I couldn't help but notice that ABC's The Look of Love sounds very similar to I Want To Break Free, especially the intro. The link: link
The songs has got very similar chords and have got similar arrangements. Before you all disagree with me consider these points:
1. The full intro isn't on the album. It's weird that the single version is longer than the album version. Could this be to avoid ABC getting any songwriting royalties as the ABC song was released almost two years before I Want To Break Free.
2. John got inspired by Chic's Good Times especially the bass solo at the end to write the riff on Another One Bites The Dust.
I'm not knocking I Want To Break Free as it's one of my favourite Queen songs. It's just that when I hear the ABC song on the radio it just always reminds of I Want To Break Free. What are your opinions?
I can remember a very good hoax here on QZ when someone "released" a trumpet version or something...i would like to hear that again :)
IWTBF is used by Coca Cola recently (2018) link
I've just looked online for sheet music and both songs have the same tempo 4/4. Both the intros have the same chord F. So I'm not totally wrong with intros being similar. It just seems really weird that the single version wasn't on the album. Can anyone answer this question.
It was very common practice by the record companies in mid 80s to release 12'' remixes or instrumental versions of album tracks in order to gain bigger sales.
Also Queen for the works album wanted to have less synth than Hot Space. I think three songs out of nine have synths, Fairlight etc. So less synths for the the album version.
MusicFan15 wrote:
I've just looked online for sheet music and both songs have the same tempo 4/4. Both the intros have the same chord F. So I'm not totally wrong with intros being similar. It just seems really weird that the single version wasn't on the album. Can anyone answer this question.
4/4 isn’t a tempo - it’s a time signature. I Want To Break Free has a tempo of about 109 bpm (beats per minute), whereas The Look of Love is about 121 bpm, so they are massively different in that regard.
MusicFan15 wrote:
I've just looked online for sheet music and both songs have the same tempo 4/4. Both the intros have the same chord F. So I'm not totally wrong with intros being similar. It just seems really weird that the single version wasn't on the album. Can anyone answer this question.
4/4 isn’t a tempo - it’s a time signature. I Want To Break Free has a tempo of about 109 bpm (beats per minute), whereas The Look of Love is about 121 bpm, so they are massively different in that regard.
The single version intro of I Want To Break Free does appear in the album version - it's the background instrumentation during this part:
>> Oh how I want to be free, baby
>> Oh how I want to be free
>> Oh how I want to break free
The single version's new parts are all based on existing parts with stuff removed - the extra instrumental section in the middle is the "But life still goes on..." section with the vocal removed, and I said above about the intro, it's that small section with most instrumentation and all vocals removed.
Battler wrote:
The single version intro of I Want To Break Free does appear in the album version - it's the background instrumentation during this part:
>> Oh how I want to be free, baby
>> Oh how I want to be free
>> Oh how I want to break free
The single version's new parts are all based on existing parts with stuff removed - the extra instrumental section in the middle is the "But life still goes on..." section with the vocal removed, and I said above about the intro, it's that small section with most instrumentation and all vocals removed.
I didn't realise that. I thought that the acoustic guitar was different on the album version but I thought nothing of it.
The intro is a bit like I want to break free. The song as a whole is not even close though. If this is close you could include 100 other songs as well.