On the 20th anniversary of the release of the Queen album The Miracle let me briefly introduce to you a few songs that have not been released on singles:

» “My Baby Does Me” (lyrics video) – lyrics – A rather simple, quiet song written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon.

» “Was It All Worth It” (still video)1 – lyrics – A “good old” rock song, mainly written by Freddie. Yes, it was a worthwhile experience!
The one-line Shakespeare quote they injected without much connection to the rest of the lyrics may seem a bit, well, subtle, given Freddie’s Aids illness (which the band new then), if you look at the beginning of Macbeth:
  When shall we three meet again?
  In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
  When the hurlyburly’s done
You could see that as referring to the three remaining Queen members and when they should continue – but maybe I’m reading “a little” too much into it…

» “Chinese Torture” (still video) – A short, dark instrumental which conveys the horror and fear that Chinese Water Torture was known to evoke in victims. Only on the CD.

Hope you liked at least one of them.

Photo: clix/sxc

1. there are also a few fan videos, but they don’t have acceptable sound quality ↺

A special edition of my little series of B-sides and album songs by Queen, this time not on the anniversary of a release, but of the contents of a song from their first album (1973), “Great King Rat”:

Great King Rat died today
Born on the twenty first of May
Died syphillis forty four on his birthday
Every second word he swore
Yes he was the son of a whore
Always wanted by the law

As the English Wikipedia puts it, this song (written by Freddie) is an example of Queen’s earliest sound, with lengthy, heavy compositions with long guitar solos and sudden tempo changes. The German says (translated):

The idiosyncratic beat of drummer Roger Taylor seems to imitate a galopping horse, while May and Mercury are duelling with guitar and vocal melodies.

Nice description. So enjoy:

» Album version
» BBC version from the Langham studios (Dec 1973)
» 1971 demo from the De Lane Lea Studios
» Live version from Japan, 1975
» Lyric
(All videos only show still images.)

Photo: clix/sxc