Who Wrote What?

STONE COLD CRAZY: The skeleton of this song was already on one of Freddie's pre-Queen bands. Contrary to what a lot of sources say, *that* version was the slower one; the Queen version was always at a fast tempo, even before John joined. As to why it was credited to all of them, it's sort of a mystery. My speculation is that Roger, Freddie and Brian worked on a new version of it, based on Freddie's old one. John was credited but didn't participate on it creatively.

UNDER PRESSURE: Freddie and David. The rest of them contributed, but more as arrangers than as co-writers. The final mix was done by Freddie, Reinhold and David.

SOUL BROTHER: Freddie. He wrote it in about fifteen minutes and apparently wrote it about Brian.

ONE VISION: The germinal idea was Roger's, and from then on it was a collaboration: Freddie re-wrote a lot of the words, Brian came up with the opening section, etc. John was credited but didn't participate much on its creation.

PARTY: Freddie had the original idea, and from then on he worked on it with John and Brian. Roger was skiing elsewhere, so he didn't participate on it.

KHASHOGGI'S SHIP: All four worked on it together, but judging by the harmony, it seems Freddie had a dominant role musically.

THE MIRACLE: Freddie and John sat together and came up with a basic outline, then Freddie worked on it further and the four of them discussed and edited the lyrics until they agreed on the final version of them, which were a collaboration between Freddie and Roger.

I WANT IT ALL: Brian from beginning to end. In fact, some recent releases credit it just to him.

THE INVISIBLE MAN: Roger came up with the original idea, then they all participated.

BREAKTHRU': Roger's song, with all four of them (and David Richards) as co-arrangers. The intro was taken from an idea Freddie had for a different track.

RAIN MUST FALL: Music by John, lyrics by Freddie.

SCANDAL: Brian's, both musically and lyrically.

MY BABY DOES ME: Freddie wanted something that could ease things off and came up with the basic concept and the bass-line. From then on, it was a collaboration between him and John.

WAS IT ALL WORTH IT: Freddie had the initial idea, and from then on all four took part.

HANG ON IN THERE: Freddie, but Brian took over the arrangement and added bits of his own.

MY LIFE HAS BEEN SAVED: John wrote it and then David Richards helped him recording a demo. Freddie heard it, loved it and sang on it.

HIJACK MY HEART: Roger, most likely.

STEALIN': Freddie had the basic idea and then they all contributed.

CHINESE TORTURE: Brian had the guitar bit as early as 1986. Freddie mixed it.

INNUENDO: The beat came from the three of them (Brian, John and Roger) jamming at the Casino Hall. Freddie then started singing along and wrote some lyrics and melody, Roger then took over and finished off the lyrics, including swapping the order of the verses (the one Freddie wrote came in second). Freddie added the bit in the middle.

I'M GOING SLIGHTLY MAD: Freddie had the idea for it and composed the music. For the lyrics, he wanted a lot of the lines to be camp one-liners in the style of Noël Coward, and there was input from Peter Straker and Peter Freestone, with the final revision penned by Roger (first verse + the 'one needle' bit) and Freddie (everything else).

HEADLONG: Brian. In fact, some recent releases credit just him. Originally written for his solo album.

I CAN'T LIVE WITH YOU: Both lyrics and music were Brian's. Originally written for his solo album but given to the band as he thought Freddie could sing it better.

DON'T TRY SO HARD: Freddie wrote it in Montreux and from then on the four of them discussed the details.

RIDE THE WILD WIND: Roger, both lyrically and musically.

ALL GOD'S PEOPLE: Freddie wrote it for a solo project which was cut off short because of the duet album with Montserrat Caballé. He then got Mike Moran to orchestrate it with him and asked Brian to play some guitar. Then he also asked John and Roger to be on it and it became a Queen song.

THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES: Roger wrote it, but not about Freddie, he was just thinking about life and his kids and growing old and all that. Lyrics are often broad enough that they can acquire new meaning, and this is no exception.

DELILAH: Freddie wrote it in Switzerland.

THE HITMAN: The riff came from Freddie, then Brian took over, wrote the lyrics and melody, and then John took over and re-arranged it.

