Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender - Director's Cut

Hang on, I don't know if they want us to go. Do you want us to go?

"Freddie, we'll be running in half a minute."

-Half an hour?!

-"Half a minute."

-Half a minute.

I could get married and divorced in that time.

Hey!

Shoot, David.

When you face an audience of 300,000 people like I saw you in Rio,

do you get intimidated by the size of that crowd?

No, the bigger the better.

In everything.

HE LAUGHS

# I want to break free... #

You sing it.

CHEERING

After making 80 million hits, why does the Emperor of Rock

want to wear new clothes?

Emperor of Rock, come on.

Queen have been together 13 years or so

and you want to do different things.

I wanted to write a batch of songs

that actually came out under the name Freddie Mercury.

# God knows... #

It doesn't mean I'm going to finish with Queen,

it's just a sort of bit on the side.

# Can't you see

# I've got to break free... #

CHEERING

APPLAUSE

I probably was very frustrated

not being able to do a solo album a long time ago,

so I'm putting everything into every song that I've written.

I think we decided we needed a break,

but I think it was fuelled

by Freddie having a bit of an itch to do something on his own.

He made it very plain it wasn't a question of leaving Queen,

it was just something he wanted to do and get done.

He also, typically Freddie, I think,

wanted to see how much money he could make out of it as well.

There's a track called Mr Bad Guy

and that's what the album's called, so I'm happy with that.

-Why is it called Mr Bad Guy?

-Because it's me.

# I'm Mr Bad Guy

# Yes, I'm everybody's Mr Bad Guy... #

-Do you miss the rest of the guys?

-No.

# I'm Mr Mercury

# Whoa! Spread your wings and fly away with me... #

-Who plays on the album? Any surprise guests?

-Yeah, me.

I was hoping to use people like Jeff Beck.

Rod Stewart happened to be in town,

he came in and we just started jamming and we wrote songs together.

# All I do is give

# All you do is take... #

Sorry. Sorry.

Michael Jackson was going to do a song

because I'd worked with him before.

He used to come and se our shows at the Forum in LA.

I guess he liked us. So I got to meet him.

And he kept coming to see us and then we started talking.

PIANO PLAYS Can't get the run.

PIANO PLAYS

Michael suggested they might record something together.

So Freddie went to Michael's studio

and they started working on a couple of tracks.

# There must be more to life than this

# There must be more to life than this

(BOTH) # How do we cope in a world without love?

# There must be more to life that this... #

I'm thinking, "He's 25, I'm 37,

"yet he's been in the business almost longer than I have!"

Because he started that young.

For me, it's quite frightening when I'm talking to someone who's 25

and you think of them as just starting out

and I could sort of teach them a few tricks, but not Michael.

They got on well,

except for the fact that I suddenly got a call from Freddie

saying, "Miami dear,

"can you get on over here? You've got to get me out of this studio."

I said, "What is the problem?" He said, "I'm recording with a llama!"

He said, "Michael's bringing his pet llama into the studio every day

"and I'm really not used to recording with a llama.

"I've had enough and I want to get out."

I think one of the tracks

would have been on the Thriller album if I'd finished it.

But... I missed out!

# I was born to love you... #

By the time I got into recording, I found I was doing it all myself.

And then I turned the other way

and said, "I want to do it completely myself."

# Yes, I was born to take care of you... #

I don't like to write message songs.

I'm not like a John Lennon or a Stevie Wonder.

I'm into writing songs about what I feel about.

And basically what I feel very strongly about is love and emotion.

And I think my solo album is filled with that.

# I wanna love you

# I love everything little thing about you

# I wanna love, love you, love you... #

Michael Jackson had just finished the Thriller album

and it had sold 25 million copies and CBS were awash with money,

so I approached Walter Yetnikoff in New York

and proposed a deal, which Walter accepted.

# I was born to take care of you... #

It's actually, I think, the worst deal he ever did.

CBS? Cock, Bollocks and Satisfaction.

Freddie was getting an advance for his solo album,

which was considerably higher than EMI were paying Queen

and, therefore, within the band, when the size of the deal emerged

there was quite a bit of acrimony about the fact

that Freddie was getting more money than Queen were getting.

There is jealousy, that would happen anyway.

And they're all wondering and waiting to see

if my album is going to do better than the last Queen album.

He liked being in Munich and being away from it all.

