Roy Thomas Baker (Queen sound engineer) said that this was the most musically technical song he had ever worked on and the best piece of music he had ever had the pleasure to be part of. Written by Brian, this was to be his "Bohemian Rhapsody" but it really wasn't understood by the public so it was never the huge success it should have been. You can never predict what people will like. Brian brought the cannon (bell) effect idea into the studio and showed it to Freddie who really love it and ran with it, having so much fun. Bear in mind, in 1975 there were no computers to generate these effects like there are now. Now, they might just record it one time then add the doubling effect but in this song, you can hear that even though it is the same voice, it is three different recordings with multi-track layering Great song, Thank you for your reaction.
There are two and a half minutes of vocals without a instrument being played. It amazed me when the album first came out and it still amazes me today. Queen had such imagination and they just wanted to be unique. The variety in their music combined with their individual extreme talents just made them a very special group.
I was 11 years old, my sister bought this album and we listened to it together. For some reason, she played the B side first. So this is the first Queen song I ever heard. I was immediately blown away. I was immediately hooked. Loved Queen ever since.
I think that's because you can't put Queen in a genre box with anyone else. Queen's genre is Queen, and they're all alone in there. Their music is all over the place, often changing up in the same song.
This song was written by Brian May after he had a fever dream about the story of the great flood while suffering from hepatitis during the recording of Sheer Heart Attack. The song’s working title was “People of the Earth”. Utilizing Queen’s peak-level production and experimentally, the song is packed with interesting concepts, from its delay effect solo to its famous cannon section that goes on for 2:30 minutes. The song is structured very similarly to the song Brighton Rock from their previous album, also written by Brian May. It is also the longest Queen song, playing at 8:20 minutes. Freddie Mercury said in 1975 in an interview with Kenny Everett, "Brian has an outrageous mammoth epic track which is one of our heaviest numbers to date. He’s got his guitar extravaganza on it. You see, Brian has acquired a new guitar specially built so he can almost make it speak. It will talk on this track" In another interview, Freddie said, "That’s a Brian May track really. It’s one of the nicest songs on the album. It really took a long while to record that one. A lot of work has gone into that track, and he practically went insane trying to get it together. We do that completely different on stage… It’s one of the things that we wanted to do, y'know; the same as I wanted to do the operatic side of things in Bohemian Rhapsody. Brian wanted to try a completely different angle on that track. It’s something that he had in mind for a long while and I think it’s been very successful." Brian May - 1975, " I had a dream about what seemed like revenge on people, and I couldn’t really work out in the dream what it was that people had done wrong. It was something like a flood. Things had gone much too far and as a kind of reparation, the whole thing had to start again. In the dream, people were walking on the streets trying to touch each other's hands, desperate to try to make some sign that they were caring about other people. I felt that the trouble must be - and this is one of my obsessions, anyway - that people don’t make enough contact with each other. A feeling that runs through a lot of the songs I write is, that if there is a direction to mankind, it ought to be a coming together, and at the moment, it doesn’t seem to be happening very well. I worry about it a lot. I worry about not doing anything about it. Things seem to be getting worse. But I wasn’t trying to preach in the song at all. I was just trying to put across the questions which are in my mind, rather than the answers, which I don’t believe I have. The only answer I can see is to be aware of things like that and to sort of try to put yourself to rights. There is an overseer in the song, though, whose cry to the multitudes is to ‘listen to the warning of the seer’. In the song is this guy who also appeared in the dream. I don’t really know whether he was a prophet or an impostor, but anyway, he’s standing up there and saying, ‘Look, you’ve got to mend your ways.’ I still don’t know whether he’s the man who thinks he’s sent from God or whether he isn’t. The song asks questions rather than gives answers."
I believe Queen, at this stage were ahead of their time. If this track was released today, it may be the hit it ought to be. The message has the same effect on me as that of The Sound of Silence.
Super glad someone brought this one to you. God, I love that early Queen. Death on Two Legs is the absolute stand out on that album for me! Check out even earlier March of the Black Queen and Ogre Battle.
Ooooh! What a great song! And Freddie Mercury was totally amazing! That was definitely a get-stoned-and-wear-headphones song! (it was the 70s, a lot of songs were "get-stoned-and-wear-headphones" songs.... even if they really weren't).
There are so many great things about this song. One of the things that stuck out to me the first time I heard it almost 50 years ago is that every time they sing the chorus it ends on a completely different note.
If you have the vinyl album songs meld into one another without ending, It is also designed to be listened to in quadraphonic stereo. you listened in 2D but the song swirls around in quadraphonic or 3D space not just side to side, but front to back, corner to corner in circles and shoots overhead. In a car equipped with a quadraphonic stereo it was amazing. It is why I like the band The Cars they played with moving sounds in dimensional space too.
70's Queen! Now you're talkin', don't forget that everyone in Queen sings either lead or backing vocals, Mercury of course being the main singer, and some of those other vocals you think he is doubling up on might in fact be some of the other guys singing too
Nothing on this album is bad. :) I hope you like it and also Lazing is quite fun. The end of this song goes on to Love of My Life without a break (which is why it cuts out). And who ever in rock did a canon even remotely like that? Right out of Bach... The 70s were awesome!
imagine listening to this album when it 1st came out, like me! So incredibly different then what was hot then. I took alot of heat from friends.LOL Best band ever!
This entire album is a masterpiece. Is there really a best song? I have no idea how one could possibly be chosen. Seems like a proclamation for music critics.
God, i so envy my sister, who got to see them on this tour at the Masonic Temple in Detroit. But I got blessed also, as i saw them in ‘78 at Cobo Arena during the News of the World tour. You might wanna check out the song “It’s Late” from that album, a banger for sure.
This song took me a couple of listens to fully get. The whole A Night at the Opera" album is killer. But it really depends on the day which Queen album is my favorite. They had four separate writers in the band so nothing ever got boring to me. Hope you enjoyed the song! Great reaction.
Hey Justin - just a thought from seeing some the comments... Even though "News of the World" (a classic album) opens with We Will Rock You / Champions, it's Queen - and it sounds like you maybe haven't heard the rest of that album - it's worth considering for a "classic album" reaction, and I'm guessing you will dig most everything on that album
Hey dude nice reaction on one of queens best & least known song, but check out sea side Rendezvous they harmonize like kazoos with there vocals incredible peace bro good luck on your gig !
Off the top of my head, I don't remember '39 on this channel - it must have been a while ago (it had the ukelele), I'm going to search for it (random coincidence... because of Japanese words, the number 39 is intimately connected to Hatsune Miku, so there's that...) Teo Torriate....🎶
If this album wasn’t a big hit they would have owed a fortune because they had to pay to get out of their contract with Sheffield. Their new production company said go and make the best album you can. And they did and it was their absolute Breakthru.
In response to Queen getting ripped-off by Trident, "A Night at the Opera" opens with an angry Freddie diss song directed to Trident management. "Death on Two Legs". It's awesome. (Suggest the lyric video from Queen Official.)
