| Sunshine 27.07.2015 08:15 |
Much has been said about this track and it's video. I was always wondering what the initial purpose has been? Now it is only seen as Freddie's final goodbye but I was wondering what the original plan with this video was? Of course Freddie had this last final goodbye in mind but what about the rest of the band? Were they aware of this? Was this video aired after his death or was it already aired before? If so, then I dont understand if there was any speculation about Freddie's health because you see in the video is extremely seriously ill..Was there an embargo on the video until his inevitable soon coming death? |
| RafaelS 27.07.2015 15:09 |
link |
| miraclesteinway 28.07.2015 05:57 |
I think that the video was only aired after Freddie's death because that's when the single was released. However, there were shots from the video used in the Greatest Flix II video in the montage at the start, and I think some of these shots were aired in the run up to the Greatest Hits/Pix/Flix II release in the autumn of 1991. The promotional shots taken at the time made it onto the promotional material for Hits II, but since they were taken after the release of Innuendo, they weren't used for the promotion of that album (everything for the Innuendo album's promotion was taken in 1990, with the exception of Slightly Mad, but that was really for the single's promotion rather than the album's). I think it's safe to say that Roger, when writing the lyrics for These Are The Days, knew very well that Freddie was dying, and was feeling nostalgic about the band, but I think the song isn't necessarily about Freddie's imminent departure. It's just a song taking stock of his life, if you like, up to that point, and of course a huge part of that was to do with what they were facing. At the time the song was written and recorded, Freddie was much healthier than he was in the video - it must be about a year to 18 months before the video was shot that the song was recorded so it's quite possible that although Roger actively knew what was going on, it wasn't quite as pressing an issue as it was by the time the video was shot. The video was most likely Freddie saying goodbye. I think it was Peter Freestone who said that Freddie wanted to appear in the video in person because he didn't want to be remembered as an animation in his last video. I don't think Freddie wanted to scare people into seeing how ill he was, but it was obvious that his illness was going to be noticed by that stage. So, personally, I believe that the video was absolutely Freddie's vehicle to say goodbye to everybody, but the song was not initially composed with that in mind. Just my opinion folks, not based in fact, but conjecture given what I already know (and don't know) about the last couple of years of the four piece Queen. |
| antiden 28.07.2015 08:52 |
miraclesteinway wrote: The video was most likely Freddie saying goodbye. I think it was Peter Freestone who said that Freddie wanted to appear in the video in person because he didn't want to be remembered as an animation in his last video. I don't think Freddie wanted to scare people into seeing how ill he was, but it was obvious that his illness was going to be noticed by that stage. So, personally, I believe that the video was absolutely Freddie's vehicle to say goodbye to everybody, but the song was not initially composed with that in mind.That is exactly how I always perceived the video and the song for TATDOOL. At the same time I wonder, is there any song (written by Freddie), which he could have used to say farewell to the world, to his fans & etc? Not necessarily in obvious, apparent way. Of course 'A Winter's Tale' springs into mind as the last song penned by him. But personally I think it *might* have been 'Bijou'. Especially when you look at this track as an intro to 'The Show Must Go On' track on INNUENDO album. |
| oligneisti 28.07.2015 11:54 |
I have always thought that the "I Still Love You" line in TATDOOL is a reference to LOML. |
| RafaelS 28.07.2015 12:43 |
miraclesteinway wrote: I think that the video was only aired after Freddie's death because that's when the single was released.The song was released as a single in the USA in september 1991 with the Disney animated video of the song. |
| YourValentine 29.07.2015 09:28 |
The b/w video was aired in a 1991 US documentary presented by Axl Rose before Freddie's death. Axl said he was hoping for a new Queen tour. Maybe he never saw it but only read the words from some cue cards. |
| The Fairy King 29.07.2015 11:58 |
YourValentine wrote: The b/w video was aired in a 1991 US documentary presented by Axl Rose before Freddie's death. Axl said he was hoping for a new Queen tour. Maybe he never saw it but only read the words from some cue cards.Are you referring to this: https://youtu.be/m3IdyCRjFQc?t=10m49s ? |
| Sunshine 29.07.2015 12:12 |
Thanks for the answers but it still doesnt really make sense. When this video was broadcasted before his death, why wasn't this a big scoop? According to Jim Hutton's book and Peter Freestone's comments, the British press invaded around Freddie's house to get a glimpse of him to get confirmed he was seriously ill, yet this clip that doesnt leave any doubt about Freddie's health was broadcasted on TV? |
| YourValentine 30.07.2015 07:42 |
You have to remember that this was pre-internet and pre-satellite TV times. If you did not happen to read certain English tabloids you never heard any rumours about Freddie's HIV status. It was not like today when every little rumour is re-printed and re-aired by all international online outlets. Serious media simply did not take part in spreading rumours about popular art celebrities. From personal experience I remember that living in Germany I never heard any AIDS rumours about Freddie. The first thing I ever heard was Freddie's death announced on TV news. I remember that I watched the IGSM video before his death and I did not recognise Freddie but he did not look ill, just very different in that costume, thin and no beard. At the time I had a friend suffering from AIDS and I can tell you that Freddie did not look like that on the TATDOOL video, he just looked very thin. It was only in retrospect that people thought he looked terribly ill but in reality an AIDS patient looked just so horrble: grey and old, almost no hair, huge, terrible skin cancer marks and you saw nothing like that in the video. Maybe if you lived in England and if you saw those tabloids you might have suspected something but probably not in the USA. |
| musicland munich 30.07.2015 19:52 |
YourValentine wrote: You have to remember that this was pre-internet and pre-satellite TV times. If you did not happen to read certain English tabloids you never heard any rumours about Freddie's HIV status. It was not like today when every little rumour is re-printed and re-aired by all international online outlets. Serious media simply did not take part in spreading rumours about popular art celebrities. From personal experience I remember that living in Germany I never heard any AIDS rumours about Freddie. The first thing I ever heard was Freddie's death announced on TV news. I remember that I watched the IGSM video before his death and I did not recognise Freddie but he did not look ill, just very different in that costume, thin and no beard. At the time I had a friend suffering from AIDS and I can tell you that Freddie did not look like that on the TATDOOL video, he just looked very thin. It was only in retrospect that people thought he looked terribly ill but in reality an AIDS patient looked just so horrble: grey and old, almost no hair, huge, terrible skin cancer marks and you saw nothing like that in the video. Maybe if you lived in England and if you saw those tabloids you might have suspected something but probably not in the USA.I do agree that the word "AIDS" wasn't heard,or very rarely before he died. The german media was a bit more decent. They were speculating that "Innuendo" will be their final Album and that there is a "Secret" around Freddie. |
| Costa86 04.08.2015 07:35 |
So sad. |