He said once, "This is so wonderful, I can eat sausage on the street."

"Nobody bothers me and I'm totally happy.

"I can be a person just like anybody else."

Not that he would like that too much, but still.

Do you think from your stay in Munich...?

I learned a lot?

All I know is all the swear words,

like bleder-hund...Leck mich am Arsch...

That means "lick my arse". THEY LAUGH

He took a liking to how we lived together as a family,

which might have been what he wished for when he was younger.

Because he was shipped off to school and wasn't really

all that close with his parents for a lot of the time.

I was put in an environment

where I had to fend for myself at a very early age.

-Your birthplace was Zanzibar?

-Yes, that's right.

When I was about seven, I was put in boarding school in India,

so I went from Zanzibar to India and then I came back to England.

A very...upheaval of an upbringing.

Freddie had whatever you're taught in the choir at school

and that was it.

That was his vocal training,

everything else came from within him.

I went through art college. I was going to be a graphic illustrator.

Obviously I can paint and do that,

but when I was going through college I was very interested in music,

so I joined bands and I got to know Brian and Roger.

And then I realised that I spent more time rehearsing our songs

than doing the other thing,

and I said, "I'm going to try to make money out of this."

Or make a life out of it.

I remember we were in our management offices

and Fred just said, "Oh, by the way, I'm changing my name."

And we said, "Really? What to?"

"I'm gonna be Freddie Mercury."

# Hear me you lords and lady preachers... #

He created this umbrella of Queen music

and underneath that you could pretty much do anything you wanted.

Each song is in a different sort of category, really,

from 1920's vaudeville

to the real rock 'n' roll to the ballad to, you know.

# She's a killer queen

# Gun powder, gelatine... #

I think when we found

we had our first number one in England that was very nice.

# He's just a poor boy from a poor family

# Spare him his life from this monstrosity... #

We were just checking in to one of the hotels

and we realised that Bohemian Rhapsody had gone to number one.

# Bismillah! No, we will not let you go... #

The four of us were in a lift jumping up and down

and the fucking lift stopped.

So we're, "Here's the number one group in England

"just going to suffocate in this damn lift."

# I need somebody to love

# I need somebody to love

# Find me somebody to love... #

People can't put us into one category, there's a lot of ingredients that make up Queen.

You can't put your finger on it, really.

# No time for losers

# Cos we are the champions... #

# I'm burning through the sky 200 degrees

# That's why they call me Mr Fahrenheit

# Travelling at the speed of light

# I wanna make a supersonic man out of you... #

# Crazy little thing called love... #

We all do different things.

They leave me to just the wardrobe, I guess.

-They leave me to the wardrobe and writing the hits.

-Oh!

What happens when one of them writes a song...?

-If I don't like it?

-Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

I'm not gonna sit there and say it's good if it's not good.

-Do they come and tell you that?

-Of course they do.

And I tell 'em to fuck off.

PIANO PLAYS

# Another party's over

# And I'm left cold sober

# My baby left me for somebody new... #

I don't think the music industry generally understood Freddie.

He was always pushing boundaries, you know, changing tack.

Keep them guessing and keep the public interested.

# I wanna be intoxicated with that special groove... #

This used to be my restaurant in the 1970s

and Freddie would come and play the piano over there

along with Elton and...

I remember one night Cliff Richard was singing

and Elton playing the piano and Freddie singing as well.

It was kind of mad.

When I first met him, he was already a bit of a rock star,

but was poised to be a major rock star.

And the Lisa Minnelli Cabaret soundtrack's playing in the house

and there's cats everywhere.

So I thought it kind of doesn't compute.

I'd always known him as someone whose personal interests

were beyond rock.

My interests are in what's going on now

and so it's kind of research.

So I go to ballet and the musicals to find out what's happening.

I want to do interesting things

and things that I haven't done before.

I knew Sir Joseph Lockwood, the Chairman of EMI, quite well

as he was also the Chairman for the Royal Ballet.

He and Freddie took to each other like ducks to water, it was amazing.

I think Freddie had a general interest in the ballet,

but Sir Joseph really got him fired up.

He was fascinated by the scale. I mean, it's quite epic.

And everything about Freddie's performance was epic.

In 1979 he said to me, "You've got to come to the Coliseum,

"I'm...performing with the Royal Ballet."

They asked me.

They actually thought I could dance,

so they actually asked me to do a charity concert.

