Love the jacket! I've been watching a lot of first timers check out Queen, which is fun, but it's also really nice to get reactions from people who are familiar with their catalog. Your enthusiasm is so contagious. 😀
I'd been a Queenie for a couple of years before this came out. When I heard it it became my All Time Favourite Song, nothing can beat it. Freddie also loved it.
This performance always makes me cry. 😭 You can tell Freddie wrote this song because he pours his entire soul to it and directly speaks to God about why he's so lonely with nobody to love. RIP A LEGEND
I always get goosebumps when Freddie hits that high E-flat after the buildup! EVERY SINGLE TIME! I seriously wish I could have heard him sing live, but sadly, I was born several years after his passing and it makes me sad.
Hi Doug, I think you should redo this song. Someone to Love. But the live versions. Ie live at Milton Keynes bowl 1982 Wembley stadium 1986. I was at both of this concerts. The song is different in both shows. Milton Keynes bowl is my favourite.
Hi Doug. pleased check for Marc Martel, who is the lead singer for the Queen Etravaganza. The group is the first tribute band ever while the original members still continue to perform. I'm sure when you cloe your eyes you will hear Freddies tones and vocal tastes from Marc singing Queen.
I just saw on another reaction, the second time Freddy gets up and plays the audience is because Brian was having an issue with his guitar and had to duck out, so the rest stepped in to distract the crowd until Brian came back in. Freddy started singing when Brian was ready.
My son, no matter how bad he's feeling with his health issues, always breaks into a huge smile when he hears this song. Few things bring me more joy as a dad. Such a powerful, timeless song.
Hard to believe there's just 10 years between Somebody To Love in 1976 and Wembley'86 and the yellow jacket Freddie and Queen. So many changes in musical style and fashion, compared to todays artists
The studio version is good, but the Live in Montreal is such a masterclass of a live performance of a song! It lacks most of the backing vocals, but the way the band manages the energy during the song is top notch!! To me, it´s one of the best live albums EVER (by far the best by Queen)! About the guitar solo, I love how Brian mixes the minor pentatonic over the major tone to give this bluesy flair to it!!
Freddie loved Aretha Franklin, especially her music when she used Baptist gospel choirs. He was fascinated by her seemingly effortless phrasing which he attempted to emulate but felt he felt he never successfully recreated. (He claimed that he struggled with phrasing though, to me, his phrasing always seemed so organic and natural). Brian claimed that Freddie wanted to be Aretha Franklin. Queen's (especially Freddie's) performance at the two stand-alone performances in Montreal in 1981 were fueled by a twinge of anger. Queen had agreed to allow a movie company to film both performances at the urging of their manager, lawyer Jim (Miami) Beach. But unfortunately, it turned into a nightmare for the band members. The movie company intended to film both nights of the concert using high-quality 35mm film and then select the best performance from either night to create a Queen live concert performance that they planned to show on a thing called Moblevision (a sort of traveling IMAX). According to Brian and Roger, the movie company made a complete mess of the editing but, unfortunately, because of the contract, the movie company owned the rights to the Montreal footage and sound recordings. Then in late 2006, Queen acquired the Montreal film and recordings. At that point, Roger and Brian (with the approval of John) hired a team of experts to remix and remaster the concert footage but unfortunately, the film company had discarded all unused footage and recordings. The experts had to sometimes resort to using the sound from one night with visuals from the other. That is why the videos from that concert are so clear. It was all transferred from 35mm tape to HD video. The film crew constantly got in the way of the band and their team backstage and even onstage. They tried to prevent Queen from performing their pre-concert sound and stage check because it was "inconvenient" for the film crew. The film director went so far as to try to dictate (unsuccessfully, I might add) to Freddie, Brian, and John where they must stand and limits where they could move while performing. Then the director (Saul Swimmer) did the unthinkable. Before the concert, he went in front of the audience and instructed them to remain seated and keep quiet during the concert or the guards stationed around in the theatre would remove them from the concert. That really pissed off the band. Brian claimed that he had never seen Freddie so annoyed. The band's anger came out in their playing as many of the songs were played faster than normal. At one point during the concert, Freddie addressed the audience directly and said, "Listen! If you guys want to move around and shift your want asses a little, it's okay. It is okay by us. You can take all your clothes off if you want to. It doesn't matter." To which John responded with the bass riff of "Under Pressure". Freddie devised a way to take revenge on the movie director. A key element in the success of combining these two different performances into a single concert was that the band would be wearing the same clothes on both nights. Freddie, in his most diabolical mindset, decided to destroy the continuity thus making it almost impossible to combine the two nights. He started both nights wearing his white jeans, superman muscle shirt, leather bomber jacket, and Adidas shoes. He very quickly discarded the bomber jacket (it was hot on stage) and during the concert on both nights, he did strip off his muscle shirt. But, on the second night, during a break, Freddie changed his clothes completely and returned onstage wearing a pair of white "booty" shorts, a bright red neckerchief, a white cap, a red wristband but no shirt, no socks, and no shoes. Only Freddie would have the chutzpah to appear like that (unless you look closely his shorts could be mistaken for underwear). Oh, and Queen's manager ("Miami" Beach) was punished by the band for inflicting this movie company on them. Miami was banned from their dressing room and the boys refused to speak to him for weeks. After all, they were rockstars and one has to expect some diva behavior.
