Freddie Mercury | Autograph manuscript lyrics for songs for News of the World, c.1977

Freddie Mercury

Autograph manuscript working lyrics to songs for News of the World, comprising:

i) 'Sheer Heart Attack', copy of the song in Freddie Mercury's autograph with one correction, in black ballpoint and fibretip, two pages

ii) 'Get Down, Make Love', working draft lyrics in blue and black ballpoint and fibretip, six pages

iii) 'My Melancholy Blues', extensive working draft fragments, in blue and black ballpoint and fibretip, 13 pages, plus two blanks

iv) Miscellaneous lyric fragments, on the verso of a promotional logo for A Day At The Races, 1 page 

v) 'It's Late', copy of the song in Freddie Mercury's autograph including a cancelled verse, 4 pages

vi) 'Feelings Feelings' (here titled 'Now that I'm Here'), partial draft with revisions, in blue and black ballpoint, 1 page, lined paper removed from an exercise book (253 x 200mm), frayed at edges

Altogether 29 leaves (plus two blanks), text on rectos only, all but three leaves on British Midland Airways stationery with 1974 calendar (290 x 203mm), c.1977

A SUBSTANTIAL GROUP OF WORKING LYRICS RELATING TO QUEEN'S SIXTH ALBUM. The band finished touring A Day at the Races in June 1977, and the following month returned to the studio to record a fresh album. In an interview with NME in June Freddie admitted that "We haven't written a damned thing yet". This was probably an exaggeration but it does suggest that most of these lyrics date from the summer of 1977.

Freddie Mercury's most significant contribution to the new album was 'We Are The Champions' (the lyrics for which are lot 49), which was paired with Brian May's 'We Will Rock You' as a double a-side and released ahead of the album. His two other contributions to the album showed his versatility. 'Get Down, Make Love' is one of Queen's most explicitly erotic songs with a funky groove influenced by the dance music of the New York gay club scene. In contrast, the ballad 'My Melancholy Blues' sounds like it originated in a very different New York venue: a smoky jazz club where Freddie croons at the piano.

This group of manuscripts also includes Freddie's handwritten copies of songs by other members of the band. 'Sheer Heart Attack' was written by Roger Taylor, originally for the album of the same name, whilst 'It's Late' was written by Brian May. The lyrics for these songs were presumably copies by Freddie for use in the studio, and the revisions that they contain are likely to have been made as the song was rehearsed. Also included in the lot are lyrics to 'Feelings Feelings' (here with a different title), which was also by Brian May. This song was recorded in the News of the World sessions but was not released until 2011. It is written on different paper stock from the rest of the manuscripts and is similar in appearance to lyrics from the early 1970s, so perhaps the song was first written at an earlier date.

News of the World was produced with a more pared-down sound than previous Queen records, and as a result this group of manuscripts does not include the notes on vocal harmonies that are so characteristic of Freddie Mercury's earlier drafts. The band were becoming uneasy with their sound, worrying that A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races may have been overproduced, and in 1977 punk was bringing a new aesthetic to pop music. Queen epitomised the grandiose rock music that punk was trying to topple, but the band entwined with the Sex Pistols in particular in curious ways. It was Freddie Mercury's toothache that had left a gap in the schedule on British TV's Today programme that led to the band's notorious interview with Bill Grundy. The two bands were also recording at Wessex Studios at the same time:

"You can imagine us and the whole punk rock and anti-establishment thing under one roof. Anyway, I got Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious in to listen to one of our tracks and I said that I would sing on one of their songs if they sang on one of mine, and you should have seen them. They were like, 'We can't sing with Freddie Mercury!' I was wearing ballet pumps at the time, and things like that." (Freddie Mercury: A Life, in his Own Words, p.22)

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