Biggzy10 05.07.2012 11:31 |
Between Freddie and Brian, who do you think was tge better writter, lyrically wise. My vote goes to Brian. Brian's songs had much more meaning and/or thought to them. Freddie wasnt a bad song writter, but IMO the lyrics didnt have much meaning to them. Very cliche, very generic. And they were almost always love songs. Brian wrote about a wide veriety of things (his dead cat, father/son relationships, intergalatic travel). They were always deeper in meaning. Im talking completly lyric wise. Not song structuring, meledy, etc. I left Roger and John out do to the fact that they were the ones that wrote the least. Not that there bad songs, i just want to see the two most common writters go at. |
mooghead 05.07.2012 12:46 |
Define 'better'. |
waunakonor 05.07.2012 15:28 |
Brian had generally more poetic lyrics, Freddie was generally a bolder writer in terms of the overall composition and taking risks with style.
I don't know. To avoid just saying, "They were both great," I'll go with Freddie. But seriously, they were both great.
mooghead wrote: Define 'better'.Your favorite. |
mooghead 05.07.2012 15:30 |
"Your favorite." Aha.. thats answerable. I don't know. |
MartynTS 05.07.2012 16:01 |
Queen l = Freddie. More creative and “epic”. Brian’s songs are amazing though. Queen ll = Freddie. Overall I think Freddie’s songs are more powerful and creative. Brian, of course, has amazing songs, some of my favorite. Sheer Heart Attack = Freddie. Brian’s few tracks are good but Freddie’s are amazing. A Night At The Opera = Tie. Amazing songs on both of their parts, both are in their prime. ANATO has more of my favorite queen tracks than any other album. A Day At The Races = Brian. Freddie has a few amazing tracks (Somebody To Love, Millionaire Waltz) but overall Brian has the upper hand (White Man, Teo Torriate, Long Away) News Of The World = Brian? The Album has It’s moments, can’t say I particularly like it. It’s Late is my favorite track BY FAR, both musically and lyrically. Freddie has a few good songs but none that I find lyrically amazing. Jazz = Freddie. Once again not my favorite album. Mustapha and Bicycle Race are pretty unique lyrically. Dreamer’s Ball and Fat Bottom Girls are great songs by Brian. The Game = Brian. Save me, Sail Away Sweet Sister. The Game is pretty good but none of Mercury’s other songs really compare. Hot Space = Brian? Put Out The Fire is great lyrically IMHO. I don’t really like the album… The Works = Can’t decide. Freddie has It’s a Hard Life, Brian has Hammer To Fall (To bad I Go Crazy wasn’t on the album) A Kind of Magic = Brian. Don’t really like the album. Who Wants To Live Forever is great. The Miracle = Brian. I Want It All, Scandal. Don’t really like the album. Innuendo + Made In Heaven = No Opinion. TL;DR = Freddie was the best for most of the 70's. Brian from then on. |
The Real Wizard 05.07.2012 18:50 |
Mercury wrote most of the band's hits in the 70s - when they were considered an innovative force: Killer Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody To Love, We Are The Champions, Bicycle Race, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Six completely different songs, many crossing genres and of great complexity, yet accessible - all in a 5 year period. Most songwriters couldn't manage that in a lifetime. Brian May wrote many great songs on Queen's earlier records (some of my personal all-time favourite songs, like White Queen and It's Late), but it is mostly Mercury's songs that will be remembered a hundred years from now. Of all scales to measure creative success on, longevity is undoubtedly the most important one. |
MadTheSwine73 05.07.2012 18:56 |
Neither. I'd say John. He didn't write much, but what he did write was great. Commercially, it'd have to be Freddie. To answer your question, I would say Freddie. |
Hangman_96 05.07.2012 19:08 |
Biggzy10 wrote: Between Freddie and Brian, who do you think was tge better writter, lyrically wise. My vote goes to Brian. Brian's songs had much more meaning and/or thought to them. Freddie wasnt a bad song writter, but IMO the lyrics didnt have much meaning to them. Very cliche, very generic. And they were almost always love songs. Brian wrote about a wide veriety of things (his dead cat, father/son relationships, intergalatic travel). They were always deeper in meaning. Im talking completly lyric wise. Not song structuring, meledy, etc. I left Roger and John out do to the fact that they were the ones that wrote the least. Not that there bad songs, i just want to see the two most common writters go at.Nah. I have to disagree. Freddie's songs had a lot of deep meaning. I would call it innuendo. It's just hard to notice this special meaning in his songs. |
Biggzy10 05.07.2012 20:01 |
I liked to mention that Freddie dreded writting. He much prefered compition part. Building the melodies and what not. Which in that field, Freddie takes king, er queen. |
