FREDDIE MERCURY

As Arranger


Freddie with another extraordinary arranger, Mr. David Gilmour.

Although Mercury wrote his numbers relatively quickly, he could easily spend ages arranging them. It actually depended on the individual track, and Freddie was a good example of the famous motto "always work for the song". He not only arranged keyboard and voices in his own material, but the other instruments also, and often participated in others' creations. For instance, it was Mercury who wrote the bass motif in Roger's A Kind of Magic, and who decided the drum break in One Vision.

If we were to put all of Freddie's arrangements into one category, it'd probably be "dramatic". Mercury had an enviable sensibility for theater, and the way he organized instruments, vocals, tempo changes and even stereo panning (under the influence of Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles) was directed towards the emotion he wanted to express.

Liar is a good example of how he was from the very beginning: after the drum intro there's a big, strong, layered entrance from guitar and bass (live they did it even better, for instance at Hammersmith Odeon Xmas Eve 1975); then, after a long section of heavy riffs coming one after another, as some kind of never-ending wave (it actually reminds me of Wagner), the arrangement's abruptly (yet mildly) reduced to a fingerpicked acoustic guitar and a backing organ chord. Then, with the first "liar" drums, bass and electric guitars kick in and the track's all heavy again, only to have more and more changes in a rather long interlude. Then drums are left alone, with voices doing an antiphonal bit, followed by an instrumental crescendo which ends with a bass-solo, a vocal break and a coda. That kind of theatricality was part of Freddie's skills and recurred through many other songs, off of which we're gonna mention one per album:

- My Fairy King: Intro starts off with one guitar, which is gradually joined by other instruments, then drums kick in and the song's all broad and dense (in a good way). Then it's all cut off, leaving only piano, a small guitar overdub, and then voice enters.

- The March of the Black Queen: Note the clever way the climax (alternating and combining lead guitar, ostinato bass, piano scales, bells, drums and screaming vocals) is suddenly cut to a slow ballad bit with only piano and vocals.

- In the Lap of the Gods: After the dramatic intro (with fast piano arpeggios, cymbal rolls, bass, screams, lots of voices, a choir of guitars) it all gets cooled down to, yet again, a slow balladic bit with only piano and voice (and in this case some soft cymbal rolls).

- Death on Two Legs: Intro gets on a big crescendo, starting off with classical piano, then putting an "army" of guitars joining one by one (live there are also cymbal rolls), then it's all cut-off to just piano, after which bass joins and then guitar and drums, and the song's heavy again!

- Somebody to Love: After "free lord" the whole arrangement changes to an a capella bass-voice (done by a double-tracked Freddie); then Roger joins, then more and more voices as well as piano, bass, drums and Freddie's lead vocal, then there's a sudden simplification (all instruments and backing harmonies stop), and Freddie makes a dramatic "ending", only to be followed by a coda where instruments and voices come back.

- We Are the Champions: After the first chorus (featuring harmonies, bass, drums, piano and guitars) it's all reduced to a short connector for piano only.

- Mustapha: Abrupt arrangement changes are emphasized by mono-to-stereo mixing.

- Play The Game: Intro gets gradually busier, only to be cut-off and leaving only piano and lead vocal. Then, on "easy", bass, drums and backing vocals enter.

- Under Pressure: After a quite thick bit (with Bowie and Roger singing and loads of instruments layered), the outro is done on just bass, piano and click-clap percussion.

- It's a Hard Life: Intro kicks in very big (with lots of voices), but after "leaving", only piano and lead voice are left.

- Princes of the Universe: Verse features abrupt changes in instrumentation. Note the tempo changes too.

- Was It All Worth It?: Intro switchs from a soft synth to a heavy bit of guitar, bass and drums; after the orchestral interlude it all fades to a simpler rock section; the end fades out all the heaviness, leaving only a "fantasia" synthesizer-part.

- Innuendo: For the intrelude, arrangement gets reduced from bass, drums, guitars and keyboards, to just two nylon-stringed classical guitars.

 

As you can see, Freddie's approach was more than programming crescendos, or having a steady backing track for the vocals (although sometimes he did fall into temptation, especially in mid-80s); he enjoyed, or seemed to enjoy, playing with the listener's expectations. Millionaire Waltz is another classic example, as well as Eddie Howell's Man From Manhattan, which gives us a marvelous insight of how Freddie could take a song he didn't compose, but add his personal touches anyway, always respecting the original framework. That's sheer professionalism.