BIJOU: Freddie and Brian were inspired by Jeff Beck's Where Were You and decided to write a piece that instead of being sung throughout and featuring a guitar solo in the middle, was played throughout and had a vocal solo in the middle. Freddie had a lot to do with the guitar lines (including singing the intro melody to Brian) and Brian had a lot to do with the vocal lines.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON: John and Roger came up with the chord sequence, which Brian then took as the basis for the music: he wanted a cyclic progression over which everything else would happen, based on Pachelbell's Canon in D, and he sat with Freddie to write some lyrics. Freddie wrote the first two lines of the song, everything else was penned by Brian, as well as the chords of the middle-eight.

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY: Freddie wrote it and recorded it in 1980. The two versions on 'Made in Heaven' are re-arranged by the surviving band members, with John quoting a bit from Frederick Delius' Koanga.

LET ME LIVE: The original idea was Freddie's, but he never got around to finishing it. Brian, John and Roger re-arranged it, finished off the lyrics and added the middle-eight.

YOU DON'T FOOL ME: Freddie wrote the lyrics, and the musical idea came from him and John in 1991. Not a lot was recorded back then, and David worked very hard on stretching the existing recordings to make the song a full-length one. Then John and Roger added ideas and at the end Brian listened to it, liked it and came up with the solo.

A WINTER'S TALE: Freddie wrote it in Montreux inspired by the scenery. He'd planned to spend Christmas '91 there with his boyfriend, but sadly couldn't make it.

TRACK NO 13: Brian and David experimented with samplers and synthesisers and built it up in an overnight session. Roger also added some ideas later on.

'Made in Heaven' Timeline

• Spring 1980: Freddie records It's a Beautiful Day at Musicland Studios in Munich. Engineered by Mack. Piano used was a Yamaha C-7B.
• 2nd September 1983: There's a jam session between Queen and guest celebrities Jim Cregan, Carmine Appice, Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck. The result is a fragment of a song then titled A Little Piece of My Heart. Location: Record Plant in LA. Engineered by Mack and Andrew Bradfield. A Yamaha C7 piano is played (though not the same as the one Freddie played in Munich).
• May 1984: Freddie records piano, synths and vocals for Made in Heaven and I Was Born to Love You. Sessions produced by Freddie, co-produced and engineered by Mack, assistant engineer Stephan Wissnet. Equipment: Yamaha C-7B piano, various synths (chiefly Oberheim OB-Xa and Roland Jupiter 8).
• May 1987: The Cross record Heaven for Everyone at Mediterraneo Studios in Ibiza. Freddie pops in for a visit and asks them to let him sing it. David Richards co-produced and engineered.
• 1988: Queen record My Life Has Been Saved, with David Richards as co-producer, engineer and guest keyboardist (uncredited). John (who wrote the song) was absent in March, July, August, October and December, so we can rule out those months.
• July 1988:  During a break from the recording sessions, Brian co-writes and demoes Too Much Love Will Kill You in LA. The song would be completed with the rest of the band later in the year (and possibly also in early 1989). David Richards as co-producer and engineer. Venues could be in London or in Montreux, or both.
• January 1991: Preliminary work on You Don't Fool Me and A Winter's Tale at Mountain Studios in Montreux.
• 10th May 1991: Freddie's vocal track on A Winter's Tale is compiled. He didn't record any other vocal for that song after that.
• 13th May 1991:  Work begins on Mother Love: various vocal bits from Freddie and Brian, keyboards (either one could've played them, on a Korg M-1), guitar (Brian on the original BHM) and a drum-machine generated on either a Linn 9000 or a Korg M-1.
• 16th May 1991:  More work on Mother Love: another keyboard (Korg M1), some more guitar, and John's bass (presumably a Fender Precision).
• 22nd May 1991: Rough mix of Mother Love.
• 13th October 1993: Work on Mother Love recommences at Metropolis Studios in London. Brian's not involved (that day he was playing a solo concert in America), which means that whatever was done on it was by Roger and/or John. What exactly? No idea. Also around those days, John and Roger officially begin working on the posthumous project, sometimes at Metropolis and sometimes at Roger's house in Surrey.
• 25th February 1994: End of the first 'batch' of recordings for the 'Made in Heaven' project. Up until this point, Brian's not involved at all. Roger and John take a break as the former devotes to his solo career and a planned album with Yoshiki (of which only two tracks have been released so far, one incorporated to Roger's album and the other as a bonus track).
• March to June 1994: Brian joins the project, and coincidentally, John goes on holiday.
• Summer 1994: Brian works on the posthumous album on his own, at his home studio. Roger and John not involved in those sessions. Engineer and co-producer: Justin Shirley-Smith.
• Autumn 1994: The three of them go to Metropolis in London to work together, but they soon split up and John goes on holiday, Roger goes on a solo tour and Brian goes home to work by himself on the tapes, especially the songs Fred'd made on his solo album a decade earlier.
• Winter 1994: The three of them work at Brian's studio.
• Spring 1995: Separate sessions: Brian works from home, with Justin Shirley-Smith engineering and co-producing, Roger and John work at Roger's mill, with Josh Macrae engineering and co-producing.
• Summer 1995: The three of them work together on tying the loose ends. Venue switches between Brian's home, Roger's home and Metropolis. David Richards makes the mixes at Metropolis.
• Late September 1995: 'Made in Heaven' finished and mixed.