The Real Wizard 05.07.2012 20:35 |
Freddie said it was the lyrics he hated and left to the end of the process. I'm sure he enjoyed the musical side of writing. |
tomchristie22 06.07.2012 08:10 |
I don't know.. I think I'm more fond of Brian's songs in general, but I can't really say. Not necessarily related at all, but I think Brian's solo material was a lot better than Freddie's. Roger was probably the least 'good' in a technical sense, but was by no means bad. I think his songs, at least early on, were probably the least mature, being mostly about youth and rebellion and whatnot. So yeah, I'll go with Brian, but I have many favourite songs from both. Overall I'd say Brian's songs were more grounded in reality I guess, while Freddie's were often more fantastic, and therefore harder to connect with maybe. But that's mostly just with the 70's in mind, you'll have to forgive me for not considering most of the forgettable album tracks from the 80's. |
alebazux 06.07.2012 09:46 |
Lirically, probably Brian. Musically, I prefer Freddie's songs. |
Russian Headlong 06.07.2012 11:11 |
Brian May was Queen's best song writer. |
Flash Jazz 06.07.2012 11:28 |
Brian May, since this is a question about lyrics. His lyrics far exceed Freddie's. |
brENsKi 06.07.2012 11:52 |
whoa? really? Brian's lyrics better than Freddie's? i disagree most of Freddies early lyrics are much better than Brian's ...by miles, all of queen I (jesus included) and side black of queen II, chunks of SHA Opera and Races are far superior to anything Brian wrote (lyrically) at that stage you are forgetting that in this time, Brian gave us the lyrical comedy gems that were: sweet lady (cheese) prophet song (all that now i know bollox) tie your mother down some day one day son and daughter she makes me good company (blatant beatles rip off) sleeping on the sidewalk leaving home ain't easy (another beatles rip off) fat bottomed girls |
Duraddict 06.07.2012 12:40 |
Overall, I think Freddie was the stronger songwriter, but that's not to Brian's discredit. I like how adventurous he was, being the same person who gave us 39 and then Dancer. But as the years went by, I think Roger outshined them both. Action This Day, Breakthru, Fight From the Inside, Fun It, More of That Jazz and Radio GaGa are incredible and should not be discounted. |
brENsKi 06.07.2012 16:26 |
as were ...Days of our Lives, One Vision and Heaven of Everyone |
Flash Jazz 06.07.2012 16:47 |
One Vision wasn't Roger alone. Besides, I can't see how most of those songs exceed Brian's lyrics. |
Matias Merçeauroix 06.07.2012 18:55 |
Freddie all the way |
Sebastian 06.07.2012 19:38 |
I'd go with Freddie. Regardless of how dismissive he was of his own lyrics, and regardless of how poor some of them were ('when you pee all over my Chippendale suite'? WTF?), he did have some strokes of genius, from TFFMS (what a way to describe a painting - those lyrics are perfectly fitting to the music and vibe) to something like 'There Must Be More to Life than This' ... in general terms, I love the lyrics of his ballads (Jealousy is another example). They speak about the same things as a thousand songwriters, use a lot of the same words, but they do it in Freddie's unique way. Brian's a great writer, also with some really poor moments ('some kind of cheese'), and a marvellous storytelling ability IMO. You can really connect with his descriptions. Things like 'All Dead All Dead' or even 'We Will Rock You' have a clear structure, a logic, you know what happens and how. I completely understand and respect those who prefer his lyrics to Freddie's, the same way I completely understand, respect and agree with those who prefer Freddie's to Brian's. BTW, some of my favourite bits of lyrics on TSMGO are 'behind the curtain in the pantomime' which, coincidentally enough, were amongst the only lines on the song that were NOT written solely by Brian - he and Freddie wrote those parts together (the beginning of the 1st and 2nd verses, the rest was only Brian). |
waunakonor 07.07.2012 08:46 |
brENsKi wrote: most of Freddies early lyrics are much better than Brian's ...by miles, all of queen I (jesus included) and side black of queen II, chunks of SHA Opera and Races are far superior to anything Brian wrote (lyrically) at that stage you are forgetting that in this time, Brian gave us the lyrical comedy gems that were: sweet lady (cheese) prophet song (all that now i know bollox) tie your mother down some day one day son and daughter she makes me good company (blatant beatles rip off) sleeping on the sidewalk leaving home ain't easy (another beatles rip off) fat bottomed girlsWhoa, what? I love the lyrics for a lot of those songs. How are Tie Your Mother Down or Sleeping on the Sidewalk even remotely stupid sounding? They have meaning. Don't discredit Brian for sounding kind of like the Beatles in a few songs, it's not like Freddie was without his own influences. Freddie's written plenty of stupid lyrics himself. Liar hardly makes any sense, Fairy Feller's Master Stoke could hardly have taken much work to write, Seaside Rendezvous's lyrics are just silly, and I could go on. Overall, I still prefer Freddie's songwriting, but I don't see how one could bash Brian's lyrics. |
