always have the greatest of time in his boarding school, there are some stories and rumours out there, but I will not go into them. Just in general he had a very unusual childhood and different experiences. He was born on the coast of Africa, and at the age of seven he was sent away to a boarding school in India thousands of miles away, he took a boat ride alone to India that took a few weeks. People would not send their 7 year old alone on a boat ride to India these days, (but it wasn't that unusual at the time). From the age of 7 - 16, he only saw his parents about 3 times. A year after he had returned to Zanzibar a revolution broke out, and his family had to fled the island. Compared to most people that is a very different childhood which can lead to very different experiences. The name Mercury is from Roman mythology, Mercury was the messenger to the gods. Freddie studied a lot this material at his British boarding school. (Later on Freddie had small wings on his costume, as in the messenger of the gods.) And a lot of people believe that My Fairy King was referenced in the The Show Must Go, from Queen's last album (Innuendo) when Freddie was still alive. Because the lyrics are "My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies. Fairytales of yesterday may grow but never die. I can fly, my friends."
Good reaction. These early songs have an experimental quality to them, which makes one appreciate what's to come. Fred started playing piano as a child in Zanzabar, where he was born, then went to a British boarding school in India where he had a band called the Hectics. [Btw, the title font is on the hard-to-read side, particularly for mobile devices. Note, your Queen listening demographic is much older than you think. A lot of us listeners were there in 1973 and delight in watching people discover Queen.]
My Fairy King is in my top 5 Queen songs!! I went on a listening binge and fell in love with the song. The lyric “Mother Mercury …” is where Freddie got the idea to legally change his last name to Mercury. Freddie was born Farrokh Bulsara September 5, 1946 in Stone Town, Tanzania (Island of Zanzibar). His parents are Parsi-Indian & after fleeing the Zanzibar revolution, moved to Middlesex, England. Several early Queen songs are reminiscent of fantasy stories written by Freddie. So many unpopular Queen gems in their discography. 💎🏆🥇🗝 🎼
The high vocals are indeed Roger Taylor ❤️ I read that the lyrics Mother Mercury look what they have done to me inspired Freddie to take the name Mercury x I love the song the whole album is amazing 🤩
About 15km east of Stone Town, near the village of Tunguu, lie the rusting remains of an American Satellite Tracking Station. This Station was built in 1960 to track and communicate with the first American manned Space Missions. It functioned first during the early 'Project Mercury' launches when Astronauts were just shot into space in a parabolic arc from Florida to the other side of Africa. It also lay along the "Earth track" of most of the later Orbital missions and thus was a vital part of the tracking and telemetry net that helped communicate with these space craft. Freddie could see it from his home in Stone Town
"Seven Seas of Rhye" and "Lily of the Valley" act sort of as sequels to this fantasy piece, but lots of early freddie stuff references a sort of trauma and loss of innocence
Robert Browning's poem "The Pied Piper" inspired this song and lines are directly taken from the poem, Dark times indeed my friend. All utopias fail and all good times must be counterpoint against the bad or we live in a drab ol’ world. Love the insightful reactions. Of special not of this song (and many Queen songs) is their use of the Stereo Space moving left to right and all places in between to add character and nuance to the music while making sound fuller or sparser.
Love it!! I love the way you describe it as being an evolution I did read that there was a NASA station in or near Zanzibar where he could see the tower and it was marked Mercury -- would like to fact-check that as it would explain why a young boy playing on a beach would have fun fantasies
About 15km east of Stone Town, near the village of Tunguu, lie the rusting remains of an American Satellite Tracking Station. This Station was built in 1960 to track and communicate with the first American manned Space Missions. It functioned first during the early 'Project Mercury' launches when Astronauts were just shot into space in a parabolic arc from Florida to the other side of Africa. It also lay along the "Earth track" of most of the later Orbital missions and thus was a vital part of the tracking and telemetry net that helped communicate with these space craft. You are correct
Quote Freddie returned to Zanzibar in 1963 - the year it gained independence from Britain - and completed his last years of education at the Roman Catholic St Joseph's Convent School, Lesley-Ann Jones writes in her biography. A friend from that time recalled to Jones how they used to go swimming in the sea after school, or take bike rides out to beaches further south. 🎵 x Mercury... Fantasy in lyrics and dreams of a legacy
This song where Brian says they realized just how beautifully Freddie could play the piano. "Someone, someone has drained the colour from my wings." Lord what a sad yet gorgeous lyric.
Referenced his wings again in The Show Must Go On
Love this song, your a great reactor, I believe the really really high notes was Roger the drummer.
Another great reaction and analysis, I had a feeling you would enjoy this song! This is really Freddie's first epic type of song, I would say this is more progressive rock, but it can difficult to assign clear genres to some music. It is one of my personal favourites. From my perspective, the start of this song is like the opposite of the Great King Rat, this song start off incredibly whimsical and magical. We have changed Kings, but for all of his beauty and magical qualities, the Fairy King is not a good King, he loses the kingdom, though his pride. The beginning falsetto at the start is Roger Taylor, he had a great falsetto in the early 70's which was often used. Roger was a good singer, he had the most formal singing education out of everyone in the band. He received a scholarship to sing in the choir of a prestigious school because of his falsetto. As you heard it is a very distinct sound. Freddie also had a very high falsetto, but his falsetto sounded far more like his normal voice. (which is what singers usually want, singers often don't want people to notice that they using falsetto.)