Debra Boiling, thanks for explaining and taking the time. I had read that there was a reason Freddie appeared in those white shorts, because he was annoyed at something, but I never knew the reason why! But now that you have explained it so well, I know the reason!! Thanks for explaining it so well. 👍
Thanks so much for your explanation. I always wondered why Freddie had done that bit telling the audience they could move about or take off their clothes etc. God love Freddie!! There's no one like him!!
I just saw this concert remaster in IMAX back in January of this year. It's as close as I'll ever get to seeing Queen live. I am hoping they do some of their other concerts like their Live at Wembley concert in 1986, remaster it and put it on an IMAX screen. I'd go in a heartbeat again.
I slightly relate to that "it's one of my favourites and I have never listened to it like this or played along with it". There are some songs I've adored for like a decade and it just never occured to me to start to unravel the magic. You know like when you see a fantastic magic show and you simply don't want to know how it was done, because it was so magical. If you learn how the magic happened, it can make it much more everyday and undress the magic. And on the other hand one day you might be ready to keep the magic even though you learn how it's done.
I love that Montreal clip, watched it many times. My favourite moment is at 16:14, after the long, high descending 'looove', and the band comes back in full for the reprise/coda...they are so tight as a band, nailed it...amazing
I will sometimes use this song to help teach Shakespeare actors to appreciate how loose phrasing can be without losing the sense of rhythm underneath. Freddie was incredible.
Queen has been my favourite band since 1975. I can't believe how lucky I have been! Even saw them live 4 nights in a row in 1985, just a few months before their Live Aid gig. I grew up with Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Queen, and they are all fantastic bands, but look at how Queen are almost as big today as they were in their heyday. What a band! Timeless quality.
Enjoyed this very much. Like to share a personal story. Around 1976/77 my father took my sister to see the Bay City Rollers and after they came back I, as a 10 year old boy asked if he’d take me to see Queen. His response. Son, Queen will be a bunch of nobody’s in a few years. Boy, was he wrong!
Hi Doug! I'd love to see you take a look at someone who helped Brian May get his sound-the legendary Rory Gallagher. One that shouldn't get blocked is the 1977 Hammersmith Odeon performance of "Calling Card" which is a wonderful blues number. Please take a look at this extraordinary performer and musician. Thanks so much!
in 1973 Mott the Hoople toured here in the UK. The support act from that tour was Queen. That was my first sighting of them, they were impressive even then but obviously they became enormous.
Did your friend tell you about Brian unplugging his guitar & trotting offstage? Find it in the video right where you thought he was going to play a 2nd solo or at least something more than the single note you hear. Obviously something went wrong with his guitar. You can see Freddie watch him go but at the same time Roger started drumming, Freddie came to the front of the stage & got the chant going & Brian was back in about half a minute & they just slipped right back into it.
Thanks, Doug - hearing the original, it's hard to believe anything could be better - until you hear it LIVE... this is my favorite song... lol the entire band was on fire for this one... this entire concert was amazing... also especially "Save Me"... enjoy your reactions...
Love the jacket. 😊. No one sings like Freddie. No one plays and harmonizes like Queen. Try 1976 HydePark -Take MyBreath Away. Just Freddie on piano hypnotizing hundreds of thousands of people. The recorded version is gorgeous too with harmonies.
@@erik5374 He did a great job paying tribute but he didn’t write the song or sing it with the same effortless magic of Freddie Mercury. No one has been able to sing like Mercury since his death. Although Mercury did compliment Micheal on his song Careless Whisper.