And then I realised how I couldn't dance.

He did live vocals to backing track,

being manipulated round the stage by 18 ballet dancers.

# Momma, just killed a man

# Put a gun against his head

# Pulled my trigger now he's dead

# Momma, life had just begun

# But now... #

This included that moment when he had his jump

where he just goes...

# Momma

# Where the wind blows

# I don't wanna die

# I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all... #

He disappeared behind a wall of dancers

and about 20 seconds later, they just sort of lifted him up.

And there he was wearing a silver sequined outfit.

# So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye

# So you think you can love me and leave me to die

# Oh, baby

# Can't do this to me, baby

# Just gotta get out

# Just gotta get right out of here... #

As a ballet dancer, I'd be terrible.

But I can kick my legs up real high.

# Nothing really matters... #

And then your the end, he sang the last line

of Bohemian Rhapsody absolutely upside-down.

# Anyway the wind blows. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

MUSIC: "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer

In the early '80s,

he was living very much in the gay circle in New York.

He bought a beautiful apartment on about the 52nd floor of 52nd Street.

Actually East 52nd Street, looking over the bridge there.

And he was really living it up.

He was in the bars every night.

He loved Donna Summer

and that's where sort of musical influence came from.

We got more publicity from him growing a moustache

than were would have done if he'd committed suicide.

DANCE MUSIC

It was the height of gay hedonism

and I think Freddie lived that life outside of England

where he could be a bit more anonymous.

And, you know, he wasn't the only one doing it.

Everybody was taking drugs,

so the combination of all those things and the massive success,

you start to think you can do anything

and lead any kind of life without any consequences.

# Love kills

# Drills you through your heart

# Love kills

# Scars you from the start

# It's just a living pastime

# Ruling your heart line

# Stay for a lifetime

# Won't let you go

# Cos love, love, love won't leave you alone... #

I like to try different things.

I'm more into the black kind of thing. I like the disco.

That's why on Hot Space we went off of an limb.

I said, "Let's just do some of this black stuff that I like."

And I forced the other three to do it.

They hate me for it now because it didn't sell much.

# Steam power... #

Freddie's particularly looking for a certain sound

which sounds good in a certain kind of club.

It's actually quite painful for me to recall

because it was very intense and it led to some very inspired moments,

but it also led to some conflicts which were difficult.

We still fight like kids.

Every time I'm in the same room as Brian within five minutes...

-Sparks fly.

-Yeah. I haven't hit him yet.

-But there's still time.

-I was just thinking.

When I got involved with the band

one of the first things Freddie said,

"We need to have a personal." I said, "What's a personal?"

So I figured out they needed someone who was a runner, general dogsbody,

somebody that I could relate to.

So I knew Paul Prenter and I hired him.

Paul Prenter was an important part of Freddie's life.

He showed Freddie what he could do.

And what was available in the club scene.

# Let me show it to you... #

Prenter was disrupting creative moments

where something would be working and he would pace up and down

at the side of the control room looking at the watch.

It's seven o'clock or eight o'clock, it's club time.

He was scoring guys and scoring coke

and scoring opportunities to get debauchery happening.

The less said about him the better.

I saw him as a very subversive influence

in the worst possible sense.

I don't see Queen touring when they're in their sixties.

I won't be with them if they are, I hope that I'm sleeping.

What Paul Prenter was to Freddie was his partner in crime.

If there was a criticism of him,

he didn't attempt to curtail or

dampen things down at various times.

That would have helped a lot.

The band sort of rejected Paul Prenter.

And so Paul Prenter wanted to take Freddie away from the band,

I suppose!

And to a degree, he did.

Freddie took him on his own payroll when the band disagreed

and didn't want him around anymore,

because they didn't think he was a good influence.

When we toured America that last time,

as it turned out to be the last time,

he was the one who answered the phone.

So radio stations would phone up and he would be the intermediary,

and he was telling everybody that Freddie wasn't interested,

you know, "Freddie says fuck off," or whatever,

which really wasn't true most of the time.

As far as I know!

But we know now because that information has come back to us.

So basically, this one person, who was a sort of personal assistant,

managed to piss off the whole of America.

Being a world-famous rock star, does this make it

more difficult for you to actually keep a friendship going?

Yes, yes, because I think it's harder for other people

to try and understand me as a normal person.

There must e times when you do need to turn to someone.