The section at the end is definitely more personal. It might go back to Freddie's days in boarding school, he did not always have the greatest of time in his boarding school, there are some stories and rumours out there, but I will not go into them. Just in general he had a very unusual childhood and different experiences. He was born on the coast of Africa, and at the age of seven he was sent away to a boarding school in India thousands of miles away, he took a boat ride alone to India that took a few weeks. People would not send their 7 year old alone on a boat ride to India these days, (but it wasn't that unusual at the time). From the age of 7 - 16, he only saw his parents about 3 times. A year after he had returned to Zanzibar a revolution broke out, and his family had to fled the island. Compared to most people that is a very different childhood which can lead to very different experiences.
The name Mercury is from Roman mythology, Mercury was the messenger to the gods. Freddie studied a lot this material at his British boarding school. (Later on Freddie had small wings on his costume, as in the messenger of the gods.)
And a lot of people believe that My Fairy King was referenced in the The Show Must Go, from Queen's last album (Innuendo) when Freddie was still alive. Because the lyrics are "My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies. Fairytales of yesterday may grow but never die. I can fly, my friends."
Good reaction. These early songs have an experimental quality to them, which makes one appreciate what's to come. Fred started playing piano as a child in Zanzabar, where he was born, then went to a British boarding school in India where he had a band called the Hectics. [Btw, the title font is on the hard-to-read side, particularly for mobile devices. Note, your Queen listening demographic is much older than you think. A lot of us listeners were there in 1973 and delight in watching people discover Queen.]
Freddie started playing piano whilst he was in India.
My Fairy King is in my top 5 Queen songs!! I went on a listening binge and fell in love with the song. The lyric “Mother Mercury …” is where Freddie got the idea to legally change his last name to Mercury. Freddie was born Farrokh Bulsara September 5, 1946 in Stone Town, Tanzania (Island of Zanzibar). His parents are Parsi-Indian & after fleeing the Zanzibar revolution, moved to Middlesex, England. Several early Queen songs are reminiscent of fantasy stories written by Freddie. So many unpopular Queen gems in their discography. 💎🏆🥇🗝 🎼
The line that always hits me the hardest is somebody draining the color from my wings
I really love early Queen so much. Their music great in all years, but early is fantastic. Great reaction.
The high vocals are indeed Roger Taylor ❤️ I read that the lyrics Mother Mercury look what they have done to me inspired Freddie to take the name Mercury x I love the song the whole album is amazing 🤩
About 15km east of Stone Town, near the village of Tunguu, lie the rusting remains of an American Satellite Tracking Station. This Station was built in 1960 to track and communicate with the first American manned Space Missions. It functioned first during the early 'Project Mercury' launches when Astronauts were just shot into space in a parabolic arc from Florida to the other side of Africa. It also lay along the "Earth track" of most of the later Orbital missions and thus was a vital part of the tracking and telemetry net that helped communicate with these space craft.
Freddie could see it from his home in Stone Town
Love your breakdowns, love the order your going in…
Roger sang the high note. He is called the dog whistle. Can’t believe this is just their first album. Great reaction.
Freddie is a genius
"Seven Seas of Rhye" and "Lily of the Valley" act sort of as sequels to this fantasy piece, but lots of early freddie stuff references a sort of trauma and loss of innocence
Robert Browning's poem "The Pied Piper" inspired this song and lines are directly taken from the poem, Dark times indeed my friend. All utopias fail and all good times must be counterpoint against the bad or we live in a drab ol’ world. Love the insightful reactions. Of special not of this song (and many Queen songs) is their use of the Stereo Space moving left to right and all places in between to add character and nuance to the music while making sound fuller or sparser.
I love Freddie ´s world of fantasy, great song
wow! beautiful sweet Freddie!
Love it!! I love the way you describe it as being an evolution
I did read that there was a NASA station in or near Zanzibar where he could see the tower and it was marked Mercury -- would like to fact-check that as it would explain why a young boy playing on a beach would have fun fantasies
About 15km east of Stone Town, near the village of Tunguu, lie the rusting remains of an American Satellite Tracking Station. This Station was built in 1960 to track and communicate with the first American manned Space Missions. It functioned first during the early 'Project Mercury' launches when Astronauts were just shot into space in a parabolic arc from Florida to the other side of Africa. It also lay along the "Earth track" of most of the later Orbital missions and thus was a vital part of the tracking and telemetry net that helped communicate with these space craft.
You are correct
Thank you for fact checking this. It explains so much!!
@@janetschulman7649 he would've been 14-ish. Makes sense.
Although he was living in India in 1960 he came back home when he was about 17.
Quote
Freddie returned to Zanzibar in 1963 - the year it gained independence from Britain - and completed his last years of education at the Roman Catholic St Joseph's Convent School, Lesley-Ann Jones writes in her biography.
A friend from that time recalled to Jones how they used to go swimming in the sea after school, or take bike rides out to beaches further south.
🎵 x Mercury... Fantasy in lyrics and dreams of a legacy
You gave an insightful review.. I will look forward to the rest of the album..
nice reaction. The really high notes are done by Roger Taylor.