| IanR 20.06.2013 02:45 |
The original lyrics to 'I Go Crazy' seem to support Rhys Thomas's revelation in his Q&A session that a third Queen & Bowie track was worked on in 1981: "I Don't Want To Be A Rolling Stone."
"I haven't really. Well, apart from another song by Bowie and Queen called 'I Don't Want To Be A Rolling Stone.' It's stunning. It was later re-worked to become 'I Go Crazy.' It's good as 'Under Pressure.' It would have been a great follow up single. "It seems the experience proved to be particularly invidious for Brian, who produced this set of lyrics for 'I Go Crazy', which seems to be an account of sorts of the recording of "I Don't Want To Be A Rolling Stone": We had a little party, With the man who stole the blow, I played a little song 'n' said you can play along, He said that's NOT how it should go, You sucked a little blood just before you spat, You took a bit of this and a bit of that, To think I nearly let you get away with all that (oh no, not you) CHORUS All I gotta do is think about you, Every night 'n' day I go crazy All I gotta do is get my hands on you, You better stay away from me Bowie. I wouldn't mind the milkman, I wouldn't mind the dude, And if the cleaner came along and wiped the tape, It wouldn't put me in a bad mood. Said a Rolling Stone wasn't where it's at, But you thought that you were better than a Rolling Stone, (You thought you just had to be) Of course, you're such a god, you're way above all that, You had to do your act like a real spoilt brat, CHORUS (Crazy, crazy) Now I don't want to hurt you, The way you hurt-a-me, But you know I'll be watching, interestedly, The next time you're on T.V., For you'll be back in your life, and I'll in mine, And I can jump for joy [...] It's the bulk eraser[?] for the bad memory. CHORUS There's really quite some anti-Bowie invective in there! No wonder we haven't even heard about the existence of this track until just recently. |
| splicksplack 20.06.2013 04:43 |
if that's genuine then it shows what a tosser May is. He must be sitting in May Towers green with envy watching the world-wide reaction to Bowie's new album. What's he up to? Recording with that Korean bloke. And Dappy. And the stroppy little showgirl. |
| onedunpark 20.06.2013 05:14 |
Sorry if I've missed something, but can you let us know the source of this version of the lyrics? Thanks |
| IanR 20.06.2013 05:40 |
link |
| dudeofqueen 20.06.2013 07:15 |
This is actually in the illustrated lyrics book? Brave. |
| IanR 20.06.2013 07:19 |
It is. And it corroborates Rhys Thomas claim, to boot. The Rolling Stones references now make a great deal more sense. |
| onedunpark 20.06.2013 09:31 |
Thanks for that, much appreciated. |
| Bohardy 20.06.2013 10:55 |
I'm a bit confused. So, supposedly, the sequence of events is: - Queen + Bowie work on an awesome song, called I Don't Wanna Be A Rolling Stone - After the Bowie collaboration finishes, Bri reworks this song started with Bowie into a song about Bowie and what a nasty little man he is - Bri completely changes the subject of the song and it becomes the I Go Crazy we all know and is released - The early anti-Bowie lyrics are officially published - Rhys Thomas confirms that Queen + Bowie worked on I Don't Wanna Be A Rolling Stone which later became I Go Crazy - Rhys (or someone) deletes this confirmation from Reddit Yeah? That's a very interesting story if so. And scarcely believable that Bri would allow those lyrics to be published. Any chance of a scan Ian? Does it definitely say 'Bowie', and not 'baby'? |
| IanR 20.06.2013 11:45 |
Your summation is bang on the money, Bohardy (as far as I'm concerned, anyway). Here's a photo of the page in question: link |
| Bohardy 20.06.2013 13:44 |
Well it certainly isn't 'baby' and does look like Bowie. But there's that weird bit between the B and the O. Bhowie? Blowie? I can't understand why that weird letter's there. It doesn't look like a mistake made whilst writing the word; it's difficult to tell, but it looks like the B flows straight into the O. So how did that weird letter get there? Curious. |
| pietrek 20.06.2013 14:16 |
Indeed. Looks like "f" to me. But maybe he wanted to cross the word out just before taking a photo. |
| brians wig 20.06.2013 15:18 |
Looks like "Blowie" to me, ie "Blow" (drugs) BUT it also looks like the "L" has been added later.... |
| snelly1 20.06.2013 16:02 |
This looks like a significant find to me..."l" definitely looks added later to cloud matters .. |
| Fastidious and Precise 20.06.2013 16:10 |