I don't have that many people to turn to.

The only one, if you're talking about it, is Mary, who is a long...

She's been a girlfriend of mine for a long time

and even though we're not together at the moment, I refer to her a lot.

When I met him he was living with Mary and the cats,

Eliza, and I think

the most difficult thing for him was to not hurt Mary.

I wasn't around when they had the talk,

um, but he was very conscious of not embarrassing her,

or putting her in any difficult positions.

Mary's gone through just about everything.

She's about the only person I can think about.

Otherwise, I fend for myself and I just...

You know, I'll cross my hurdles in my own way.

# Can...

# Can you find me

# Somebody

# Somebody... #

I'm sure there comes a time when you want to share your life with someone.

Yes, but nobody wants to share their life with me.

# Somebody... #

The more I open up, the more I get hurt,

so, I mean, you know, basically, what happens is I'm just riddled

with scars and I just don't want anymore.

# Somebody to love

# Can you find me

# Somebody to

# Love? #

-Are you ready?

-ALL: Yes!

Huh? You ready, brothers and sisters?

ALL: Yes!

# Each morning I get up I die a little

# Can't barely stand on my feet

# Take a look in the mirror and cry

# Lord, what you're doing to me

# I have spent all my years in believing you

# I just can't get no relief, Lord!

-# Somebody

-Somebody

-# Somebody

-Somebody

# Anybody find me somebody to love? #

It's not easy living with me.

In one way, I think the more mishaps I have,

the better the songs are going to be, you know?

Once I find somebody, if I can find a long-lasting relationship,

bang goes all the research for wonderful songs.

At the moment, I'm sort of living on past mishaps.

And having said that, I don't know. I don't know what's in store for me.

# Somebody to love! #

# I don't want my freedom... #

You said the rest of the guys have houses in LA,

I assume you mean the other members of Queen.

-Yeah, who did you think I meant?

-What are their names again?

Stop that shit!

-There's Brian, Roger and John.

-John, yes.

-I sometimes forget their names, too.

-But you don't really

-hang out with them or anything.

-No.

MUSIC: VESTI LA GIUBBA BY GIUSEPPE VERDI

They have very different characters and they like different things.

I like to go to ballet and opera and things,

they don't like all that.

They just keep going to rock 'n' roll shows.

MUSIC: VESTI LA GIUBBA BY GIUSEPPE VERDI

He liked listening to Pavarotti's voice.

Just for the control, for the...

you know, the amount of training that that voice had had

and just the sound that he was able to produce.

MUSIC: VESTI LA GIUBBA BY GIUSEPPE VERDI

I said, "Look, why don't you hear him live?"

He says, "OK, yeah, that's fine."

I got tickets, we were in the front of the grand tier.

And Freddie was, "I like that, he's good."

Act I, Scene II - the soprano gets her bit in.

MUSIC: IL PAGLIACCI BY GIUSEPPE VERDI

From the minute the voice started,

Freddie's jaw had just sort of fallen open.

He could not believe what he was hearing.

MUSIC: IL PAGLIACCI BY GIUSEPPE VERDI

I was at Covent Garden, the opera house,

for a recital by Montserrat Caballe.

MUSIC: IL PAGLIACCI BY GIUSEPPE VERDI

When, out of the corner my left eye, gesticulating, waving arms.

And I look over and there in a box seat, is Freddie.

And he's leaning up like that and he's pointing at the stage

and he's going...

He was just like a 12-year-old kid

seeing The Beatles.

The grin on his face, he was just, you know...

he was just so up from that whole show.

He said, "Look, I have now heard the best voice in the world."

I was in Munich for a playback of the Mr Bad Guy album

and we were all sitting there in Musicland Studios.

It was a strange playback

cos I could tell that Freddie was slightly bored

and not really listening to it.

And we were halfway through the album and he suddenly said,

"Switch it off, I want to play you something else."

And he put on this opera singer singing.

And he said, "That's the most beautiful voice in the world.

"Do you know who it is?" And I said, "No."

And he said, "Well, that is Montserrat Caballe.

"She has the most beautiful soprano voice in the world.

"And I want to sing with her."

We're all sitting there, listening to Mr Bad Guy,

and we looked around and I said, "Are you serious?"

And he said, "Absolutely."

He said, "Go and find her and tell her I want to sing with her."

