Queen, I Want To Break Free - A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
- #queen #freddiemercury #johndeacon #rogertaylor #brianmay #virginrock
An expression of the powerful ties that sometimes keep us from realizing our full potential, as well as the conflicting desires at direct odds with one another that we sometimes experience, this one reminded me a bit of Spread Your Wings!
Here’s the link to the original song by Queen:
• Queen - I Want To Brea...
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Amy Shafer, LRSM, FRSM, RYC, is a classical harpist, pianist, and music teacher, Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Director of Harp Studies for The Harp School, Inc., holds multiple degrees in harp and piano performance and teaching, and is active as a solo and collaborative performer. With nearly two decades of teaching experience, she teaches privately, presents masterclasses and coaching sessions, and has performed and taught in Europe and USA.
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Credits: Music written and performed by Queen
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The official video is a must.
Oh no, not Queen AGAIN 😂... I'm joking because we had to wait ages for another Queen reaction... Hope they will be more frequent from now on ... 😅
There is a really MUST watching an official video for this song ...
Amen 👑
Every time you review a Queen song your respect and affection for the band and its members shines through. ❤
John Deacon didn't want a guitar solo on I Want To Break Free, so Canadian keyboardist Fred Mandel, who accompanied Queen live at the time and collaborated on the recording of some tracks on The Works - including Radio Gaga - was responsible by the synthesizer solo in the middle of the song. The sound is so unique that many people believe it to be another Brian May solo.
Oh wow I've listed to queen for decades but never knew that wasn't a guitar solo with a weird effect. I always remember as a kid thinking it sounded like my dad blowing his nose!
Brian May plays the solo live on guitar
The solo tone is not at all unique. Guitarists can easily nail it with a Digitec Whammy pedal :)
absolutely right ✌
@@JohnnyMegabyteCanadayeah but the original was on a synthesiser. By the way electric guitars have to have steel strings as the pick ups use electromagneticism
This is the album version. The single version, also used in the video, has an extended intro, played by Brian on a Yamaha DX7 as well as some guitar licks. By the way, the solo was played on a synthesizer by session keyboardist Fred Mandel Brian plays it on a guitar on live performances.
the album version is shorter than the single. you're thinking of the Extended Version
Brian didn't play the synthesiser here. All keyboards on this song were done by Mandel.
I definitely had picked up on things here I had never noticed before - but it was only when you mentioned the intro that I realised it was missing in this version!
That intro also would've had quite a bit of May's typical lead guitar sound in it! 🙂
I think Brian May uses an 'envelope filter' pedal, or rack effect to get that tone for the solo. It sounds pretty close to the original.
@@JohnnyMegabyteCanadahe is referring to the Single Version
Remember, sometimes the "art" includes the video... Not always. But some are meant to complement.
Talking about John Deacon
Freddie Mercury
"John is the anchor of the band." ('70s)
"If God forsakes us now the rest of the group won't do anything unless John says it's all right."
"He's sort of quiet, lots of people think that. Don't underestimate him, he's got a fiery streak underneath all that. I talk so much anyway, he like to let me do all the talking. But once people crack that thin ice, then he's alright. (You can never stop him talking then)." (1976)
This song gave Queen the honor of having their second video banned from MTV back in 1984 due to the cross-dressing. Their song Body Language gave them the honor of having the first video ever banned from MTV back in 1982 due to too much exposed flesh and sexual innuendo. My how times have changed!
It really is amazing how the USA always reacts to - literally - the stuff your granny would take the grandkids to see in the UK.
@@eh1702 The US at the time, and even now for certain topics, are weird about so many things lol
@@timfeeley714-25 Yes. Times have changed. Now MTV has nothing to do with music. 😁
They weren't banned on MTV in Europe. Let's make that EXTREMELY clear.
@@eh1702 They're puritan scum. With lots of money, unfortunately.
great song 👍 I know you don't usually do it but you need to watch the video
This times 1000
Yes 😂😂😂
Hi Amy 🌷 The video is silly and fun ! Not at all sleazy. Strange that it caused so much controversy when you think of some of the movies and tv shows. I bet you will NOT be insulted or shocked in any way . Love your channel SO MUCH Thank you !!!