RIP David Richards

David was an outstanding producer, engineer and musician, and a very beloved person in the music industry. His contributions to Queen were immeasurable. When Queen first went to Mountain Studios in 1978, they were adamant on using their own equipment and taking their own personnel, so David wasn't involved in any way on the 'Jazz' album. Instead, Queen went there with Roy Baker and two trusted engineers: John Etchells (who'd worked on BBC sessions) and Geoff Workman (whom Roy'd chosen and who'd been involved with the 'Sheer Heart Attack' album in 1974).

In Spring 1979 Queen returned to Switzerland to work on choosing, editing and overdubbing 'Live Killers', again with John Etchells, but this time Roy wasn't around, which meant Geoff wasn't around, so David took over as assistant engineer, and they liked his work. Soon afterwards, Queen bought the studios and young David (he was 22-23 at the time) remained on the payroll as the studios' resident engineer, working on several records by other artists. Not so much with Queen at that point, as they recorded 'The Game' in West Germany with Mack and 'Flash Gordon' in several English studios, chiefly with Mack but also Alan Douglas.

Roger's first solo album, on the other hand, was recorded 1980-1981 at Mountain, and David was the engineer and the only guest performer on it (he played about half of the keyboard parts, while Roger did the rest, plus all the vocals, guitars, drums and bass). Queen began sessions for what would become 'Hot Space' in Munich but after a break they visited Montreux and did some preliminary work on 'Las Palabras de Amor', 'Calling All Girls', 'Cool Cat' and 'Put Out the Fire', with Mack as chief engineer and assistant producer, and David as assistant engineer.

It was another David, David Bowie, who popped in one day and then 'Under Pressure' was born. On the 'Magic Years' documentary, Bowie directly credits David Richards as the man who made it all possible. As Dave Richards often told visitors to the studio, he played piano on that particular track but never received credit for it (now, which piano did he mean? There are two pianos on that song).

The rest of 'Hot Space' was recorded in New York and Munich and David wasn't involved with it, nor he took part of any session for 'The Works', but he worked with Roger again on the 'Strange Frontier' album, this time being promoted to co-producer and also co-writing one of the songs. David and Roger collaborated a lot in those years, producing other artists together. By the time Queen began working on the OST for 'Highlander', Roger went to David instead of Reinhold Mack and flew him to London's Town House, where he co-produced and engineered 'A Kind of Magic' and 'Don't Lose Your Head'. Those sessions also caught Brian's attention and while Freddie and John remained loyal to Mack, Brian chose David for 'Who Wants to Live Forever' and 'Gimme the Prize'.

Once the OST had been finished, Queen began working on their next album, 'A Kind of Magic', which would include different versions of the 'Highlander' songs. It was on those sessions that Freddie got to work very closely with David, as Freddie'd taken over Roger's title track and changed it around completely to make it more commercial and 'pop'. Freddie was impressed with David's engineering skills and worked with him on his solo sessions the following year, as well as the duet album with Montserrat Caballé, the famous 'Barcelona'.