to me the bottom arc of the B clearly leads onto the O so the l looks as if it was a later addition. |
| vicspec 20.06.2013 16:25 |
Then there is that Bowie song "Ramona A. Stone (I Am With Name)" which samples Brian May live during the lyrics, 'anxiety descending'... Bit appears 3.17 link The claws were out between these two.. |
| Marknow 20.06.2013 16:44 |
http://i.imgur.com/rjQKj0T.gif" title="Hosted by imgur.com" /> |
| pietrek 20.06.2013 17:34 |
brians wig wrote: Looks like "Blowie" to me, ie "Blow" (drugs)But the word begins with a capital letter :) |
| dudeofqueen 21.06.2013 01:05 |
Blowie it is. |
| IanR 21.06.2013 10:14 |
Leaving aside the fact that 'Blowie' would make no sense in the context of the other lyrics, it's pretty obvious that Brian wrote 'Bowie' to begin with, then added the 'l' afterward. If Bowie did muscle in and started making wholesale changes to Brian's song, I don't actually blame BHM for being a little irate. |
| dysan 23.06.2013 03:30 |
Jesus, that Bowie song linked up there was terrible. |
| FriedChicken 24.06.2013 05:22 |
Even if it does say Bowie, and even if they did record a song that later turned out to be I Go Crazy. That doesn't mean that the early version of I Go Crazy was to be an attack at Bowie, or that the sessions with Bowie were a disaster. |
| Bohardy 24.06.2013 13:58 |
FriedChicken wrote: Even if it does say Bowie, and even if they did record a song that later turned out to be I Go Crazy. That doesn't mean that the early version of I Go Crazy was to be an attack at Bowie, or that the sessions with Bowie were a disaster. But given the available evidence, how would you interpret Bri's early lyrics for I Go Crazy, assuming it does say Bowie? |
| dysan 24.06.2013 14:49 |
As it ended up a dig at the stones, I'm not sure too much should be read into it. |
| The Fairy King 26.06.2013 07:07 |
Watch Days of Our Lives. |
| rocknrolllover 02.08.2013 15:25 |
Is there any hopes that this song will be on upcoming album? |
| Hangman_96 02.08.2013 17:28 |
No. |
| scallyuk 15.01.2016 05:13 |
I mentioned this to Crystal who has been waxing lyrical on Facebook out the UP recording sessions . and asked if he coudl comment. His reply was I could comment but I won;t and then he deleted his omment. Curiouser and curiouser |
| Sebastian 15.01.2016 08:47 |
scallyuk wrote: I mentioned this to Crystal who has been waxing lyrical on Facebook out the UP recording sessionsWhat did he say? Anything previously unrevealed? Or just the same old story about him jamming with Brian and DR afterwards? |
| pittrek 15.01.2016 12:30 |
Well apparently there was "something" going on between Brian and David during the recording, I have recently listened to the 1986 B.P Fallon interview, where Brian is trying to be really diplomatic but you can still feel his anger. |
| cmsdrums 15.01.2016 15:40 |
pittrek wrote: Well apparently there was "something" going on between Brian and David during the recording, I have recently listened to the 1986 B.P Fallon interview, where Brian is trying to be really diplomatic but you can still feel his anger.Not surprising when Brian was used to getting his way, at least part of the time. If it were me I'd have been frustrated with another artist coming into my band set up and pretty much taking over (even if albeit unintentionally). And don't forget Freddie and Bowie were heavily in the drugs scene at that time too, so with Brian being outside of that 'rarified atmosphere' I feel for him if the coke was fuelling any arguments and attitudes that must have been going on. |
| Sebastian 16.01.2016 03:00 |
cmsdrums wrote: Not surprising when Brian was used to getting his way, at least part of the time.Yeah, part of the time. He's often whined about ''39' and 'Long Away' not being singles (though the latter was, in America of all places) as well as 'Sail Away Sweet Sister.' cmsdrums wrote: If it were me I'd have been frustrated with another artist coming into my band set up and pretty much taking over (even if albeit unintentionally).Doesn't explain why neither John nor Freddie nor Roger (it was 'their' band as much as it was Brian's) felt frustrated. |
| scallyuk 16.01.2016 03:38 |