The Real Wizard 07.07.2012 11:12 |
brENsKi wrote: good company (blatant beatles rip off) leaving home ain't easy (another beatles rip off)What Beatles songs do they even remotely sound like? And where in the Beatles catalog is there a 30s swing style song, never mind the Dixieland jazz band section with several guitars emulating trumpet, trombone and clarinet? It saddens me that even some Queen fans do not appreciate the sheer brilliance of Good Company. This is arguably the single greatest arrangement of guitars in a rock song ever created. Brian May is by far the most under-rated rock guitarist of all time. |
Sebastian 07.07.2012 18:34 |
IMO, that's a very biased comment. GC has an extraordinary arrangement. The best ever? Hardly. Brian's an exceptional guitarist. The most underrated ever? Not at all. |
Flash Jazz 07.07.2012 19:29 |
Well the question here was lyrics Bob, and there are a few similarities between those songs. But hey, Sheer Heart Attack and I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles) have two sentences that are the same, and honestly I don't give a damn. The one that says they're ripping off are taking the piss. |
tomchristie22 07.07.2012 20:42 |
Eh. I don't think most of those are particularly bad, maybe just not as 'serious' as some of Freddie's better lyrics. Granted, 'cheese' is pretty bad. The vocal cannon in Prophet's Song doesn't sound like it was written, I'd guess that it was just Freddie mucking around which produced all the now I know stuff. And yeah, I don't hear The Beatles at all in either of those songs.. Maybe something in their subject matter that I'm missing |
Sheer Brass Neck 07.07.2012 22:29 |
FFS. "To make sweet cheese, you will need 1-1/2 quarts of milk, 1 dozen eggs, 4 tablespoons of honey, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt, and a yard of cheesecloth (or a large, porous dish towel). We sometimes add a handful of golden raisins and/or dried currants, but such "surprises" are optional." So for those who don't know, yes, there is such a beast as sweet cheese. There are a hundred or more worse lines than the cheese line in Sweet Lady. If you were to look at the line and read it off the liner notes, you'd think it was total crap. But if you listen to Freddie sing it, which he sings from the POV of Brian's "sweet lady", he is singing it as the woman mocking Brian, who I assume is the person in question writing about his sweet lady. Next, the "now I know" is the descent into madness of the Prophet. The swirling voices are indicative of his perceived lunacy, but in the end, he is the one who is wise. Sure, it's not as clever as "don't drink and drive your car/don't get breathalized" but Brian was trying. Next time I will share where Freddie got the gun, and what kind it was in Bohemian Rhapsody. Finally, Good Company is one of the most genius pieces of music in rock history. Not the best song, but most genius. It has as much to do with the Beatles as Long Tall Sally has to do with George Formby. |
tomchristie22 08.07.2012 01:39 |
Fat Bottomed Girls is definitely tongue in cheek... Good Company's lyrics are pretty good as far as I'm concerned. I think the story they tell is one of the best in any Queen song. |
brENsKi 11.07.2012 16:00 |
everything i said is accurate...the topic is lyrically where i said somehting was a beatles ripoff - it was...lyrically |
Sebastian 11.07.2012 17:04 |
And how exactly is it a Beatles rip-off lyrically? |
maxpower 11.07.2012 17:35 |
I prefer Brian's lyrics Ref The Beatles (why this has to happen every time) this is stretching it, Honey Pie & When I'm 64 are loosely similar to Good Company but, Leaving Home Ain't Easy sounds nothing like any Beatle or solo Beatle member record ever |
Holly2003 11.07.2012 18:04 |
The Real Wizard wrote:brENsKi wrote: good company (blatant beatles rip off) leaving home ain't easy (another beatles rip off)What Beatles songs do they even remotely sound like? And where in the Beatles catalog is there a 30s swing style song, never mind the Dixieland jazz band section with several guitars emulating trumpet, trombone and clarinet? It saddens me that even some Queen fans do not appreciate the sheer brilliance of Good Company. This is arguably the single greatest arrangement of guitars in a rock song ever created. Brian May is by far the most under-rated rock guitarist of all time. Maybe a bit of an overstatement but I appreciate the sentiments and agree Good Company is absolutely amazing. Has anyone ever tried to do anything like GC, before or since? Steve Vai maybe? I haven;t heard all his solo stuff but his guitar orchestrations and delays are likely influenced by Brian. |