I personally think the performance from Montreal in 81, Freddie was at the peak of his singing - it is phenomenal! Slight correction, this was released in the 80’s on VHS cassette under the title “We Will Rock You”. It was filmed in 35mm film and was made to be shown in cinemas. The band were not keen on the process with many cameras getting in the way. The band didn’t have the rights to the film until finally they obtained it in mid 2000’s where it was transferred to DVD and latterly Blu Ray. What a revelation after watching it on VHS for years! Great video.
I had heard the producers wanted Freddie to wear the same outfit for both shows so they could splice pieces of songs together, Didnt happen. Sept of 80 on this tour Freddie had redish leather pants when i saw them
I had this on vhs. Never liked it as it ran too fast due to the speedup to 25fps. I had the Milton Keynes concert from 82 as well which I used to watch a lot more. That was shot on video so no speed issues. It has the best version of this song as well imo
The release on VHS also had an error in it, where the audio and video for Killer Queen were from each night, but the problem was that no-one got the lip sync right, you can clearly hear Freddie singing a line and the video shows him not even at the mic! Was corrected in the later DVD and Blu Ray releases.
That was fun! I have enjoyed live Queen performances several times over the years. No matter what Adam Lambert haters say, both times I saw him play this with them, he gave it the love and respect it deserves. It is a wonderful song to see as an audience member. I'm thankful beyond words for my 7 Freddie concerts and 2 +Adam shows. These are some of the very best people on our planet. Again, thanks for sharing the second video. It sure brings back old memories.
There is no reason for the Adam Lambert haters to hate Adam Lambert. If they don't like to see Adam singing with Queen they need to just go away. Why listen to somebody you don't like? The last time I asked one of the haters why they hated the fact that Adam was singing with Queen he told me that it wasn't right for a gay guy to sing lead with Queen. Well, if that is the case somebody has some explaining to do. I just can't figure out who.
Why are you called a hater when you don't like Adam Lambert? Adam Lambert is fine doing covers of many songs, but he is no rock singer. He has no business acting out rock songs.
Doug, this is my first time listening to you analyze a song. I applaud you over other critiquers because you are the first person to come to the audience extremely well prepared. You knew the history of the song, the meaning, the evoked feelings…you even knew all the band member’s names and instruments. You’d be surprised how disappointing it is to hear someone try and discuss a Queen song and not know who plays bass, drums, and guitar. I’m going to search your catalog for more of your Queen analyses since IMO you are the king of Queen. Thank you for making a Queen fan since 1974 a very happy person 💛💛💛. 💛s for the coveted Freddie jacket.
The Live in Montreal video had moments when Freddie seemed pretty disappointed in what he was getting back from the audience. I think there were parts of the back and forth with the crowd that he cut short because of that. At one point he told them they should get up and move instead of just sitting there. I saw the Houston stop of this tour, and while I don't remember those parts, I don't think we were that great for energy, either. Great show, though!
I have the Rock Montreal CD and noticed that too. Especially Love of my Life. Tried to get the audience to sing, then leaned over and told Brian, "They don't know it." This performance is legendary. Can you imagine what it would be if the producer hadn't tried to stifle them?!
Alright the jacket! One of my favorites, toward the end of the song in Montreal Freddie has tears flowing down his cheeks, Freddie was always looking for a real relationship. Great reaction
Doug, you REALLY need to have a listen to The Millionaire Waltz. From a musical point of view, it's one of Queen's more interesting compositions. It is pure Freddie genius, and it's also off the same album as Someone To Love. A Day at the races is possibly Queen's best album, and The Millionaire Waltz is utterly unique. It deserves your inspection.
Great reaction Doug, you talk about the gospel vibe of this song. Well if you check out the version from Freddie’s memorial concert, George Michael’s sings a near perfect version with the boys and a gospel choir. Please check this out.
Love your reaction! And the jacket looks beautiful! As a 40+ years Queen fan I really dig the reaction of the new younger fans discovering Queen and Freddie. I never was lucky enough to see Freddie play live but saw Brian and Roger together with Paul Rodgers 6 times in a row through Europe. There will never be another Freddie but thanks to his music he lives on!
As a fan of Queen since 1973 I am having a little trouble understanding why the younger people are such fans of a band that has been around for 50+ years whose front man died 30+ years ago. Yes, Queen is a great band, but don't the younger fans have musicians closer to their own age to think that much of? Just wondering 🤔
@@chicochi3 The so called musicians of now a days aren't musicians. They record with computer and samples. The older bands MAKE/create music; write their own songs, been doing that for 30, 40+ years. What you hear on the radio isn't even worth it to be called music.