David's work in late 80s was exhaustive: he was co-producing and engineering Queen, The Cross, the duet album by Freddie and Montserrat, and some of Brian's solo songs, not to mention other artists. Busy man indeed! Working with musicians who were so excellent but also so demanding wasn't an easy job. David may not be as famous and world-renowned as George Martin or Quincy Jones, but he surely represented, just as they did, the massive importance of those 'blokes in suit handling the faders'.

Freddie and Mike Moran would arrange the orchestra parts for the songs, Mike would play them on piano and synthesisers, and David would perfect the sounds of the samples until they pleased Freddie. At the same time, he was working on The Cross album and it was David who suggested transposing each consecutive line of 'Heaven for Everyone' to create a more uplifting effect instead of Roger's more linear initial demo. When Freddie popped in to visit Roger's band, he heard the track with the David Richards treatment and loved it so much that he asked to sing it. The result was a lovely Roger/Freddie collaboration, one that years later would be Queen's very last big hit.

David's contributions on sessions for 'The Miracle' album were unparalleled. He programmed a lot of the drum machines we hear on the album, as well as some synth bass (e.g., on 'Scandal') to reinforce the sound, and helped John record the first demo of 'My Life Has Been Saved', which again pleased Freddie. The famous drum part on the fast bit of 'I Want It All' isn't Roger playing, it's actually David programming a Linn computer and making it sound like an actual drum set. It was also David who had the difficult task of editing 'Was It All Worth It' to make room for the orchestral interlude. Queen'd first recorded the backing track live, without any metronome or click track, and when Freddie came up with that bit to insert it after the guitar solo, David had to perform audio surgery to make sure the transition was seamless. He succeeded.

Soon as 'The Miracle' sessions were over, David engineered some sessions for Brian at SARM Studios in London. The result was 'Last Horizon'. Then, flying back and forth between Switzerland and England, he engineered Brian's solo song 'Just One Life' and co-produced the 'Innuendo' album, again having loads of input on the performance side. Remember the orchestral bit on the title track? David programmed that. The conga percussion on 'Days of Our Lives'? David programmed those too. The keyboard sequence on 'I Can't Live with You'? Yeah, that's Dave again. It was also Dave who suggested the key shift for the second cycle of 'Show Must Go On', helping to make the song more uplifting, again. He played an important role on computer programming. A lot of the additional (or sometimes sole) drum parts on the album were done either by him or by the creator of the song, with his assistance.

It wouldn't be long before Queen returned to Switzerland to record again, and the January 1991 sessions yielded some preliminary work on 'You Don't Fool Me' and 'A Winter's Tale' as well as the B-Side 'Lost Opportunity'. Then, in May, he worked on finishing off the vocals on 'A Winter's Tale' and engineered the last new song they had then, 'Mother Love'. Around those months he also engineered and co-produced Brian's 'Driven By You'.

After Freddie's death, Roger and John began the new sessions in 1993 with Josh Macrae, then Brian took over with Justin Shirley-Smith, but when they decided to join forces at Metropolis Studios in London they knew David was the best choice, so they flew him over again. David's contributions to the 'Made in Heaven' record were endless, from editing Freddie's vocals to make them sound crisper and more powerful than they already were, to moving along lines of 'You Don't Fool Me' and making loops and virtually transforming those bare bones into a full-fledged song, to creating rhythmic loops for the title track, to mixing outtakes from different sessions recorded at many different studios and having different engineers, making sure they blended and sounded uniform, creating the illusion of the entire band working together. Oh, and of course, he did all the mixes!

I never met David personally, but we did exchange some e-mails in the early 2000s. He was always kind and gentle and spoke highly of the band. Those who knew him feel an emptiness and disbelief that I can't possibly imagine, and those of us who didn't still miss him for his marvellous work throughout so many years. Rest in peace Dave, thanks for everything.

Regarding Stems, Multi's, etc.

To sum up, here's what's available, in ascending 'isolation potential' (I had to call it something):

* Stereo mixes of officially released material: The most you can do with that in order to uncover 'hidden gems' is playing with audio manipulation (e.g., muting channels, inverting phase, cancelling frequencies, etc). For instance: http://youtu.be/WE9qVsKCrww?t=4m17s

* Officially released instrumentals (or nearly instrumentals): That includes GKH, The Eye and some bonus tracks here and there (e.g., the YMBF backing track from the 2011 ANATO). Not having the lead vocal, you can hear more clearly things such as bass, harmonies, etc. Not all Queen tracks are available in these formats, though.