Never heard this version before. I find the one used on the official video far superior.
The intro to the video version is iconic for me . Unique..
I love this song, but generally my favourite era of Queen was their first 5 albums, but I appreciate they needed and continued to innovate throughout the career.
My now 75 years old mother loves this song. She speaks no english and just calls it "Das Staubsaugerlied" .. means the "vacuum cleaner song". (because of the vid). Its true that Queen got a lot more "modern" and mainstream with this album. But I still love it. And it brought a whole new bunch of audience to their music
"Das Staubsaugerlied", wie schön! 😊
Meine eigene Mutter hatte ebenfalls sowas draufgehabt, wenn 's um Englisches ging, welches auch sie nicht selbst gesprochen hatte 😊
Finally a new Queen song. A John Deacon song too sung by the gorgeous Freddie Mercury’s voice. I’m in heaven listening and watching you react! ❤ This song is so catchy and well done and the more you listen to it the better you like it! Thanks 🙏
I remember not liking it at all at the time it was released as a Single, and especially in comparison with the Hit they'd just had with 'Radio Ga Ga'! 😅
Which is rather strange, because I did love it in the end too, and still do today! 😊
Fred Mandel did the synthesizer solo. John didn't want a guitar solo. Brian wasn't happy but gave it his blessing. Live though, Brian does a wonderful guitar solo The 80s songs take on a different life when played live. Queen were always a rock band and they never changed that. The video is hilarious and is a must see. The band have an absolute blast. Thanks!
I don't expect you to love every Queen song you hear, but I'm fed up with Queen fans who dismiss their 80s output in favour of their 70s heyday.
What Queen lost in terms of complexity, they made up for in terms of minimalist immediacy and strong melodies.
Although I do prefer their earlier stuff, just like with the band Genesis, what Queen managed to do when going more "commercial" was hugely
impressive. After all, it may be difficult to write a complex arrangement, but it can be even more difficult to say everything you want to say with
just a few, choice notes and words. To strip down everything to its essence and still remain enormously successful. That's not easy to do.
Also, it wasn't Brian May who played the synth solo. It was Fred Mandel; a studio musician.
Agree, except Innuendo, when they got back to their '70 roots. Ps (not specially for you), but every band/artist who brings out their music for sale is commercial; they also have to make a living.
The video for this single proved to be too free for the land of the free.
Thee was a joke when the song was popular.
Freddie and George Michael are in Jail and suddenly Freddie sings; "I want to break free!"
George replies, "Wake me up before you go go!"
the irony is people thought it was a Freddie penned song
OMG, I totally forgot about that! 😂
Queen had always tried to make their music unique and different from anyone else and that is what I like about them. According to the song facts website, John Deacon wrote this from the male perspective of the women's liberation movement. I found the music video to this song funny and artistically put together in my personal opinion.
Many people back then thought Freddie wrote the song and thought it was Freddie's idea for the video; obviously it wasn't. I think the MTV censorship back then were closed minded in banning the video from airing, I remember watching it long ago on another video channel and I found it to be funny at the time.
I grew up in the last part of the 60s to now and here in California we grew up watching shows that had a guest comedian Milton Berle who was known for crossdressing as a lady sometimes for his skits and people laughed and thought that was hilarious! I did too. We also watched the Flip Wilson show, another comedian in the late 60s to early 70s and Flip Wilson also had a skit dressing up as a woman he named Geraldine. What I thought was odd back then was when this song was released in 1984, it got banned on MTV, and yet, the song Round and Round by Ratt was released in 1984 too and MTV censorship had no problem airing that on MTV; Marshall Berle had his uncle Milton Berle appear on that video who portrayed both a man and a lady. Double standard? Anyway, I think drummer Roger Taylor came out looking glamours in that video. Ha! Nowadays we can watch it on RUclips and enjoy it even more. Times have changed a lot since then. ☮
Ha!... I think this is a rare example of a situation where you need to watch the video BEFORE you listen to the song 'for the first time'......
..... It's SO crucial to the experience......!!!
