A few more questions to answer!

Paul asks; would Freddie approve of the musical ‘We Will Rock You’?

I think Freddie would be happy with ‘We Will Rock You’ the musical, as it gives another outlet for Queen’s music, without trying to be Queen. There are talented musicians performing some of the most well known music in the world, not trying to outdo the original, but giving their own interpretation of it. Freddie liked the idea of people covering Queen music, as long as they did it with their own talent and it was GOOD!

Ivan Petracchi asks; I would like you to give an example, in detail, of the way Freddie wrote a song….. and the inspiration behind it.
Generally the way Freddie created his songs was the same each time. He very rarely wrote anything outside of the studio. He would arrive with an idea swimming around in his head. He would sit at the piano and start working out some chords which would fit with the tune in his head. Once he had a basic idea of what he wanted, he would ask Roger to create a basic drum track. Roger would have to sit and play a 5 minute rhythm track to which Freddie would add some piano parts. As the song began to take shape he would ask Brian to add basic guitars and John to get the bass rhythm going. He would also add a few words that would come into his head. Slowly the song would be filled up with drum fills, guitar riffs and all the other extras. Finally Freddie would have to get down to the most difficult part for him…. the lyrics. While a song didn’t have to have a meaning, as in something to live your life by, the words had to make sense. He would struggle for many hours trying to make them ‘just right’! I remember once, about 04.00 in the morning, Freddie came back from the studio and woke everybody up so that we could sort out three words from a line from ‘I’m Going Slightly Mad’. Once all the main singing had been set down, Brian would work out the harmonies and they would be added. There then would be many hours of concentration while the first mix was created. There would be many discussions and possibly many more mixes before the final result would be produced. This song was really a tribute to Sir Noel Coward, an English play and song writer, whose wit and humour Freddie loved.

Robert Colling’s question was; what was Garden Lodge like…. Were Freddie and myself at home there.
Garden Lodge was the place where Freddie really felt most at home. You must remember he had spent the previous 15 years recording in various locations and then touring the world. While he had an apartment in New York, he didn’t spend too much time there. He put 5 years of his life into making Garden Lodge the home of his dreams. That is how long it took to make all the reconstruction Freddie demanded to basically take it back to how it might have looked when it was originally built, with a few alterations to give him his giant bedroom and two en-suite bathrooms! It was filled with contrasting woods and some of the floors were covered in hand made fitted carpets exactly to Freddie’s colour demands. The walls were finished in the Edwardian style that the original house probably would have had. There was of course the kitchen with all of the state of the art equipment, but that really wasn’t Freddie’s domain, he would eat breakfast there, but not too much else! It wasn’t a massive house by rock star standards, but the details he added, by way of furnishings and art, made it into one of the most wonderful, warm HOMES you could ever wish to be in. I still remember, we were up on the musicians’ gallery over the main sitting room, when he told me “this is your home now, so make sure you enjoy it as well.”
Luc Hudson wanted to know; did Freddie continue to sketch and draw in later life?
I think Freddie’s time for drawing and sketching really ran out once the band achieved some of the success that they were striving for from the beginning. I never really saw his drawing until the last couple of years of his life. He really did not have the time. Jim Hutton gave him a water colour set in Freddie’s last year, but by then he didn’t really have the appetite for it. He had other things to think about. He did once make a sketch for me, a copy of a Matisse in an auction catalogue. He made it for me in about 20 seconds, and we wondered how long the original had taken to draw!

Keep the questions coming! I must now work on something for Freddie For a Day, which will of course be happening again this year. It was such a success last year and everybody seemed to enjoy it. It really is a fun way of raising money for a very important cause, and while recent news about the vaccine for HIV research is encouraging, there is still a long way to go with the awareness and prevention campaign.