From Queen I through to MIH....
Does anyone here have an information or insight on the total amount of songs that John has brought to the band and solo projects.. well.. project... be it from hand written songs or ideas that became another song i.e cowboy song that became ABTD. Ideas that actually became songs in the audio medium but didn't make the final cut? Was he ever prolific on coming up with song ideas or was he just purely one or two ideas per album session. Would there be, many survivors from every recording session queen did in studio that would still be alive? Has anyone came across any gem pieces of information/insight from band members or studio crew about John Deasons song writing.... like for exapmle... Did John ever lay down vocal guides for Freddie...
For the first two albums and innuendo the three albums that don't feature a solo John Deacon credit...
I know that Queen 1 was all but completed song wise before he joined, Queen 1 from what I understand, would be the closest queen got apart from the last two albums before Freddie died, being a joint effort/collaboration albeit Brian and Freddie. Was there any uncredited input John had?
Queen II
Did he have any ideas for Queen II
Innuendo....
Did he bring much to the table early on for the Innuendo sessions???
From what I understand... his presence during the sessions and input on the album was all but what we got on bass and a small input on The Hitman.... he was away alot during those sessions...
As I understand it, 'The Show Must Go On' was based on a chord sequence that Roger and John were experimenting with, which evolved into the final song. Likewise, 'Innuendo' started as a jam session involving John, Brian and Roger.
There's an interesting Brian May quote from 1991 regarding 'The Hitman':
"[The] finished version had very little to do with the original idea. Most of the riff came from Freddie. I wasn't even in the room when they wrote it. I changed the key and some of the notes to make it playable on the guitar. We finished the backing track, but it seemed to ramble. John sat down and decided to reconstruct the track. He changed the order. He changed everything. I went back and played on that. Then we filled in the gaps on the lyrics, did the harmonies and generally tidied up."
When you consider that John Deacon wasn't a big fan of heavy metal, I think that quote shows that he was fully involved with the album. He played a crucial role in (at least) the arrangement of a song, despite it being in a genre he didn't particularly like. I find it very hard to believe that he worked on one of the heaviest songs the band ever recorded, but decided not to contribute to the rest of the album. I've seen a lot of people suggest that John wasn't involved during those sessions over the years, but I don't think that's fair. It could even be argued that at least two singles from the album wouldn't exist, if he hadn't been there at their inception.
If you are looking for the obvious - then just start counting :)
Quite interesting to some members here that there is a unreleased single with Hot Chocolate's Errol Brown ( This is your time) from 1986.
It blew my mind that The Hitman was the only song that he helped on Innuendo. Shows John's adaptability to all song types even if it isn't his fav genre.
I thought there was one more song on Innuendo he helped on... TSMGO but i was looking on wiki and someone must have reedited it.
In the realm of Queen songwriting credits and wiki, what gives you a credit vs just a mention for arranging on a particular song.. Innuendo,TSMGO and Hitman, or other examples such as Radio gaga where Roger gets solo credit although there was input from Freddie and Friends will be friends where it was both Freddie and John gets credits.
Did John have any ideas or songs written for Queen II or was there much input from into Queen I? Maybe a different approach to bass parts he could play that Barry or Doug couldn't do that could give him some credit to composing a song
fras444 wrote:
It blew my mind that The Hitman was the only song that he helped on Innuendo. Shows John's adaptability to all song types even if it isn't his fav genre.
I thought there was one more song on Innuendo he helped on... TSMGO but i was looking on wiki and someone must have reedited it.
In the realm of Queen songwriting credits and wiki, what gives you a credit vs just a mention for arranging on a particular song.. Innuendo,TSMGO and Hitman, or other examples such as Radio gaga where Roger gets solo credit although there was input from Freddie and Friends will be friends where it was both Freddie and John gets credits.
Did John have any ideas or songs written for Queen II or was there much input from into Queen I? Maybe a different approach to bass parts he could play that Barry or Doug couldn't do that could give him some credit to composing a song
I believe John worked on the bridge of TSMGO (the butterflies part).
I thought FWBF is basically John's song, with some minor Freddie input, but John decided to add him as a co-writer. I read it somewhere ages ago. I'm not entirely sure.