Queen
Queen II Sheer Heart Attack A Night at the Opera A Day at the Races
News of the World
Jazz The Game Flash Gordon Hot Space
The Works
A Kind of Magic The Miracle Innuendo Made in Heaven

FRIENDS WILL BE FRIENDS
Index A Kind of Magic Friends Will Be Friends

A KIND OF MAGIC
One Vision
BM&RT
A Kind of Magic
Taylor
One Year of Love
Deacon
Pain Is So Close...
JD&FM
Friends Will Be Friends
JD&FM
Who Wants to LF?
May
Gimme the Prize
May
Don't Lose Your Head
Taylor
Princes of the Universe
Mercury

STUDIOS USED
Maison Rouge
London
e
e
e
Musicland
Munich
e
e
e
SARM West
London
e
e
e
Townhouse
London

ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL
Reinhold Mack
a a a a
Kevin Metcalfe

INSTRUMENTS
E-MU Synthesiser
e
e
Fender Precision Bass
e
e
Ludwig Drums
e
e
May & May Guitar
e
e
Yamaha Grand Piano

DEVICES
AKG Microphones
e
e
Boss FV-200 Pedal
e
e
fOXX Foot Phaser Pedal
e
e
Hiwatt Amplifier
e
e
Neumann Microphones
e
e
Premier C Drumsticks
e
e
Vox AC30 Amplifiers
QUEEN ARE

John Deacon
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
Brian May
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
Freddie Mercury
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
Roger Taylor

OVERVIEW

An attempt at having another anthem in their collection, which failed in commercial terms but remains a fan favourite. It was also a strong live number.

SONGWRITING
Intro
Verse
Chorus
a
Intro'
Verse
Chorus
Break
a
Verse
Chorus
a
a
a
Chorus
a
a
a
Chorus
a
a
a
Chorus...
a

Key is G Major. While on Pain Is So Close to Pleasure the harmony is much more Freddie-esque, here it seems that John was more involved. Chords used are all six diatonic plus V/vi, IV/IV, V/IV, V/V and VI/i. For the break, we could regard the mode as having switched to Aeolian.

INSTRUMENTS

Basic Queen combo (piano, bass, drums, electric guitars) plus some synthesisers which were probably programmed.

VOCALS

Lead by Freddie, backing vocals probably by all three founding members.

QUOTES

FWBF has been pretty much overlooked since its time .... I like it too .. and for Freddie it was something quite important ... at the time of writing it he was also in a very sad place. I don't think Freddie suffered from depression as such, but he was in a lot of emotional pain, and in this song he was determined to make something that would have some power to cheer people through bad spots. The verses are very original, I think ... little anecdotes which are pure Freddie, but the chorus, which in a way might seem the simplest part, gave him much pause for thought. And we all chipped in ideas, when asked ! I think my most notabkle (sic) contribution was to turn the words around at the end, so that FWBF comes last instead of second to last.... Freddie was tickled by that.

But Freddie definitely saw this as something like Champions - something that could be a uniting force for our listeners.

Brian May, Official Website, Sunday 30th July 2006

This article’s been written and researched by Sebastian (sebastian@queenconcerts.com), with a lot of direct and indirect help from who knows how many people. As any academic work, it may have mistakes and it things that can be rendered wrong in the future (remember there was a time when scientists thought the earth was flat). All of the information found here has been carefully checked and verified as much as possible. It still does NOT mean it's a 100% error-proof research (even the people who were there make mistakes about what happened) but it does ensure that it's way more than mere speculation and guessing. Not being able to prove everything is not the same as not being able to prove anything.

If you want to copy, quote, paraphrase, elaborate on, agree with, refute or condemn any part of this text in a public or private medium and acknowledge me, thank you very much for your consideration and inclusion. If you want to copy, quote, paraphrase, elaborate on, agree with, refute or condemn any part of this text in a public or private medium without acknowledging me, there’s nothing I can do to prevent it and I’ll probably never notice anyway.