I fell in love with Queen in the 70's due to their musical abilities, but also due to their sense of humor. Which is reflected in the way they named their two albums "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" after Marx Brothers movies. Which lead to the band actually meeting Groucho Marx. Freddie was once asked about the lyric in BR "Mama Mia let me go!" and replied that that was all the Italian he knew. Brian once said that nobody could put their harmonies together like Freddie could.
Doug - great to pin down the chord structure, but what about the note bending? The Aretha? Also, I would just like to go on record as saying that as magnificent and stunning as Freddie was, as tasteful and precise as Brian's playing was, this multi-faceted performance in particular was made possible by a certain uber-talented drummer/singer, Mr. Roger Taylor. You got a drummer that can trade lead lines with the singer while keeping the beat? WhaaaaaH? He's incredible... Roger Taylor was Queen's secret weapon on many occasions, particularly Somebody To Love. Credited with "screams" (and "dog whistle pitch" in Freddie's playful wording) on several Queen album liner notes. LOL.
Great work as always! Awesome jacket! Something that you should definitely analyse from Freddie Mercury is his collaboration with Montserrat Callable on Barcelona, He wrote a whole album of duets for them to sing together. The song Barcelona was used as the theme song for the 1992 Olympic games. It is really the first true mixture of pop and opera. There are also other interesting Queen songs such The Millionaire Waltz.
Freddie, Brian and Roger contributed notable backing vocals to Ian Hunter's "You Nearly Did Me In" (from his 1976 album All American Alien Boy). Queen, of course, supported Mott the Hoople before they became headliners, so made friends with Hunter at that time.
I'm from Montreal, people still talk about that show from 1981!!
Love the jacket! I've been watching a lot of first timers check out Queen, which is fun, but it's also really nice to get reactions from people who are familiar with their catalog. Your enthusiasm is so contagious. 😀
Many people might think that 7:36-7:38 is a guitar bend, but it's actually voice doing that
I'd been a Queenie for a couple of years before this came out. When I heard it it became my All Time Favourite Song, nothing can beat it.
Freddie also loved it.
Freddie OWNED every stage he stepped onto.
You will never ever find a better version/performance of Somebody to Love than Live - 1981 Montreal. It's unreal!
This performance always makes me cry. 😭 You can tell Freddie wrote this song because he pours his entire soul to it and directly speaks to God about why he's so lonely with nobody to love. RIP A LEGEND
Doug 😊
The Golden Boy
Please ❤
What an energy, what a talent, just magnificent, Freddie and Queen at his best❤
I always get goosebumps when Freddie hits that high E-flat after the buildup! EVERY SINGLE TIME! I seriously wish I could have heard him sing live, but sadly, I was born several years after his passing and it makes me sad.
Now it's time to react to "You Take My Breath Away", with Freddie doing ALL the vocals!!!
I was in the 7th grade when this came out; it's still one of my very favourite songs.
The video is from their 1981 greatest flix. I used to have a copy of it on lazer disc in the early 80’s. Great stuff!
This was Freddie's favorite song and his mother's favorite also.
You are adorable! Love the jacket. And I especially love to see an expert react to this epic performance. I quite enjoyed it.
Hi Doug, I think you should redo this song. Someone to Love. But the live versions. Ie live at Milton Keynes bowl 1982 Wembley stadium 1986. I was at both of this concerts. The song is different in both shows. Milton Keynes bowl is my favourite.
One of the greatest Queen tracks ...
MUST do the LIVE VERSION PLEEEEEEAAAAZZZZZEEEE!!!
Hi Doug. pleased check for Marc Martel, who is the lead singer for the Queen Etravaganza. The group is the first tribute band ever while the original members still continue to perform. I'm sure when you cloe your eyes you will hear Freddies tones and vocal tastes from Marc singing Queen.
My all time favorite song💜
His vebrato is remarkable. A young reactor never hearing Queen before went instantly nuts over Freddie's vebrato.
Freddie often stated this is his favorite Queen song.
I just saw on another reaction, the second time Freddy gets up and plays the audience is because Brian was having an issue with his guitar and had to duck out, so the rest stepped in to distract the crowd until Brian came back in. Freddy started singing when Brian was ready.