A shame it's not the full version of the song, but it's still an amazing reaction!
you're thinking of the Extended Version. the album version is shorter than the single.
This was the first Queen song I could sing by heart.
The debate over the guitar solo caused a lot of consternation, meaning the guitar synth solo, if Brian didn't play it, and Fred Mandel did play it, hats off to Fred for mimicking Brian's phrasing.
And another John Deacon song.
Brian May's 77th birthday was yesterday.
Dr. Brian May.
He had a very long sabbatical before finishing his PhD - took some time off to gig with his band - but he has his doctorate in astrophysics now.
@@klaxoncowyeah we know. He’s still Bri when he’s playing.
@@sergeinester6261Yep ✌🏼
This is one of those songs where watching the music video is necessary.
... absolutely CRUCIAL.... completely transforms the experience.....!!!
@@andymccabe6712 Completely!
Your right about the song, thats why you need the video.
4:18 no no no This is one of more loved songs of Queen; Have it all, voice, drums guitar and bass and it all flows like a fresh wind
im only a part time queen fan in fact I love their different tunes , but this isn't different at all, its simply 1 of their best tunes period. I thought they hit beatles musicianship with this one. Its a masterpiece. I love their 'flash arhhhhhhhhhhh' , bicycle' , fat bottom girls' etc.. its a kind of magic.
One of the very few bands brave enough to change style and succed
What's incredible to me is that Roger Taylor and John Deacon were both so rhythmically in-sync on just about EVERYTHING... but it really comes out in this song. They are like human metronomes.
What a lovely channel! Our family loves watching your amazing work! Thank you for enlightening us here in Shanghai, dear Amy and Vlad!❤❤❤❤❤❤
The video is worth your time.
Your passion is so fun. Thank you for sharing.
Mandatory see the video.
I agree with you whole heartedly in your impression of this song, and the direction that much of Queen's music took in this era. I guess I could be categorized as part of the American audience that were less enthused about the band's 80's output than what they were doing in the 70's. Still, I didn't abandon them like many of my countrymen. I continued to buy every album, looking for that magic that made me a lifelong fan.
When they adopted more synthesizers and drum machines, I missed a lot of the humanity, the musicianship, the harmonies, the compositional complexity, the nuances, the hard rock, the delicate balladry, the guitar orchestrations, the colorful drumming, the intricate bass and piano details, and other inexpressible organic qualities. The music seemed a little smaller.
Many commenters seem to be attached to the iconic video for this song. It's very entertaining, but to me it doesn't complete the song as much as is distracts from it. The lyrics are about breaking free from an oppressive relationship of some kind, triumphantly. That message is somewhat lost in the video. 80's videos had a tendency to follow their own storylines with no connection to the song's original content as the popularity of MTV dominated the music industry.
Amy, the solo is not guitar, it's a synth solo played by Fred Mandel.
Brian could have produced the same sound on the guitar. Seems John just didn't want B to do it. A little tension there?
@@judimoore1678Don’t make more of this.
Another massive hit by John and one more no-chorus song. I think John contributed to the band's success more than Roger in terms of hits and hit sales and 'magic'.🎉
I've heard a few versions of this song. This seems like the shorter radio edit. You really should check out the music video for this song. It's something to behold lol.
multiple versions exist, people enjoy the extended version, as per the video
I think this may actually be the _album_ version! 🙂
YES! I'm looking forward to this one! 😁👍
Great reaction and breakdown. ✌
I hope you share your reaction to the music video with us❤. You will find an artistic performance by Freddie, inspired by a classical ballet composition called 'Afternoon of a Faun', composed by Claude Debussy and choregraphed by Vaslav Nijinsky.
The change in the sound is really the result of musical changes in "80's" music, especially, electronic sounds. A lot of big bands from the 70's struggled to find their "new sound" in the 80's. The results were mix. For me, most times I prefer the "classic" catalogue from such bands. I find as a whole 80's music, whether created by 60's and 70's bands or new bands really doesn't stand up well in the present day the same way that "classic rock" does.
This song features session musician Fred Mandel, who plays all of the keyboard parts; he was involved with the song when it featured only a drum machine and a guitar part. The keyboard solo was done in one take on a Roland Jupiter-8 synthesizer, except the last note with a portamento down one octave, which was captured via punching in.
