That Freddie Mercury Google Doodle!

This is just amazing.

I blogged this morning on Freddie's 65th birthday and chose 'Don't Stop Me Now' in tribute not realising at the time that those crazy, cool guys at Google had made their own wonderful tribute to the same song.

Here is their Google Doodle for September 5th 2011 (September 6th in America)...



This Guardian article asks what would Freddie have been doing today if he was still with us. It gives a link to an interview with Brian May on this anniversary.

He says:

I was first introduced to Freddie Mercury—a paradoxically shy yet flamboyant young man—at the side of the stage at one of our early gigs as the group “SMILE.” He told me he was excited by how we played, he had some ideas—and he could sing! I'm not sure we took him very seriously, but he did have the air of someone who knew he was right. He was a frail but energised dandy, with seemingly impossible dreams and a wicked twinkle in his eye. A while later we had the opportunity to actually see him sing ... and it was scary! He was wild and untutored, but massively charismatic. Soon, he began his evolution into a world-class vocal talent, right in front of our eyes.

Freddie was fully focused, never allowing anything or anyone to get in the way of his vision for the future. He was truly a free spirit. There are not many of these in the world. To achieve this, you have to be, like Freddie, fearless—unafraid of upsetting anyone's apple cart.

Some people imagine Freddie as the fiery, difficult diva who required everyone around him to compromise. No. In our world, as four artists attempting to paint on the same canvas, Freddie was always the one who could find the compromise—the way to pull it through. If he found himself at odds with any one of us, he would quickly dispel the cloud with a generous gesture, a wisecrack or an impromptu present. I remember one morning after a particularly tense discussion he presented me with a cassette. He had been up most of the night compiling a collage of my guitar solos. "I wanted you to hear them as I hear them, dear," he said. "They're all fab, so I made them into a symphony!

To create with Freddie was always stimulating to the max. He was daring, always sensing a way to get outside the box. Sometimes he was too far out ... and he'd usually be the first to realise it. With a conspiratorial smile he would say "Oh ... did I lose it, dears?!" But usually there was sense in his nonsense—art in his madness. It was liberating. I think he encouraged us all in his way, to believe in our own madness, and the collective mad power of the group Queen.

Freddie would have been 65 this year, and even though physically he is not here, his presence seems more potent than ever. Freddie made the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected. He gave people proof that a man could achieve his dreams—made them feel that through him they were overcoming their own shyness, and becoming the powerful figure of their ambitions. And he lived life to the full. He devoured life. He celebrated every minute. And, like a great comet, he left a luminous trail which will sparkle for many a generation to come.

Happy birthday Freddie!

Posted by Dr. Brian May, CBE. Guitarist.

I can't top that final luminous sentence and I can't top the Google doodle either.

Happy 65th birthday Freddie - the world still loves you!

Happy 65th Birthday Freddie Mercury

Today is Freddie Mercury's 65th birthday. If he'd have been alive now to witness it in person, it would've been a riot!

Incredibly, it will be the 20th anniversary of his passing this coming November. Time really does fly. But for die-hard Queen fans like myself, Freddie hasn't left us. He remains, through the wonderful musical legacy that will echo down the ages as I mentioned in this blog post of their lesser known hits back in December.

Wherever you are now Freddie, you'll be having a right old knees-up I'm sure!

So in tribute to Freddie on this day, a song that is still being regularly played in clubs, pubs and discos througout the land and which summed up his way of life. It has brought the music of Queen to a whole new generation of music lovers and will ensure that his and Queen's names will live on forever.

Happy birthday Freddie! Keep rockin'!

No One But You (Only The Good Die Young)

It's been a tough few days. Indeed, as June closes, I look back at what has been a distressing month.

I've already commented about the sad and premature death of Andrew Reeves at only 43 of a heart attack and of my journey to his funeral in Edinburgh. The following week I attended the funeral of a well respected elder statesman of the Cardigan community who passed away in his early 90s.