I love "Hammer to Fall", "Crazy Little Thing to Love" and "Las Palabras de Amor"
I think their Montreal '81 live performance is just on another level. Roger Taylor's backing vocals were PERFECTION.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
I'm jealous of this guy's accuracy at hearing the key and chord tonics... )
My son, no matter how bad he's feeling with his health issues, always breaks into a huge smile when he hears this song. Few things bring me more joy as a dad. Such a powerful, timeless song.
God bless you and your incredible son....
Hard to believe there's just 10 years between Somebody To Love in 1976 and Wembley'86 and the yellow jacket Freddie and Queen. So many changes in musical style and fashion, compared to todays artists
The studio version is good, but the Live in Montreal is such a masterclass of a live performance of a song! It lacks most of the backing vocals, but the way the band manages the energy during the song is top notch!! To me, it´s one of the best live albums EVER (by far the best by Queen)!
About the guitar solo, I love how Brian mixes the minor pentatonic over the major tone to give this bluesy flair to it!!
Freddie was a voice of the century.
Brian May broke a string here, the second time Freddie gets up from the piano, its to cover till Brian fixes his guitar.
Loving the jacket
Freddie loved Aretha Franklin, especially her music when she used Baptist gospel choirs. He was fascinated by her seemingly effortless phrasing which he attempted to emulate but felt he felt he never successfully recreated. (He claimed that he struggled with phrasing though, to me, his phrasing always seemed so organic and natural).
Brian claimed that Freddie wanted to be Aretha Franklin.
Queen's (especially Freddie's) performance at the two stand-alone performances in Montreal in 1981 were fueled by a twinge of anger. Queen had agreed to allow a movie company to film both performances at the urging of their manager, lawyer Jim (Miami) Beach. But unfortunately, it turned into a nightmare for the band members.
The movie company intended to film both nights of the concert using high-quality 35mm film and then select the best performance from either night to create a Queen live concert performance that they planned to show on a thing called Moblevision (a sort of traveling IMAX). According to Brian and Roger, the movie company made a complete mess of the editing but, unfortunately, because of the contract, the movie company owned the rights to the Montreal footage and sound recordings. Then in late 2006, Queen acquired the Montreal film and recordings.
At that point, Roger and Brian (with the approval of John) hired a team of experts to remix and remaster the concert footage but unfortunately, the film company had discarded all unused footage and recordings. The experts had to sometimes resort to using the sound from one night with visuals from the other. That is why the videos from that concert are so clear. It was all transferred from 35mm tape to HD video.
The film crew constantly got in the way of the band and their team backstage and even onstage. They tried to prevent Queen from performing their pre-concert sound and stage check because it was "inconvenient" for the film crew. The film director went so far as to try to dictate (unsuccessfully, I might add) to Freddie, Brian, and John where they must stand and limits where they could move while performing.
Then the director (Saul Swimmer) did the unthinkable. Before the concert, he went in front of the audience and instructed them to remain seated and keep quiet during the concert or the guards stationed around in the theatre would remove them from the concert.
That really pissed off the band. Brian claimed that he had never seen Freddie so annoyed. The band's anger came out in their playing as many of the songs were played faster than normal.
At one point during the concert, Freddie addressed the audience directly and said, "Listen! If you guys want to move around and shift your want asses a little, it's okay. It is okay by us. You can take all your clothes off if you want to. It doesn't matter." To which John responded with the bass riff of "Under Pressure".
Freddie devised a way to take revenge on the movie director. A key element in the success of combining these two different performances into a single concert was that the band would be wearing the same clothes on both nights. Freddie, in his most diabolical mindset, decided to destroy the continuity thus making it almost impossible to combine the two nights.
He started both nights wearing his white jeans, superman muscle shirt, leather bomber jacket, and Adidas shoes. He very quickly discarded the bomber jacket (it was hot on stage) and during the concert on both nights, he did strip off his muscle shirt. But, on the second night, during a break, Freddie changed his clothes completely and returned onstage wearing a pair of white "booty" shorts, a bright red neckerchief, a white cap, a red wristband but no shirt, no socks, and no shoes. Only Freddie would have the chutzpah to appear like that (unless you look closely his shorts could be mistaken for underwear).
Oh, and Queen's manager ("Miami" Beach) was punished by the band for inflicting this movie company on them. Miami was banned from their dressing room and the boys refused to speak to him for weeks. After all, they were rockstars and one has to expect some diva behavior.