In the studio version the solo is played on synth. Live Brian May plays the solo on the Red Special. A bit different.
He also bottlenecks the guitar when he played it live.
Please If you can Listen to Machines( Back to Human ) off this album, I'd love your take on it, so relevant to the AI debate on going today
Freddie himself said that he had a baritone voice, however, his singing style mostly fell into the tenor voice area.
In 2016, a team of researchers studied the characteristics of Freddie's voice and found that Freddie's vocal cords vibrated faster than most people. "While ordinary vibrato fluctuated between frequencies of 5.4 Hz and 6.9 Hz, Mercury's vibrato voice reached 7.04 Hz," Consequence of Sound reported.
謝謝你。
Freddie was a tenor. That study was fraudulent. They used terrible sources and methods that is not used within vocal pedagogy. But they gained a lot of attention by using Freddie Mercury.
Well Amy your face was priceless when you said ..'' I like that ..'' to a the guitar solo ..after all this time ..we fell that you get it !!! Lol Welcome ..
It was amazing just how many guys got the hots for the girl in the short skirt washing the dishes in the video for this. Only to find out much later on that it was actually Roger Taylor...
as Brian May himself said about Roger's acting persona here... "I would..."
I think that Fred was the first "outside " person to record on a queen album! KUDOS TO HIM!!!!!!!
Have 'times' really changed? I wonder if 'we' in the World want to (let) be free?
And yes sometimes, to pretend freedom is interpreted as agression. Such brillant analysis.
The video is a lot of fun.
This was moving into the mid 80's where synthesizers were king, (as far as, 'pop music', was concerned), and so, Queen took up the mantel during this time with a couple of their singles being very synth heavy in their composition. Other tracks on the same album where more in-line with how we knew Queen, as well as other singles taken from it.
The video to this song is very interesting in that each member plays a typical archetype within soap operas, (Coronation Street being the main influence), which each member representing a generation of character. John played the oldest member, looking rather dower-faced and disinterested; Brian was the, 'bored housewife', trying hard to distract themselves with women's magazines about glamour and family life. Roger played the youngest schoolgirl, bored with doing homework, (who looked rather fetching, it has to be said as he smiles at the camera at one point), (the character being dubbed as, 'Rogerina', whenever referenced later on), and then there's Freddie, who of course, is the older adolescent who the song focuses on mostly. The dream sequences are all Freddie, with members of the ballet mentioned, doing some fantasy type sequences. It would be far easy to just watch the video than trying to describe them. A very interesting idea, but one that the US took exception to and banned from MTV. Something the band, (Freddie in particular), wasn't too pleased about.
The first song i have ever listen by Queen. So, it's very important to me.
For me it’s the second one after “Radio Ga Ga” 😊
As a gay man - this song is the reason I hoover my terraced flat in drag
Same here and i'm not even gay!
Me to (for real) - I always felt that wink was directed personally at me and it warms my heart.
😂😂😂
@@nixmixes770 the wink is my favorite part :) ❤
One of the rare examples of an album version of a song being shorter and less embellished than the single version.
Thanks, VR.. once again, I'd love to see you react to the video... or even LIVE... John wrote this... and as usual, he's dead on! Many thought this was about Freddie "coming out" as gay... but from what I have read, it was John's tribute to women's rights...lol
Also worth to mention, John Deacon played the rhythm guitar on that song. And the drums were done on a drum machine, like on Radio Ga Ga.
Yes watch the video. Great reaction
Coronation Street literally ran for four or five decades. Like most UK soaps until recently, it was about ordinary people in a working class neighborhood in a small industrial town.
Ran? Was? Wrong tense is still going. And it's based in Manchester, one of the largest cities in the UK.
@@jca111 Is it still running?! I must have been thinking of Crossroasds or whatever that one was with Benny in it.
You should see the video as well
This is better with the video, it enhances the band visually.
It fundamentally COMPLETELY transforms the experience.......!!!!