Freddie had some of the best ears in the business,

so maybe he sat there, at that early stage, thinking,

"This is not going to work."

Maybe that's why he interrupted and said,

"Let's listen to Montserrat Caballe."

Because he was moving on, I think,

already sitting in the studios in Munich,

aware that maybe he had produced an album

which wasn't his greatest work.

Out of the songs you've put on this album, Freddie,

which one do you find the most rewarding, personally?

I don't know, the one that sells the most.

I wanted to help him, actually.

We were sort of fully supporting him.

But every time I'd go to Munich, he'd say,

"Come sing some backing vocals or something."

Dear, I've got to admit it, they'd be no further on.

It would be exactly the same as it was a month before.

You know, it was terrible and it was just...wasn't going anywhere.

I thought, "Well, I've heard this before."

He underestimated the workload.

When Michael Jackson had three or four number ones there,

there's probably 60 songwriters and 900 songs involved.

And he was just doing everything himself.

# Fooling around You keep fooling

# You keep fooling! #

I would love my album to be better than the last Queen album,

because that would set a precedent and then the next Queen album,

you're going to say,

"It had better be better than Freddie Mercury's solo album."

Unfortunately, the album didn't sell,

and so from CBS's point of view, it was their worst deal financially,

because they paid a lot of money for it.

Freddie always said, "You know, money is great,

"it tells me that I am successful,

"it tells me that people like my work."

Well, this must have been very odd for him because he had

a lot of money, which is the advance, but it wasn't really...

It wasn't real money because the record wasn't selling.

Queen fans didn't really like the fact that Freddie was recording

without Queen.

You run the risk of losing your fan base when you do that.

Do you think they just like you to stay in the bracket

they know you in and that's that?

They might like to, I don't give a shit.

I do what I want, to be honest.

I don't sit down and say,

"Oh, OK, what does Mary Potts in Bognor going to buy tomorrow?"

And, you know, you can't write songs like that

because you can't please everybody anyway.

Freddie didn't like failure.

And this album was a failure.

And the fact that it was a failure meant that he moved on.

Instantly.

So, you will be working with Queen again?

Oh, yes, definitely.

Otherwise I'm going to be a car mechanic, dear.

He came back slightly with, I think, his tail between his legs, really.

The next project will be a Queen album.

-Soon, I hope.

-Soon?

If we're still talking to each other.

OK. Thanks a lot.

APPLAUSE

# Eh-oh

# Eh-oh

# Eh-oh!

# Eh-oh!

# Eh-oh-doh-doh-doh

# Eh-oh-doh-doh-doh

-# Eh-oh

-Eh-oh

-# Eh-oh

-Eh-oh

-# Eeh-oh

-Eeh-oh

# Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh-oh

# Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh-oh

-# Eh-oh

-Eh-oh

-# Eh-oh

-Eh-oh

# Deeee-dee-doh-dee-doh-dee-doh Dee-doh

# Deeee-dee-doh-dee-doh-dee-doh Dee-doh

-# Dee-doh

-Dee-doh

-# Dee-doh

-Dee-doh... #

-All right!

-All right!

How does it affect you when you know you've won an audience?

I always win an audience.

So, how are you affected then? Every night you play to a crowd.

I should add, that's a part of my role, I have to win them over,

otherwise it's... it's not a successful gig.

I have to...it's my job to make sure that I win them over

and make them feel that they've had a good time.

He was just a natural at communicating

with the whole audience.

An amazing thing to watch, actually.

# Bebop-bop, be-debop, bebop Bebop, bebop, bebop, be!

# Bebop-bop, be-debop, bebop Bebop, bebop, bebop... #

On stage, you give this impression that you are quite a formidable

-individual, Freddie.

-I am.

-# Another one bites the dust, yeah!

-Another one bites the dust! #

I'm very frivolous and I like to enjoy myself.

What better way to do it than on stage in front of 300,000 people?

And, you know, I just cook.

-# Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

-# Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

-# Yeah, yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah, yeah!

-# Yeah, yeah!

-Yeah, yeah!

# Another one bites the dust!

# Another one bites the dust! #

He loved it, he thrived on it.

He thrived on that feeling of contact with the audience.

And I think it came from being a fan who was that fan who sat there

and watched Jimi Hendrix, and Jimi Hendrix made that contact with him.

And I think it gave Freddie the feeling that anything was possible.