* 5.1 Surround Mixes: A bit of an early 21st century trend, as several albums were being re-issued to be played in home theatres rather than stereo systems. That way, things could be spread more: instead of cramming nine voices in a stereo mix, you could pan some of them in front right, some in front left, some in surround left, some in surround right, and leave the lead in the centre (although it was usually also audible in the surround channels, depending on the mix). By isolating the five of them (sometimes four, when the mix didn't have a centre channel), some nice things were uncovered, such as the two seconds of piano on Princes of the Universe which I personally would've never noticed otherwise. If you mix and match and apply some more audio manipulation, you can get some nice things too, such as Brian's isolated falsetto at the end of '39. Again, not all Queen tracks are available in this format. In fact, only GH, GHII, ANATO and The Game, so far.

* Stems: Thanks to videogames and computer/electronics/technology experts, when some Queen (and other artists') songs were included on Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc., the record labels and/or producers and/or artists' management supplied the game developers with the multi's, which allowed certain 'stems' to be created (e.g., just guitars, just bass, just piano, just vocals). That's why we can hear those isolated bounces in those cases, and a lot of things have also been 'discovered' thanks to that, such as the double-bass on Death on Two Legs. Myself, I've also loved hearing other bands' and artists' stems and hearing some nice gems, such as the acoustic guitar on Maxwell's Silver Hammer (never noticed it before, and AFAIR most sources miss it), or just the voices on loads of things from Ziggy Stardust to Poker Face. Queen and Queen-related of which stems are so far available are, as far as I know, in chronological order:

• Keep Yourself Alive
• Seven Seas of Rhye
• Killer Queen, Tenement Funster, Now I'm Here, Stone Cold Crazy
• Bohemian Rhapsody, I'm in Love with My Car, Death on Two Legs, You're My Best Friend
• Long Away, Somebody to Love, Tie Your Mother Down
• We Are the Champions, We Will Rock You
• Bicycle Race, Fat Bottomed Girls
• Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Play the Game, Another One Bites the Dust
• Under Pressure
• Hammer to Fall, I Want to Break Free, Radio Ga Ga
• One Vision
• I Want It All
• Show Must Go On
• C-lebrity

* Multi-Tracks: The most we can get in terms of isolation. Not just having bass, but bass as tracked via DI, as tracked via amp and as tracked via external mic; not just backing vocals, but (sometimes) each part separately; not just guitars, but lead guitar on one track, rhythm on another, another rhythm on another, etc. Sometimes, because they only had 16-track (first two albums) and 24-track (SHA up until around The Works, although NOtW and Flash were probably 32-track), sometimes things had to be bounced and the possibility of isolating them any further was gone for ever. That's why we can listen to the Brighton Rock choir, but not each part separately. Same with some guitar harmonies (e.g., KQ near the end). Four Queen songs have leaked this way: Bo Rhap, Killer Queen, Brighton Rock and Get Down Make Love.

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That's it.

So the degree of isolation depends on which group the song belongs to. If you wanna hear just the guitar on Tenement Funster, that can be done. Sleeping on the Sidewalk? No. At least not yet. Same for vocals: wanna hear Radio Ga Ga a cappella? You got it! All God's People? Not available.

Pictures of the back of the first album cover (some of them are mislabelled)

Some stats:

42 pictures (44 if we count the chess piece and the card):

• 4 of them are group pictures.
• 9 of them are Brian's.
• 7 of them are Freddie's.
• 7 of them are John's.
• 9 of them are Roger's.
• 2 are a 3D drummer boy.
• 1 is Maylor.
• 1 is Maycury.
• 1 is Jeddie.
• 1 is John Harris.

Just to be pedantic, Brian's shown 15 times, Roger 14, Freddie 13 and John 12. Not a big surprise considering Brian was (partly) in charge of making the montage. Ever wondered why Queen Rocks is a May-fest and the Tribute to Freddie had more songs by Brian and more of Brian's friends than Freddie's? Excellent musician, phenomenal, etc., but either he was quite egoMayniac or he's doing a very accurate impression of one for the last four decades. Still, again, extraordinary musician.

Pictures of Queen at the Ridge Farm in Summer 1975