So I check out Wikipedia to find out if there's anything which might indicate an answer to my age-old question, as to whether the Jeff Daniels who co-wrote "In My Defence" is the American actor. And I encounter this collection of nonsense:
In My Defence
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In my Defence is a song written by Queen (band) lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury. It was released as a solo project by Mercury, quite distinct from the songs released under the Queen rubric. Despite it sounding otherwise, most notably with respect to the guitar components of this song, Brian May did not record it. "In my Defence" is contained in "The Freddie Mercury Album".
[edit] Meaning of the Song
The song is descriptive of Mercury's trial before God, according to his Zoroastrian religious convictions, curiously, despite them not being seriously held.
Retrieved from "link
Categories: Freddie Mercury songs | Queen (band)
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It completely fails to credit the actual writers, Dave Clark, David Soames and Jeff Daniels, and doesn't mention "Time", the musical it was written for. And then that ridiculous 'meaning' section...
*sigh* At least I learned a new word, "rubric", though I believe that was misused here also.
But now that we're on the topic, does anyone know what year this song was recorded in, and who played on it? Was it a leftover from Mr Bad Guy, or was it a bit later?
It was recorded at Abbey Road in October 1985, about six months after 'Bad Guy' was released. There were some Munich sessions as well which didn't feature Mike, that's why synths were played by another bloke.
Piano by Mike Moran
Guitars by Paul Vincent
Drums by Graham Jarvis
Bass by Andy Pask
Synths by Peter Banks
BV's by John Christie
It's in those sessions that Fred met Mike.
Just for the record:
Time was recorded at Abbey Road in January 1986. Piano by Mike.
Great Pretender was done at The Townhouse in November 1986. Mike arranged and played keys.
Good Heavens... I think I should add solo efforts to my website. What d'you think?
No, it's not Yes' PB, just a namesake. Speaking of Yes, I think Steve Howe may have met Freddie in 1972 and not 1980 as I have it at the moment, as part of Rick's 'Six Wives' album was done at Trident at the same time as the 'Queen I' sessions.
Jeff Daniels (who co-wrote the musical Time) is a personal friend of mine. He lived here in Houston, TX. for a few years after having married his wife who works for the Mexican consulate. They moved to New York about a year ago. He co-wrote the musical with David Soames. Dave Clark came in later and took a co-writing credit, although apparently he didn't contribute much in the writing dept. except for the song "Time" - although in all fairness he produced the musical and the album and was responsible for Freddie being involved. Jeff had some crazy stories including meeting Freddie Mercury at his apartment in Berlin (I think it was Berlin). He was later involved in a legal dispute with Clark. He is a wonderful person and is not the actor by the same name.