Crystal said : - While we were in Montreux for a while doing some work on the Hot Space album, as we all know Mr Bowie appeared at the studio and Under Pressure was created. The following day he came in early and was going to do some harmonies and sax on Cool Cat. Dave Richards was engineering and Jobby and myself were the only ones in the control room while Bowie was in the studio singing and he was hot so he took his shirt off. Now, the thin white duke is actually very thin and when he walked back into the control room Jobby had just cracked a very very funny joke and I burst out laughing. My timing couldn't have been worse. He thought I was laughing at him and he phoned up Freddie and said, "I'm here in the studio trying to help you on your album and your crew are taking the piss out of me and laughing." Oops. In trouble once more. Having said that he is/was an amazing talent. EDIT: Freddie said to me something on the lines of.... "Oh don't worry about her dear, she'll get over it. " then After the recording of Under Pressure had finished for the evening the band and DB were going out to eat. That is everyone except Brian. He was, how shall we say this, not happy about the way things were going and was feeling a bit down in the dumps and he said to me he wanted to go and get drunk with me. Me? As if I drank wink emoticon So we set off to the nightlife of Montreux, which was the White Horse pub and the Platinum disco, cause we were already barred from the Hazyland which was the only other club in town. We succeeded in getting well and truly plastered. Brian has been known to say some very wise things in his life but tonight was going to be the exception to the rule where he said the most ridiculous thing ever. "Let's go back to the studio and have a jam. You can play drums." There are a lot of words that could be used when describing my drumming but 'good' is not one of them. We went and found Dave Richards and began to play. Dave on piano, Brian on guitar and moi hitting things. We even recorded it. We played for about an hour and it was great fun but I presume it was pretty bad. So there is more unreleased stuff in the archives then finally Episode III of the Under Pressure trilogy: The Final Mix. In a galaxy far far away..... Well not actually that far but New York was the chosen place to mix it. I've no idea why they chose there as we had never recorded any thing there. Having said that Roger & I did use the Power Station to cut Fun in Space. The guys all flew out then the following day I decided to join them as well and jumped on a plane to NYC. While I was in the baggage hall at JFK I made a phone call. 10 minutes after checking in to my hotel a vision walked through the door. Hello Miss Atlanta smile emoticon After we, erm, 'chatted' for a while we went out to get some food and a couple of drinks then headed off to the Power Station. On arrival everyone was there, except the two singers that is. It turned out they were playing mind games with each other. Freddie was phoning the studio "Is he there yet?" Then Bowie would phone "Is he there yet?" It seemed like the biggest star wanted to be the last to turn up. Quite childish I thought. Anyway, it was getting late(ish) about midnight but my body was still on London time so I had been up for nearly 24 hrs and was feeling tired so I had to make a decision. Did I want to stay and listen to Pressure a million times or go back to the hotel with my friend. No contest. Goodnight guys. The next day I decided I didn't really want to be at the mix and called Roger and said "Se ya in New Orleans in a few days." I got a hire car and headed off to Pennsylvania to see Trip Khalaf. On the drive down there I thought I was gonna cash the car a couple of times. The first while I was driving down the freeway and saw a sign pointing to a town called Blue Balls. Yea that'll be me after last night. Then the next was for a town called Intercourse. I thought about turning off and going there but maybe I was ok for a while wink emoticon A few days later the entire entourage met up in New Orleans to start rehearsals for a North American tour. Pressure on again |
| Sebastian 16.01.2016 03:54 |
Thanks! Interesting ... the story about his jam with Brian and DR had been told donkey's years ago, but nice to see some additional perspective and nice trivia about 'Fun in Space.' Why do roadies always feel the need to boast about their sexual encounters? By the way, I'm so glad Crystal acknowledges the late 1981 tour was 'North American'. I mean, half of it was in North America (Mexico is in North America), but since it's been (mistakenly) called a 'South American' tour so many times, it's great to see someone (perhaps accidentally?) balancing it out a bit. |
| Sheer Brass Neck 16.01.2016 09:31 |