Debra Boiling, thanks for explaining and taking the time. I had read that there was a reason Freddie appeared in those white shorts, because he was annoyed at something, but I never knew the reason why! But now that you have explained it so well, I know the reason!! Thanks for explaining it so well. 👍
Thanks so much for your explanation. I always wondered why Freddie had done that bit telling the audience they could move about or take off their clothes etc. God love Freddie!! There's no one like him!!
I just saw this concert remaster in IMAX back in January of this year. It's as close as I'll ever get to seeing Queen live. I am hoping they do some of their other concerts like their Live at Wembley concert in 1986, remaster it and put it on an IMAX screen. I'd go in a heartbeat again.
I slightly relate to that "it's one of my favourites and I have never listened to it like this or played along with it". There are some songs I've adored for like a decade and it just never occured to me to start to unravel the magic. You know like when you see a fantastic magic show and you simply don't want to know how it was done, because it was so magical. If you learn how the magic happened, it can make it much more everyday and undress the magic. And on the other hand one day you might be ready to keep the magic even though you learn how it's done.
Roger had a terrific voice too
I love that Montreal clip, watched it many times. My favourite moment is at 16:14, after the long, high descending 'looove', and the band comes back in full for the reprise/coda...they are so tight as a band, nailed it...amazing
Those cups have,mostly tea,and lemon 🍋
Still getting goosebumps. Since 1976 when i was a kid and my sister bought the record
There are also versions out there, where they isolated the voice and backing vocals ONLY. If you think this is amazing, check that out.
I will sometimes use this song to help teach Shakespeare actors to appreciate how loose phrasing can be without losing the sense of rhythm underneath. Freddie was incredible.
Frank Sinatra might be worthy of study for that purpose.
Try also Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock 😊
These guys are not a band, they are an institution.
Freddie! Forever!
Queen has been my favourite band since 1975. I can't believe how lucky I have been! Even saw them live 4 nights in a row in 1985, just a few months before their Live Aid gig. I grew up with Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Queen, and they are all fantastic bands, but look at how Queen are almost as big today as they were in their heyday. What a band! Timeless quality.
so glad you did the live 1981 Montreal!
Enjoyed this very much.
Like to share a personal story. Around 1976/77 my father took my sister to see the Bay City Rollers and after they came back I, as a 10 year old boy asked if he’d take me to see Queen. His response.
Son, Queen will be a bunch of nobody’s in a few years.
Boy, was he wrong!
😂😂
Brought up a Queen lover. My clain in 2nd July 1971 they played their 1st concert under the name Queen. That is my birthay!
Ah Doug neeeds to hear the live version from Montreal 1981. so so much better!
Hi Doug! I'd love to see you take a look at someone who helped Brian May get his sound-the legendary Rory Gallagher. One that shouldn't get blocked is the 1977 Hammersmith Odeon performance of "Calling Card" which is a wonderful blues number. Please take a look at this extraordinary performer and musician. Thanks so much!
in 1973 Mott the Hoople toured here in the UK. The support act from that tour was Queen. That was my first sighting of them, they were impressive even then but obviously they became enormous.
Did your friend tell you about Brian unplugging his guitar & trotting offstage? Find it in the video right where you thought he was going to play a 2nd solo or at least something more than the single note you hear. Obviously something went wrong with his guitar. You can see Freddie watch him go but at the same time Roger started drumming, Freddie came to the front of the stage & got the chant going & Brian was back in about half a minute & they just slipped right back into it.
You love Rogers input throughput.
'With this now in my closet.' I had to have a little giggle when i heard that.
You can also hear this gospel vibe in Freddie's song, "The Golden Boy," that he recorded and performed with Montserrat Caballe. Fantastic work.
There are lot of songs about breaking free by Queen and not only just by Freddy Mercury.
Awesome jacket!!!
Love your Queen reaction
Please react to QUEEN's "innuendo"... With Steve Howe on flamenco guitar.... Is essential
Thanks, Doug - hearing the original, it's hard to believe anything could be better - until you hear it LIVE... this is my favorite song... lol the entire band was on fire for this one... this entire concert was amazing... also especially "Save Me"... enjoy your reactions...
Nice jacket Doug. That's Freddie's jacket. Very nice. ♥️🎤🎤❤
Love the jacket. 😊. No one sings like Freddie. No one plays and harmonizes like Queen. Try 1976 HydePark -Take MyBreath Away. Just Freddie on piano hypnotizing hundreds of thousands of people. The recorded version is gorgeous too with harmonies.
I think George Michael sang this even as great as Freddie.
