Hi Folks,
just interested if someone could provide some detailed infos about that song ?! When was it recorded, why was it written by Brian and Roger (unlikely combi), was Do they know its Christmas? recorded prior and Queen were only follow ups ?
Thanks in advance
cheers
Brian and Roger had a kind of contest. They both wrote a christmas song. Roger's was Thank God it's Christmas, and Brian's was 'I Dream of Christmas' They chose Roger's tune as the best one. So Brian and Roger both worked on it afterwards.
I believe it was recorded in 1985.
"This is years ago, of course. Roger and I agreed we would both submit ideas, and work together on working up the idea we chose. Roger wrote the beginnings of "Thank God It's Christmas", and I wrote the beginnings of "I Dream of Christmas". We met down at Roger's place and demo'd both tracks together, as I remember. How the choice between the two tracks was made I don't clearly remember, but I think it was a whole group thing. We decided to finish TGIC for the Queen Christmas single, and "IDOC" was put to one side, and I immediately worked it into the version which we released as my Lady Anita's Christmas record. This record charted briefly but is now a rarity (it features Anita singing, along with a school choir of young kids, and quite a lot of Guitar soloing by me!)
For the eventual Queen song, Roger had the verse form already: "Oh - my love - we live in troubled days ....". I contributed the chorus, with a key-change leading into it, using a lyric line which occurred casually in the verse, so this now became the title, "Thank God It's Christmas". Of course when Freddie took up the singing it jumped into another gear ... his lovely high register soaring above the background in these choruses, then returning to a very gentle breathy texture for the verses. The background was based on a synth pad which Roger had found (he would have to tell you what it was made with), to which I added a guitar texture very un-typical of me ... very clean and bright ... the amp turned way down and the strings hit hard like bells. This makes that Bright Frosty sound which I actually like a lot, contrasting with the warm and dark synth chords. Of course as usual John's subtle firm bass lines are a big part of the style of the eventual outcome. The drums are programmed, the way Roger originally demo'd them, an unusual choice for a Queen track but it works in this case. My favourite part is the end, where there's a small building (subdominant) link into the playout. Freddie is improvising, and it all becomes totally joyful ... trekking off into the distance across the snowy fields..... noses red, scarves wrapped around chins, snowballs being thrown .... Christmas packages of good food being delivered to hungry villagers' doors ... mulled wine being swigged to keep the blood flowing to those cold extremities.... "
(c) curly fan of musicals
"I believe it was recorded in 1985"
It was released on November 1984.
I was thinking about this just yesterday funnily enough and low and behold a topic on it anyway as for the video i remember quite well even though it was 20years ago watching a promo clip for TGIC, but i'm not sure if it was a collection of clips or a actual video i seem to remember them being on stage a la works tour but it's very hazy trying to remember.
The thing is if there wasn't a video on GF3 did TOTP have the promo and it's lost or did they compile their own version because i remember watching it on totp on a thursday night and they showed it as it charted at no21( correct me if i'm wrong).
Just one more thing was TGIC recorded in the works sessions or was it a one off session???.