cmsdrums wrote: If it were me I'd have been frustrated with another artist coming into my band set up and pretty much taking over (even if albeit unintentionally).Doesn't explain why neither John nor Freddie nor Roger (it was 'their' band as much as it was Brian's) felt frustrated. Hey Seb, at the time I believe Brian's marriage was at best, not great, and his father was ill. The "amount" of guitar on The Game was less (not going to do a study) than previous albums, and if they were deep into Hot Space the guitars had diminished further. Think about CLTCL, AOBTD, Body Language and even the Brian penned Flash. 4 singles with not much Brian May sound, in fact nothing. If Save Me was truly about his role in the band and relationship to Freddie (a fascinating thought that needs its own thread), and he has jokingly acknowledged that the others kicked him out of the band for a while, then he may have felt that Under Pressure was the last straw and further proof that Queen as Brian saw them were losing their way. History proved the others right, song is a masterpiece and while a heavier guitar may have worked it ended up pretty damn amazing as is. |
| Sebastian 16.01.2016 13:45 |
Didn't Brian's dad fall ill about half a decade later? And both 'The Game' and 'Hot Space' have guitar on all tracks (100%), which is more than 'Sheer Heart Attack', 'A Night at the Opera' and 'News of the World.' |
| cmsdrums 16.01.2016 13:59 |
Sebastian wrote: Didn't Brian's dad fall ill about half a decade later? And both 'The Game' and 'Hot Space' have guitar on all tracks (100%), which is more than 'Sheer Heart Attack', 'A Night at the Opera' and 'News of the World.'I don't think the number of tracks with guitar on is the issue - more the type and style of guitars, and the song structure and feel. For example, Chic or Kool & The Gang would have a whole album featuring guitars on all tracks, but it Brian had been their guitarist would he have been happy playing on that? |
| The Real Wizard 16.01.2016 14:49 |
scallyuk wrote: Freddie said to me something on the lines of.... "Oh don't worry about her dear, she'll get over it. "Man, that's funny. |
| Sebastian 16.01.2016 15:01 |
I agree to disagree then. I do agree about the main point, though: Brian was certainly not happy about the way things were going. Fair play to him, though, for not bringing that up when David died. Would've been completely out of place, like the one time he claimed (again) 'Thriller' had been inspired by 'Hot Space' ... the day after Michael's demise. |
| matt z 16.01.2016 22:48 |
The odds are it WAS inspired by it.... a ROCK meets POP/SOUL album.... BEAT IT being the strongest of the bunch. people rewrite and airbrush out the details when someone passes away, it was obvious on the lyrics sheet what was griping Brian.. And given that shitty bands like whitesnake were hitting it big at the time and Van Halen was pushing things... it must have been VERY shirking to play on a weak pop white/eurotrash/funk album for Brian. There's no need to deny it. He loves the instrument and its dynamics... that much is very clear. He's taken guitar places most would never approach. anyways, getting back to the bit. Nile Rodgers has turned his story of meeting Bowie in an afterhours club into a G -rated version since the obits. Now, instead of Billy Idol arm and arm and PUKING when he says "Look ere, there's BOW(puke)IE"... it's since become... "Billy Idol ALMOST puked when he said BOWIE" (reference his interview on the PBS show SPEAKEASY regarding the likely more honest rendering of the story) Whats the big deal? the band was falling apart and he felt miffed... Hard to say that everybody's pleased with EVERYTHING in their bands. |
| Sheer Brass Neck 17.01.2016 00:27 |
Sebastian wrote: And both 'The Game' and 'Hot Space' have guitar on all tracks (100%), which is more than 'Sheer Heart Attack', 'A Night at the Opera' and 'News of the World.'I wrote "the "amount" of guitar on The Game was less (not going to do a study) than previous albums, and if they were deep into Hot Space the guitars had diminished further" with someone in mind Sebastian :) If you think that there is more guitar on The Game and Hot Space then your pedantictism has reached new heights! There are 8-13 guitars on God Save the Queen, maybe more than all of Hot Space. |
| Sebastian 17.01.2016 07:19 |
