Freddy definitely did all the vocals in this song. He multitracked himself with the harmonies as he did with the beginning of Bo Rap and a couple of other songs.
It was interesting to watch you listen so intently. This was the song I walked down the aisle to at my wedding 32 years ago today. My husband suggested it. He passed away 13 years ago, so this song has incredible meaning to me. Thanks for making others aware of this gem.
I'm glad you're reacting to Studio versions (my favorite). Live versions display Queen's showmanship and Studio version displays their craftsmanship and genius.
This man listening has a great ear. He appreciates this fabulous piece! I’ve listened to this piece a million times at it shows the depth of emotions this Freddy has in his soul. It is mind blowing
I was pleased that you mentioned the vibrato. Yes, so rare & fine. Scientists who study such things have concluded that Freddie's vocal chords vibrated faster than Pavarotti's did. He also made use of some extra folds in his vocal chords that account for the unique timbre you hear.
Yes, this particular track is entirely Freddie’s multitracked vocals. I love the fact that the sheer perfection of the harmony arrangement here, is so much that you have to keep backing up the song, just to take in all the beauty. Just like I did way back in 1976, when I was given both A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races as a Christmas gift…but you have to let it finish! The outro is a harmonic wash of sound that begins with “I Love You” and melts into “Take My Breath Away”. I know you’ll find it when you come back to the song. 😉
This is one of my favorites also indeed! The beauty of Queen songs is that the more you really listen to a song, the more layers you discover. After all these years listening to them I'm still mesmorized :)
To see queen live know and then will never have an equal . I had great privilege of seeing them live twice and I had seen a lot of bands live but queen had ability to draw a crowd into their music. The world lost a true artist of the highest quality
It's something with Queen, sometimes live is better, like "Somebody to Love" and "Save Me", but in others, the studio recording catches all the notes just right.....Freddie was a genius.
I thought you would prefer this version. I think maybe this song has the most intricate chords and swoops of all Queen harmonizing. Part of why this sounds so good is that Freddies particular voice had a tendency to phase with itself when they multi tracked. So the timber of the choire keeps changing and has a unique sound. Building choires like that takes proper music harmonic understanding and along with producer Roy T Baker they made something real special. The guitar parts were all guitar yes, and there is a single bass guitar underscoring it all. Brian used a special amp made by Deacon of battery driven car stereo coupled to a crappy hi-fi speaker. The germanium electronics and Brian smashing his guitar signal through it made it possible with EQ and feedback to emulate bow instrument sounds like that cello. Now there's the lyrics, this is a rough song to be in heart ache to.
Happy Birthday!!!! I knew that you would LOVE the studio version of this song better than the live version because of the way Queen was harmonizing their voices. I loved your reaction. Please continue reacting to Queen.
I know what you mean, that's the classical music influence I think. The harmonizing builds up to a dissonant chord with this tension and suspense in it, and then, on the word "earth", transitions down into a major chord, it beautifully resolves the musical crisis, the tension disappears and it *is* like the sun has broken through the clouds 🙂
Happy Birthday Darling!! I sat through this whole video repeatedly saying: "I told you Tra!!" I knew you would love this one! :) I sincerely hope all your deepest birthday wishes come true - you are truly a lovely human being! Love you!
🤓I’m an original Queen nerd and they’ve been my favorite since Keep Yourself Alive hit the airwaves I was 8. It does my heart good to see the new listeners you are attracting. And when you consider the tape had to be baked yes literally baked before the information was lost. Bohemian rhapsody had so many tracks the band said you could see through the two inch recording tape. Freddie knew how many tracks he had recorded could remember each harmony and tell the engineer where the tracks were on the recording board.He was amazing.
I believe I read an article awhile back that discussed how scientists who studied Freddie's voice found he had an irregular vibrato that made it more distinctive to the listener, which made his vocals not only more recognizable, but also more appealing to the human ear. That's pretty cool!
I'm just sittning here with a big GRIN glued to my face after seeing this 😁 and that look into the camera at 7:12 is just priceless and says it all! I love it! 👍😄👍 and what a perfect birthday gift it made, you are most welcome 😉 Thank YOU for doing this and loving it as much as I (and many others) thought you would 💞
Damn! You missed the last part of the song, man. You stopped the video to soon, thus you actually missed the most beautiful part of the song. The agony!!!
@@OlJackBurton When the sound of the piano dies away, there follows a haunting sounding noise, which turns out to be Freddies voice singing: You take my breath away" Beautiful!
I strongly suggest the song 'Good Old-fashioned Lover Boy' (studio version) from the same album. There are LOADS of choirs and it's a wicked song as well - you'll love it.
Finally. Someone who is as obsessed with Queen as much as I am. Lol. There will never be anything like Freddie. 💖🎶 Try studio version of "I wanna break free."
Crispy vibrato!!!😀 Freddie's vocal harmonies on this track really are breathtaking.😎 Brian May's guitar "violin" is also incredible. I've loved this track since I first heard it in 1976, but after watching the reactions of first time listeners like yourself, I've come to appreciate it so much more.