Great reaction! An interesting idea is that this song could be on the charts today, or in the top 10 on spotify. The production would need to be slightly changed towards a more compressed and slicker sound, you will need to add loads of autotune. But essentially with a bit of modification this could be a hit today. For the past two years or so, the there have been a lot of this type of 80's sounding music on the charts.
It took me some time when I first heard this song to recognize the verse is just a basic blues progression...with an absolute non-blues sound.
Hi Amy. Here are some considerations about this song:
- The single version is longer thant this album version. It has this instrumental part (it's the version for the official video) where you can find choreography you've mentioned . (By the way, I like the single version more than the album version)
- The solo is actually played with a synthesizer. It's not a guitar
Thank you for reacting to this song.
Regards from Argentina.
The composition you are talking about is the Debussy ballet "L'après-midi d'une faune".
This angel is one of the best singers (incredible extremely low vocal, dramatic contralto + polyphonic voice) in the world!
Diana Ankudinova
I was stunned to find that the first performance (Show "You are Super") I heard was when she was 14!!!!
She's now 21 (turned 31st May) and still developing. She sings in Russian, French, English, German, Spanish and Arabic.
The covers she performed on that show are very popular on RUclips. Many RUclipsrs publish reactions on these performances, which include "Oh,Darling" (❗10 y.o.), "California Dreamin' " , "Sweet Dreams" (all 19 y.o.), "Can't Help Falling In Love", "Crow", "Personal Jesus" (all 18 y.o.), "Wicked Game", "Human" (15 y.o.), "Derniere Danse", "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (14 y.o.), "Take On Me" (17 y.o.) , film soundtrack to Dune, James Bond, Spirit of Baikal (all 20 y.o) and others.
There is such a funny scene in Miranda, the British comedy series by Miranda Hart. She is in the bath tub with wax on her legs, her leg gets stuck on the bathtub, and "Freddie" starts singing "I want to break free" from her radio. She shouts "That's very funny, Freddie". She is late to an important date. The biggest laugh ive ever had, such a smart and funny joke.
Miranda is great! So funny.
I agree that vocally Freddie has a bit of a harder edge here. But...he never was one to rest on his laurels was he. ♥
please, pretty please, make the Prophet song one of your Queen Reactions, another Brian May masterpiece, but with all of the band excelling , the Canon by Freddie is brilliant.
She's doing the albums in order of release A Night at the Opera was seven albums ago.
Yes, 'Prophet's Song' was omitted from the 'A Night At The Opera' list of songs she'd reacted to, sadly 😏
We need to campaign for a Queen 50+ for the masterpieces she's missed out!
I think it was just that some precious (American) fans disapproved of the drag theme of the video and banned it, not the song. I love it! Definitely an important Queen piece. You must watch the official video...literally, you must. Song and video are perfect together. As often happens, Queen's sense of humour really shines.
Monotony of the everyday (hence the soap opera starting) followed by a dream sequence(or fling or awakening) with the ballet “but life still goes on” back to the soap opera monotony of everyday life.
nice song ant video too... I recommend "man on the prown"... Saludos desde Argentina
There is a video that goes along with this song. On some of their songs, they did have a harpist playing as well as other non traditional rock instruments.😊
It is a multi disciplinary piece, watching the video is recommended.
The main reason the Beatles and Queen are so versatile is they had 7 different hit song writers between them.
This song was motivated by the UK's press, which was notably hostile toward Queen. And were definitely engaged in trying to "cancel" Queen. Here's an example of the kind of review they got: "This group has come to make it clear exactly who is superior and who is inferior. … The whole thing makes me wonder why anyone would indulge these creeps and their polluting ideas". The reasons this was a fairly unanimous opinion in the music press, are complex and varied, but it was a consistent sentiment among top writers and reviewers: Freddies sexuality (then not publicly known) was often obliquely mocked. So the Uk press, when not ignoring them completely, chose to attack the music itself. And implied that Queen lacked humour, were pompous, and had no self-awareness, which seems to have been projection on their part.
