God bless my soul, here he comes now
The man with the most, how does he do it, ha
Sure he's got style
He's so heavy
He's a trip
He can do anything, anything, anything
He's my soul brother
He's my best friend
He's my champion
And he will rock you, rock you, rock you
'Cos he's the saviour of the universe
He can make you keep yourself alive
Make you keep yourself alive
Oooh brother
'Cos he's somebody, somebody, you can love
He's my soul brother
When you're under pressure
Feeling under pressure (yeah), pressure (yeah), pressure
He won't let you down
When you're under pressure, oooh
Feeling under pressure, pressure
He won't let you down
Soul brother won't let you down
He won't, he won't, he won't let you down
He can do anything, anything, anything
He's my soul brother
Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oooh, oooh, oooh
Soul brother
Anything (soul brother), anything (soul brother), anything (soul brother)
He's my soul brother, brother, brother, brother, brother
Anything (soul brother), anything (soul brother)
Anything (soul brother)
He's my soul
Soul brother
He can do anything
He can do anything
'Cos he's
He's my soul brother
"Freddie told me one day he had a surprise for me - he said, 'I've written a song about you - but it needs your touch on it!' I think, curiously, we were both working on songs separately which referred to each other. Can't remember which one of mine it was, since a lot of my songs were obliquely aimed at him (as well as to be sung by him!). Anyway. we got in the studio and he played this song. Now whether it was really about me I don't know. But I thought it was fab. I know he wrote it in about 15 minutes!. As to why not on album (The Game) - well, Freddie deliberately wrote it as a B-side to fill a gap, so I imagine the album was already sewn up."
Brian May - 2003
So we know that the song is basically dedicated to Brian, but what are the lyrics references to?
My interpretation:
God bless my soul, here he comes now (Beatles' Here Comes The Sun)
The man with the most, how does he do it, ha (How Do You Do It)
Sure he's got style
He's so heavy (I Want You (She's So Heavy))
He's a trip (Day Tripper)
He can do anything, anything, anything
He's my soul brother
He's my best friend (You're My Best Friend)
He's my champion (We Are The Champions)
And he will rock you, rock you, rock you (We Will Rock You)
'Cos he's the saviour of the universe (Flash)
He can make you keep yourself alive (KYA)
Make you keep yourself alive (KYA)
Oooh brother
'Cos he's somebody, somebody, you can love (Somebody To Love)
He's my soul brother
When you're under pressure (Under Pressure)
Feeling under pressure (yeah), pressure (yeah), pressure
He won't let you down (Don't Let Me Down)
When you're under pressure, oooh
Feeling under pressure, pressure
He won't let you down
Soul brother won't let you down
He won't, he won't, he won't let you down
He can do anything, anything, anything
He's my soul brother
Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oooh, oooh, oooh
Soul brother
Anything (soul brother), anything (soul brother), anything (soul brother)
He's my soul brother, brother, brother, brother, brother
Anything (soul brother), anything (soul brother)
Anything (soul brother)
He's my soul
Soul brother
He can do anything
He can do anything
'Cos he's
He's my soul brother
If you can find any more, please let me know!
I don't think this song has a particular meaning. Somehow this song feels like a jam session, which some tongue-in-cheek references to other Queen songs. Amazing vocal performance by Freddie, though!
For me this song always seemed to be Queen's answer to the Beatles' "Glass Onion", a song also composed with lines of former songs.
I never thought that there was too much meaning behind, but the thought that it was about Brian May is very interesting.
mooghead wrote: "What is Soul Brother about?"
Its about 3 and a half minutes you wont get back..
Soul Brother is one of the most unknown Queen songs, even by big fans. Every second of it is worth something to me. Every second of EVERY Queen song is worth something. Ok, maybe not Don't Lose Your Head....
Soul Brother is one of my favourite Queen tracks ... certainly amongst my ten favourites from the 80s.
Lyrically it's silly, but it's their Glass Onion ... it's a great piece of music.