Over the course of the past week I've done my best to support Alyson as her family have prepared their farewells to her grandmother who also passed away, aged 94. On leaving the funeral yesterday and coming back north from Llanboidy to Cardigan, I heard the heart-breaking news of the premature death of a lovely lady who though is only related to me through marriage, has along with her husband and children, always felt a part of my wider family. She was only in her 60s and it just made me despair again at how, as the old saying goes, 'only the good die young'. It very much brought to the fore the memories of my father's early death back in 2003 at the age of 66. Last night I broke down in tears for the first time in a number of years and I'm thankful that I had Alyson there to console me.

So as a tribute to all of those who have passed before their time, one of the most under-rated of songs from the best band of all-time.

No One But You
The impetus for this Queen production was the death, at the age of just 36, of Princess Diana in August 1997. It is however, largely a eulogy to Freddie Mercury who passed away aged just 45 in 1991.

The song features the three remaining members of Queen and was the last new recording to feature John Deacon, who subsequently retired from public life.


Queen - No One But You (Only The Good Die Young)... by M_Ouyhey

It is a truly moving piece of music and the video for me adds to the poigniancy of the lyrics, sang so well by Brian May and Roger Taylor.

The Alternative Queen - A Tribute

There have been competitions recently to find which is the greatest musical band of all-time. You could easily make the case for the Beatles, Led Zeppelin or Westlife (just kidding there folks) but for me, it'll always be Queen.

Pioneers in their own unique way, they spanned two decades with a music that will echo down the ages.

I'm unfortunately too young to have seen them at their prime but at least had the pleasure of seeing them in their modern incarnatrion with Paul Rodgers a few years ago in Cardiff. They rocked then so I could only imagine how absolutely phenomenal they would've been to see live when the immortal Freddie Mercury was alive at the helm.

Having rocked their way through the 70s, they made their mark on the musical industry indelible and permanent when they stole the show at Live Aid in 1985. Like all the top artistes, they have successfully managed to adapt their image over time to stay in-sync with the musical vogue of the time.

All along this journey throughout the 70s and 80s, they have made hit after hit after hit.

But I want to concentrate on some maybe, lesser known hits. Those that may not be known as widely beyond the scrum of Queen fans.

The song that launched then into the stratosphere came from their second album, aptly named Queen II - The Seven Sea of Rhye.



The A Night at the Opera album from 1975 of course gave us Bohemian Rhapsody. But save this, it's a sweetie bag of joys. To begin, Freddie's fabulous 68 second ditty, Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon.



Continuing from the same album and on the same theatrical Freddie theme, it's the irrepressible Seaside Rendezvous.



Next is a Brian May track from again, the same album (it really is that good an album folks!). I heard him play this in Cardiff when I saw him live with Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers and it absolutely blew me away. It's the beautiful '39.



Can I pick another from the same album? Please?! Thanks! Love of My Life says it all in the title.



Moving on finally, to the News of The World album from 1977 which have the world We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions, check this out, written by the 'quiet one' John Deacon, it's Spread Your Wings.



Queen enjoyed courting controversy and they enjoyed making visually striking videos to promote their singles. Well they did both in good store on the 1980 Jazz album with Bicycle Race. Beware, the following shows naked women riding bikes. Typical Queen then!



I'm a big fan of The Works album from 1984 which gave us Hammer to Fall, I Want to Break Free, Radio Ga Ga & It's a Hard Life. It also gave us the poigniant 'Is Thus the World we Created'



Moving on to their final years. The Miracle album from 1989 is another big favourite of mine. The corresponding single The Miracle had yet another wonderful video with young fans playing out the roles of the four band members with the main men making a late cameo at the end. But more important are the wonderful and moving lyrics.



Next, from the same album, a real hidden gem. Rain Must Fall.



Freddie's final album before he passed away in 1991 was Innuendo. From it, again with a wonderful video is the eccentic greatness that is 'I'm Going Slightly Mad'.



The final Queen album to include Freddie's voice came 5 years after his death in 1995 - Made in Heaven. Let Me Live is one of the best songs they ever wrote with a gospel choir thrown in. Here it is with the official dramatised video.



I conclude with a final 2 songs from Queen's 14th and final studio album. In appreciation of Queen but with special thanks to Freddie himself, for giving us this music, Heaven For Everyone.



Finally, this song was the last song that Freddie solely composed in its entirety before he died at the prime of his time, at the age of just 45 in November 1991.

Fitting for the season in which we're in, it's A Winter's Tale.

RIP Freddie