This song "I want to break free" and its video were clearly intended as a "two fingers" to that idea. It's also stripped-down and simpler musically for the same reason, as if to say "we can do the simple pop songs too!" The production is how it succeeds. For example it's got a fake drum-machine loop, like a lot of top-ten music at that time . Personally, I also think the deliberately funny solo is the highlight, although apparently it's a keyboard solo by a session musician. Interestingly, for some people who aren't typically into rock music, this has always been their favourite Queen song.
I was waiting to hear that Vlad had a big grin on his face during Amy's descriptions of "Brian May's GUITAR solo" - it's not Brian May, nor is it GUITAR! It's Keyboard played by Fred Mandel 🙂
Ok, it’s obviously not May, but I always felt Mandel was heavily channeling May on that solo. He does exactly the same things that Brian would, in terms of picking up on the vocal melody and extending it for the guitar solo.
It’s also that languid phrasing, where he lags behind the beat and has to catch up to it, which is very like May’s characteristic phrasing.
The song starts with an acoustic guitar played in the way that an electric would normally be played. That takes away an immediate Queen signature.
Is that harp made from mahogany? The wood looks really nice.
John Deacon wrote an electronic pop tune with a 1-4-5 blues foundation. While it may have a basic structure, Freddie's vocal adds so much dynamics and flair. So much so, a lot of people assume Freddie penned the song.
It's my understanding (from an old 'Deutschland Spiegel' periodical video series) that this song was a huge anthem for freedom throughout Eastern Europe toward the end of the cold war. I'd also heard that about other places like South Africa, but I don't remember much about that. If you watch the
'Queen: Live in Budapest" concert video, they went absolutely nuts for this song in particular.
I want to have a time machine just to watch reactions to Who Want's To Live Forever, Was It All Worth It and These Are The Days.
I think that it is breaking free of the bonds of societal norms and being able to live as your true self.
This is all about the pairing of music and video. To listen to the music without the video is only half the piece and a smither of the experience.
Fun fact, a bit tongue in cheek perhaps, is the frase: I fallen in love, but this time I know it's for real...
But you did it for the first time, so... how do you mean this time I know it's for real???
😂😂😂 funny Johnny!
Queen? 3dimensional sound! 💙
Minha música favorita ❤
Coronation Street started in 1960.
The solo isn't Brian. It's Fred Mandel on a synth.
The solo in the middle of the song is a synthesizer, not a guitar. Initially Queen vowed not to use synthesizers in their music, but this had changed by this time. The synthesizer solo really makes this song so unique in the Queen repertoire
I feel the song isn’t quite complete without the music video
Freddie loved singing to Deacon songs, John leaned more to blues and funk, and in some way Freddie liked that.
Freddie also put extra effort in singing to John's songs because the royalties were given to the writer. And John did not write as much. So when he did, Freddie's intention to help make the song a hit is speaking volumes about the relation between those two...
I think the reason people assume the keyboard solo is a guitar solo (albeit with a very weird effect on it) is because the phrasing is so much like Brian May’s characteristic behind-the-beat phrasing.
Enjoyed that Amy
The single version is far superior to the album version. 🇦🇷
Queen's style was very diverse even though many of their songs have a signature sound. If you listen to some of their deeper cuts, you'll see this diversity. Have you listened to '39? Even though it was on the same album as Bohemian Rhapsody (A Night at the Opera), it sounds very different.
The entire album is probably their most eclectic, going from songs like "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon" "Seaside Rendezvous" to "The Prophets Song" and "Death On Two Legs" shows what a truly talented group of songwriters/musicians they where.
It could be argued that the recent history of popular music is the gradual assertion of (increasingly digital) rhythm at the expense of melody and harmony, sometimes altogether. Clearly melody is still present here in the vocal and the synth solo, but as you point out, the rhythm track is largely dictating the shape of the music. There are all sorts of exceptions, of course, but this has been the dominant trend.
One year of love was also written by John Deacon.
What a great song! Ask Vlad if it is worth it for you to react to Morbid Angel. He surely knows about them. It is an old school Death metal/ Blackened band . they are quite interesting when it comes to approach to this kind of music and the way they play it. I recommend their tracks such are: "Ancient Ones", "Blessed are the Sick", "Cesar's Palace", "God of Emptiness", "Visions from the Dark Side" (this one is very classical in a sense)