You earlier listened to a live version but you missed the live version that is really special to so many fans, Hyde Park '76. It's only 3 minutes, but so tender & powerful. We'd love to see you react to it! And Happy Happy Birthday! You're a beautiful person who deserves all good things in life.
Yes, please, do it. I know it would be the same song a third time, but it's so good and different enough to react to it, imo. Happy Birthday and all the best! :)
@Aurioria Aldebaran what a great suggestion. I LOVE that version of "You Take My Breath Away" Live at Hyde Park. It is my favorite version. Freddie Mercurys voice is so BEAUTIFUL in that version.
@TraENT Yes! Please react to this one!!! It's when this song was still in the works, but Freddie decided to sing it to his audience anyways! It is literally breath taking!!
And be sure to listen to this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UBBne8R66xo.html It's the best version, audio quality wise. The other available versions of the Hyde Park performance are distorted (more).
@@Henso618 Scratch that last comment I made. I deleted it. It wasn't the full song. You can see a great performance of that song live in Houston. 40th anniversary edition.
Steve buckskinner 54 absolutely agree! Keep yourself Alive Montreal 81 is my favorite jam and favorite version. The whole band rocks and jams so hard.....they are complete, utter geniuses and ultimate performers❤️
You should check the Montreal 1981 concert! Perfect show, IMO! Specially Keep Yourself Alive, Now I’m Here and Dragon Attack, extraordinary perfomances with a lot of rock’n roll!
Nicolas Wiemer AMEN! Totally agree! My favorite for the energy, the performance, the rock and the jam that it is! Can’t get through one day without at least watching ONE of the videos from the Montreal concert!
I love how you feel the music man😱.. please check also the studio version for „Who wants to live forever“ because Brian actually sings in this as well☺️ Uh and please react to their song „39 (official video)“. It is a very beautiful sci fi story telling song with country vibes (didn’t know how to explain it better😅) written by Brian May who also does lead vocals in this with the others harmonizing and Roger killing some high notes. it’s gold! Please check it out!!
Now go back to Hyde Park 1976, LIVE. You are a friend of Freddie's and go to visit him. Invites you to sit next to him at the piano so he can tell you a story. He begins with soft, gentle piano notes, and his voice soft and sweet, tells you that she takes his breath away, gives him shivers deep inside, that he would be ready to die for one of her kisses. He expresses his longing and loneliness, and you can see it all in his face and feel it all in your heart and soul. Meanwhile the piano notes have been intertwining with his beautiful. He is looking down and hunching his shoulders, so deep is his emotion.The strength and depth of the piano builds as he says he would go to the ends of the earth to find her, then back to gently, he said, to tell her, "I love you." By the time he finishes, your heart is breaking; you want to hug and comfort him in his pain, while you are silently praying "Dear God, please let her love him as much as she loves her, and make her worthy of his love." Amen! This is my best argument for live performances whenever possible. The studio version is beautiful, but your intimate session with Freddie needs no background singers or other instruments.
Diane Fowler ... I’m totally agree with you dear Diane.... what a masterpiece with the Freddie’s brand!!! No one like him to made all of us goosebumps .... just take the breath away..!!!
Sorry my last comment was so long, but I was hearing this in my head last night while trying to get to sleep and needed to share my feelings with all of you.
That's another one with the harmonies! And the bassline is awesome, the harmonizing guitars, in 3/4 time, the shifting movements, and then he brings it all together at the end. You can hear the classical music influence, but Freddie gives it this sexy, cheeky, modern edge, it's like a classical waltz/rock fusion, and the creativity of it is surprisingly delightful, I get such a kick out of it. He was a brilliant, imaginative guy. Listening to his music can inspire you to throw all the rules out the window and think and experiment in new, unusual directions.
You should react to the studio version of Love Of My Life which employs similar vocal harmonizing effects as the studio version of You Take My Breath Away along with much more falsetto than the live version. Just remember that the official video on Queen's official channel is actually the more popular (27+ million views) live version. There is a more recent video on the same channel for the studio version with much less views...
The technology in the 70's would not allow most artists to be able to perform their songs as they sounded in the studio. So they didn't even try but instead they would put their own spin on it in concert. That is why most concert versions sound so much different in comparison. Queen's albums from the 70's are fire and you should also hear the album cuts that were not done for the concerts. Let me recommend the cut called White Man and Tie Your Mother Down from the album A Day At The Races (1976) and I'm In Love With My Car and The Prophet's Song from A Night At The Opera (1975). All of their albums up until Jazz (1978) are great from beginning to end. For some odd reason, the album Jazz fell short in spite of having two moderately successful singles. And don't miss the song called Flash from the movie soundtrack Flash Gordon (1980) which was their first movie soundtrack and the first time the group used synthesizers in their music. Queen was the first group since the Beatles to use harmony as a musical hook to draw the listeners in.
I was going to recommend Prophet Song, but at this point, if you are doing studio stuff, you may as well just do the entire "A Night at the Opera" album, there are so many surprises. You could do all of their albums up to "A Day at the Races" but damn that's a lot of video.