# Bebop-bop, be-debop, bebop... #

You always felt when he was playing that you were in on

whatever this amazing, kind of camp, ridiculous joke

that some people became quite outraged by.

If you were there in the audience,

you knew that you were kind of one of the chosen few.

# Another one bites the dust!

# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah... #

And I've seen him like from two rows away and I've seen him right

from the back, and you never felt any farther or closer either place.

And I'm not quite sure how he did that.

# Oh, yeah!

# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! #

Yes!

APPLAUSE

Everybody looks...looks at me on stage

and they think that's how I am, like, arrogant and...

That's the way I am normally.

And when you look at me now, I'm quite boring, really.

-A lot of people think that you are reclusive.

-I am a bit, actually. Yes.

But not in the Greta Garbo way.

It's not alone alone, I like to be alone with my friends

and then...and shut myself off, yes.

I'd hate to be on a desert island. I'm petrified of being alone.

I'm very happy with my relationship at the moment.

And I couldn't ask for better.

So now I have finally found a niche that I was looking for...

all my life.

Well, we first met accidentally, I suppose, in a club.

He offered to buy me a drink and I told him to...

that to sling his hook, basically.

-Did you know it was Freddie Mercury?

-I didn't know who he was, no.

-Really?

-A total, absolute stranger to me, yeah.

So then, what happened after that?

Um, I think some months after that, I was out at a restaurant.

The friend I was with just happened to mention,

"Guess who is behind you." I said, "Who?"

"Freddie Mercury again."

I didn't see Freddie again for I think, oh gosh, about 18 months.

And I bumped into him at a club.

-And that was it, was it?

-That was it.

Same routine again, "Let me buy you a drink."

What was he like in real life? What was he like offstage?

He was quiet, very reserved.

Just plain, ordinary, Joe Bloggs on the street, really.

I'm not scared of doing what I want to do.

Before I'd sort of hide in my persona.

So, like, when I went out, I had to sort of try

and perform a little as well and like not letting them down.

Because Freddie Mercury, I don't know what it means,

but he had to react in a certain way,

what the press had told people.

And a lot of times I used to do that sort of...

That I was actually living, in a way, living a false image of myself.

# Guilt stains on my pillow

# Blood on... #

That party in Munich was really something else.

But it did feel, at the time, it was like the last hurrah.

It felt as those decadent days were, if not over, winding down.

And it was kind of like Freddie saying goodbye

to that old hedonistic lifestyle.

# Success is my breathing space

# I brought it on myself. #

Freddie was tiring of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, I think.

# I can take it or leave it

# Loneliness... #

It was kind of like the last days of Berlin.

# Breast feeding... #

That was Freddie's last hurrah.

# What more can I say? #

# Oh...

# Is this the world we created?

# We've made it on our own

# Is this the world we devastated?

# Right to the bone... #

I know there'll be a time where I can't run around on stage,

because it'll be ridiculous.

I mean, I know there comes a time when you have to stop.

# To the world that we created. #

APPLAUSE

I remember the very last gig in Knebworth.

Freddie said, "Look, I can't fucking do this anymore."

You'll have to bleep me again, won't you?

It's pretty hard to quote Freddie without swearing.

It was just part of his vocabulary, you know.

He said, "I can't do this anymore, you have to understand."

And we thought, "Oh, that's just Fred being Fred," you know.

You quoted as saying, that he can't do this forever,

that they're going to be different phases to his career

because rock 'n' roll is a young man's game.

And when he is going to be middle-aged,

he is going to have to do other things.

You might not have the physical fitness to run around on stage,

but you can still write songs.

So, one way or another,

the music side is always going to be in my life.

# Is this the kind of magic? #

It was a hard thing trying to do the new Queen album.

At the same time, I was also writing a couple of tracks

for this new musical that's coming out called Time.

And I worked it out that I'm sure I can fit that in.

It was pretty, you know...

Cos there was one time I was actually going from the Queen studio

and the next day trying to do Time.

And I was so confused, I didn't know what track I was doing.

I first met Freddie Mercury at Abbey Road Studios in the mid-'80s.

And it came about because I was

musical director on a musical called Time.

# Here in secret... #

Dave Pluck and I worked on the album of Time,

which featured a wonderful selection of really great artists -

Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Cliff.

And he told me one day, "I think Freddie Mercury is going to do

"two tunes." I said, "Well, that is fantastic." I met Freddie.