@@erik5374 He did a great job paying tribute but he didn’t write the song or sing it with the same effortless magic of Freddie Mercury. No one has been able to sing like Mercury since his death. Although Mercury did compliment Micheal on his song Careless Whisper.
Freddie was a baritone, so those higher notes are crazy!!
He was not a baritone.
The highest notes are Roger
@@karenthomas6678 I know!!! Couldn't he get just crazy high?!!!
So much of music is personal taste. But it might just be objectively incorrect to dislike Queen.
I personally think the performance from Montreal in 81, Freddie was at the peak of his singing - it is phenomenal! Slight correction, this was released in the 80’s on VHS cassette under the title “We Will Rock You”. It was filmed in 35mm film and was made to be shown in cinemas. The band were not keen on the process with many cameras getting in the way. The band didn’t have the rights to the film until finally they obtained it in mid 2000’s where it was transferred to DVD and latterly Blu Ray. What a revelation after watching it on VHS for years! Great video.
I had heard the producers wanted Freddie to wear the same outfit for both shows so they could splice pieces of songs together, Didnt happen. Sept of 80 on this tour Freddie had redish leather pants when i saw them
I had this on vhs. Never liked it as it ran too fast due to the speedup to 25fps. I had the Milton Keynes concert from 82 as well which I used to watch a lot more. That was shot on video so no speed issues. It has the best version of this song as well imo
The release on VHS also had an error in it, where the audio and video for Killer Queen were from each night, but the problem was that no-one got the lip sync right, you can clearly hear Freddie singing a line and the video shows him not even at the mic! Was corrected in the later DVD and Blu Ray releases.
What a band . Incomparable
That was fun! I have enjoyed live Queen performances several times over the years. No matter what Adam Lambert haters say, both times I saw him play this with them, he gave it the love and respect it deserves. It is a wonderful song to see as an audience member. I'm thankful beyond words for my 7 Freddie concerts and 2 +Adam shows. These are some of the very best people on our planet. Again, thanks for sharing the second video. It sure brings back old memories.
There is no reason for the Adam Lambert haters to hate Adam Lambert. If they don't like to see Adam singing with Queen they need to just go away. Why listen to somebody you don't like? The last time I asked one of the haters why they hated the fact that Adam was singing with Queen he told me that it wasn't right for a gay guy to sing lead with Queen. Well, if that is the case somebody has some explaining to do. I just can't figure out who.
Why are you called a hater when you don't like Adam Lambert? Adam Lambert is fine doing covers of many songs, but he is no rock singer. He has no business acting out rock songs.
Doug, this is my first time listening to you analyze a song. I applaud you over other critiquers because you are the first person to come to the audience extremely well prepared. You knew the history of the song, the meaning, the evoked feelings…you even knew all the band member’s names and instruments. You’d be surprised how disappointing it is to hear someone try and discuss a Queen song and not know who plays bass, drums, and guitar. I’m going to search your catalog for more of your Queen analyses since IMO you are the king of Queen. Thank you for making a Queen fan since 1974 a very happy person 💛💛💛. 💛s for the coveted Freddie jacket.
The Live in Montreal video had moments when Freddie seemed pretty disappointed in what he was getting back from the audience. I think there were parts of the back and forth with the crowd that he cut short because of that. At one point he told them they should get up and move instead of just sitting there. I saw the Houston stop of this tour, and while I don't remember those parts, I don't think we were that great for energy, either. Great show, though!
I have the Rock Montreal CD and noticed that too. Especially Love of my Life. Tried to get the audience to sing, then leaned over and told Brian, "They don't know it." This performance is legendary. Can you imagine what it would be if the producer hadn't tried to stifle them?!
Thank you for this analysis. It's a wonderful song.
Another excellent version of this was Milton Keynes in "82. The same song, totally different interpretation yet equally fantastic.
Alright the jacket! One of my favorites, toward the end of the song in Montreal Freddie has tears flowing down his cheeks, Freddie was always looking for a real relationship. Great reaction
You are correct. Freddie only had the jacket for the 1986 tour.
I'd say this was absolutely Freddie's best vocal performance ever.
Linda Ronstadt - La Charreada
Los Tigres del Norte (feat: Zack de la Rocha)- Somos Mas Americanos
The Avett Brothers - Ballad of Love and Hate (live)
Doug, you REALLY need to have a listen to The Millionaire Waltz. From a musical point of view, it's one of Queen's more interesting compositions. It is pure Freddie genius, and it's also off the same album as Someone To Love. A Day at the races is possibly Queen's best album, and The Millionaire Waltz is utterly unique. It deserves your inspection.