matt z wrote: The odds are it WAS inspired by it.... a ROCK meets POP/SOUL album.... BEAT IT being the strongest of the bunch.A lot of 'Thriller' had already been written and was already partially recorded by the time 'Hot Space' was released. A lot of 'Thriller' was written by people other than MJ. If there was any Queen influence on 'Thriller', it was from 'The Game', not from 'Hot Space'. A quick count on the amount of guitars 'Hot Space' has, and I'm only counting the ones Brian played: 1 on 'Staying Power' (there used to be more on the demo), 4-5 on 'Dancer', 2-3 on 'Back Chat' (power chords, lead and some harmonising), 1 on 'Body Language', at least 3 on 'Put Out the Fire', 2-3 on 'Las Palabras de Amor', 2-3 on 'Calling All Girls' and 2-3 on 'Under Pressure'. That's more than 'God Save the Queen'. |
| Negative Creep 17.01.2016 07:50 |
Sebastian wrote: I agree to disagree then.What - with yourself? |
| Sebastian 17.01.2016 08:09 |
Negative Creep wrote:With the notion that the role of the guitar (or Brian, for that matter) had diminished by 'The Game'.Sebastian wrote: I agree to disagree then.What - with yourself? |
| matt z 17.01.2016 09:04 |
Sebastian wrote:Yes. Damn near most of it was recorded from songs written by others. The exceptions being Billie Jean and BEAT IT which were nearly all Michael (*excepting the HALL AND OATES connotations)Negative Creep wrote:With the notion that the role of the guitar (or Brian, for that matter) had diminished by 'The Game'.Sebastian wrote: I agree to disagree then.What - with yourself? Pyt didn't sound ANYTHING like the final product Human Nature was by a Porcaro about his daughter's confusion about why someone who liked her would want to harm her. Wanna be was an MJ track with a bit of guitar bravado. The girl is mine was a throw away to Beatles fans who would buy it even though the song **(although well produced) kinda sucked. The best song on the album was THE LADY in my life. .. and it's obvious Michael didn't write that. But the STRENGTH of the recordings ought to reveal that Michael was focused on breaking the ROCK BARRIER ... although it is REALLY a practical BLACK AMERICAN art form. ... it is still hardly acknowledged As such. But it's true. |
| Negative Creep 17.01.2016 10:05 |
Sebastian wrote:I was taking the piss.... you simply stated "I agree to disagree" which doesn't make sense. You agree to disagree with someone else not by yourself.... regardless of how mis-used the expression is online.Negative Creep wrote:With the notion that the role of the guitar (or Brian, for that matter) had diminished by 'The Game'.Sebastian wrote: I agree to disagree then.What - with yourself? |
| Sebastian 17.01.2016 21:24 |
I was replying to the point about Cool & the Gang and Chic, but while I was writing, Bob posted another comment, which rendered my 'agree to disagree' statement utterly decontextualised. |
| Oscar J 18.01.2016 09:51 |
I think the point Negative Creep is trying to make is that you can't use the term "I agree to disagree" unless your opponent already proposed said agreement. Perhaps "let's agree to disagree" would be a more correct phrase, but... who cares? :) |
| Sebastian 18.01.2016 11:21 |
Good point indeed! |
| IanR 20.01.2016 04:57 |
So, was Crystal's deleted comment about I DON'T WANNA BE A ROLLING STONE or UNDER PRESSURE? |
| matt z 31.01.2016 05:52 |
I agree to disagree with myself, however regretfully sincere my avoidance of the approach might be. . |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 31.01.2016 13:56 |
How would be possible to contact Rhys Thomas? |
| cmsdrums 31.01.2016 15:39 |
Apocalipsis_Darko wrote: How would be possible to contact Rhys Thomas?He's on Twitter - tweet him. He's replied to a few of mine in the past. |
| Apocalipsis_Darko 31.01.2016 18:05 |
Thanks cmsdrums. |
| Your Fairy King 04.02.2016 16:18 |
IanR wrote: It is. And it corroborates Rhys Thomas claim, to boot. The Rolling Stones references now make a great deal more sense.I've always thought the line "Why did you have to run off with that Rolling Stone?" was a reference to Jeri Hall leaving Bryan Ferry for Mick Jagger. |
| trevcee 25.05.2018 16:28 |
I've heard the song Thomas talks about. It's not a patch on Under Pressure. It's a thrashy guitar rock thing. It sounds like it turned into I Go Crazy. But it is a different song. All I can remember about the lyrics are - ' I don't wanna work like a rolling stone, I don't wanna work like a queen." The version I like they're coked out of their minds. They're scatting the vocal over each other and and libbing. It's fun but no masterpiece |
| gooddrills 25.07.2019 23:43 |
Trev we - You have heard the early version with Queen and Bowie? |
| gooddrills 25.07.2019 23:44 |
Sorry, typing on my phone, trevcee |