MOTHER LOVE

Verse
Lift
Verse
Lift
Middle-Eight
Break
Verse x 5/4
Lift'
Verse x 5/4
Lift"
Verse/2
Lift

Music & Lyrics by: Freddie Mercury & Brian May
Arranged by: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor & John Deacon
Written: 1991
Length: 4:46
Released on: 6th November 1995

Keys: Gm, Cm
Metre: 4/4
Form: One-Bridge

Although not a single, this song's very famous amongst Queen fans as being one of the last Freddie co-wrote and recorded (there's always been quite a debate as to which one came first between Winter's Tale and this one, and it seems they were quite parallel in terms of time). While not blatantly May-esque or Mercury-esque in its harmony, it certainly encompasses several Queen trends from the later days:

- Programmed percussion as pre-intro: Rain Must Fall, Party, My Baby Does Me

- 1-5-8-9-8-5 bass licks: These Are the Days of Our Lives, The Show Must Go On

- Korg M1 strings and/or pads plus backing piano ornamental support: The Miracle, Delilah, Slightly Mad

- Slash chords (mostly with minor seventh as bass, or on the first inversion): The Miracle, Winter's Tale

- The bridge-break harmony, if we interpret it in Bb, includes a ii > III > IV > iv > vi progression, very similar to what we find at the end of Winter's Tale (ii > IV > iv > I)

- Gbdim chord: Barcelona (earlier examples: You Take My Breath Away, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, The Millionaire Waltz)

- May/Mercury dueting: Who Wants to Live Forever, I Want It All, The Show Must Go On (so-so), One Vision (middle-eight on stage).

Here's a copy of Freddie's manuscript:

Recordings:

Produced by: Queen, David Richards, Justin Shirley-Smith and Joshua J. Macrae
Mixed by: David Richards
Engineered by: David Richards, Justin Shirley-Smith and Joshua J. Macrae

Recorded: 1991 - 1995
 Recorded at: Mountain (Montreux), Cossford Mill and Allerton Hill

Acoustic Drums: Roger Taylor
Electric Bass: John Deacon
Electric Guitars: Brian May
Digital Synthesisers: Freddie Mercury and/or Brian May
Programming: Brian May (educated guess)

Lead Vocals: Freddie Mercury & Brian May

Apparently, most of the track was done in 1991, being post-Mercury sessions for mere overdubs. Reportedly, May used a Parker Fly for the solo instead of his trusted Red Special. While bass, guitars and vocals are completely human-generated, percussion and keyboards rely heavily on programming and looping, as it was often the case in those days (e.g. Slightly Mad).