Nice reaction, thank you. Freddie was FAB!.
Doug - you definitely rock the yellow jacket 😁
Looking pretty fly in that jacket, Doug! I always enjoy listening to Queen. What an uplifting song!
Lol nice “fist in the sky”
Great 2-fer.
Doug, you're so sweet! Thank you as always for brightening my day when things are difficult
Queen The Millionaire Waltz
That was wonderful Doug, thank you ❤
Great reaction Doug, you talk about the gospel vibe of this song. Well if you check out the version from Freddie’s memorial concert, George Michael’s sings a near perfect version with the boys and a gospel choir. Please check this out.
You can't beat queen performing LIVE!!!!
Love your reaction! And the jacket looks beautiful!
As a 40+ years Queen fan I really dig the reaction of the new younger fans discovering Queen and Freddie.
I never was lucky enough to see Freddie play live but saw Brian and Roger together with Paul Rodgers 6 times in a row through Europe.
There will never be another Freddie but thanks to his music he lives on!
As a fan of Queen since 1973 I am having a little trouble understanding why the younger people are such fans of a band that has been around for 50+ years whose front man died 30+ years ago. Yes, Queen is a great band, but don't the younger fans have musicians closer to their own age to think that much of? Just wondering 🤔
@@chicochi3 The so called musicians of now a days aren't musicians. They record with computer and samples.
The older bands MAKE/create music; write their own songs, been doing that for 30, 40+ years. What you hear on the radio isn't even worth it to be called music.
Hey Doug, don't forget the Adidas. I have a pair I call "My Freddies", If you're gonna do it, do it right !!!
Now you HAVE to check out the live performance from the Montreal concert .. quite simply mind blowing
glad you brought up Montreal '81...maybe the best live performance ever!
Queen were always a live band. No one could touch them live.
it would be great if you could review Brian May singing Too much love will kill you. its a beautiful ballad sung by him.
amazing -thanks Doug -more Queen please! Don't Stop Me Now!
Shout out to Roger for his amazing backing vocals! ❤️❤️👏🏻👏🏻
Queen + Adam Lambert announced a US tour today! Starts in October.
I fell in love with Queen in the 70's due to their musical abilities, but also due to their sense of humor. Which is reflected in the way they named their two albums "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" after Marx Brothers movies. Which lead to the band actually meeting Groucho Marx. Freddie was once asked about the lyric in BR "Mama Mia let me go!" and replied that that was all the Italian he knew. Brian once said that nobody could put their harmonies together like Freddie could.
Will always be my favourite Queen song
I haven't even seen the analysis and I've upvoted this because of the jacket.
Doug - great to pin down the chord structure, but what about the note bending? The Aretha? Also, I would just like to go on record as saying that as magnificent and stunning as Freddie was, as tasteful and precise as Brian's playing was, this multi-faceted performance in particular was made possible by a certain uber-talented drummer/singer, Mr. Roger Taylor. You got a drummer that can trade lead lines with the singer while keeping the beat? WhaaaaaH? He's incredible... Roger Taylor was Queen's secret weapon on many occasions, particularly Somebody To Love. Credited with "screams" (and "dog whistle pitch" in Freddie's playful wording) on several Queen album liner notes. LOL.
Sir Doug , you are absotely pleasure to watch and listen with these epic songs, keep it up bro and enjoy youtubing :)
Doug, great sharing of a great song! One thing I’ve noticed recently though is that your hair now reminds me of Dominar Rygel XVI from Farscape 😂
Too frelling right!!😂😂😂😂
Great work as always! Awesome jacket! Something that you should definitely analyse from Freddie Mercury is his collaboration with Montserrat Callable on Barcelona, He wrote a whole album of duets for them to sing together. The song Barcelona was used as the theme song for the 1992 Olympic games. It is really the first true mixture of pop and opera. There are also other interesting Queen songs such The Millionaire Waltz.
Freddie, Brian and Roger contributed notable backing vocals to Ian Hunter's "You Nearly Did Me In" (from his 1976 album All American Alien Boy). Queen, of course, supported Mott the Hoople before they became headliners, so made friends with Hunter at that time.
Down in the city, just Hoople and me!
I enjoy your appreciation of them. And Roger, singing his heart out, head twisted to the mic whilst pounding those drums. The energy it took! :))