This incredible force of nature hurdled through the door.

It was just an immense presence -

enthusiastic, keen,

Freddie Mercury for goodness sakes, you know?

He contacted me not long after that to say,

"Look, would you be interested in working on a solo album with me?"

That was agreed.

He said, "Well, before we do that, I've really always wanted to

"record a cover version, something I have never done in my own name."

And he said, the song I want to do is The Great Pretender.

Hello, my name is Freddie Mercury and this is my latest recording,

The Great Pretender.

# Oh, yes, I'm the great pretender

# Oh, oh, oh

# Pretending I'm doing well

# Oh, oh, oh

# My need is such I pretend too much

# I'm lonely, but no-one can tell... #

I wanted to do a cover version, you know, a long time ago,

and you can't do that with Queen, you know, because, I mean,

we just write our own sort of original material.

And I've always had that in the back of my head.

And this song was the one I always wanted to do.

# Oh, oh, oh

# I play the game

# But to my real shame

# You've left me to dream all alone... #

It is brilliant,

-the whole thing is brilliant. Five.

-Well over the top. Carina.

-I think it's brilliant and the video has lots to it.

-Yeah.

I give it five.

# What my heart... #

It is one of the best videos ever.

It is really good, I really like it. Can we give it a ten?

# Yes, I'm the great pretender... #

What I like about it is the way he's sending himself up.

Anyone who can mock himself in that way, deserves all the marks.

I give it a 5.5.

So, well done to Fred, he wins this week's pop medal.

He thought it was appropriate cos he was a pretender.

He was certainly the great self-invention.

In Freddie, you had a shy person who lived

with the protection of his persona.

# I seem to be... #

Most of the stuff I do, it is pretending.

It's like acting, you know, you go on stage

and I pretend to be a macho man and all that.

And in my videos, you know, you go through all the different

characters and you are pretending anyway.

So, I think it is a great title for what I do

and it is sort of suited to what I was doing.

# Yeah! #

All of this is pretend, you know. And it's just fun.

# Too real when I feel

# What my heart can't conceal

# Oh, yes I'm the great pretender...! #

These days we know so much about celebrities.

If he was around today, people would be taking camera phone

pictures of him or there'll be snapshots of him

in Heat magazine.

But Freddie Mercury was truly elusive

and mysterious and enigmatic.

We didn't know a lot about Freddie.

And we still don't really know a lot about Freddie.

Why haven't you done any interviews in the past few years?

-Because I hate them.

-Why?

-I just hate them.

I hate talking to people I don't really know.

# Pretending

# That you're

# Still around! #

It's the media, basically, that built me up being a real ogre

and a tyrant on stage because of the way I come across on stage.

You know, I'm very volatile, and that's only part they see of me.

I don't talk to everybody, so they don't really know the real me.

I don't think anybody will.

When we got to the end of The Great Pretender,

I said, "Fred, one thing we haven't thought about is a B side."

And he said, "Look, I'll tell you what, why don't you go

"and play some nice, little classical thing on the piano."

He said, "I'll warble over the top

"and we'll kind of figure something out."

It became the B side of The Great Pretender.

I was planning to do a solo project.

I wanted it to have some kind of bearing, something different,

something different from another boring studio album.

I think now I have the time and the capacity to actually

venture into areas which I would never dare.

I don't want to sort of end my life just being

a rock 'n' roll star.

It was 1986, just before Christmas,

when Freddie got a call that Montserrat Caballe,

had heard him on an interview when they were in Spain on the tour.

-You won't believe this, but...

-'I put the television on'

and there was the group and Freddie of all,

and they said, "What do you like more of Spain?"

And he was answering, "Montserrat Caballe."

She's the best.

And that's what I listen to.

I love very much Freddie,

but I was surprised he says that on television.

I said, "You'll never guess it,

"I've had a phone call from Montserrat Caballe

"and she wants to meet us. I suppose she wants to meet you."

He said, "No, you're all coming with me, we're going to Barcelona

"on Saturday."

He said, "I think we ought to take something to play which might

"make her laugh and cut the ice a little bit."

He said, "Why don't we take this thing that we did?"

We built a full concert PA system and we laid out a lunch

so we could have lunch together, the plan being that we'd

all have a lovely lunch and then play her this song.

And say, "This is the sort of thing that we want to do."

I have never in my life seen Freddie so nervous.

I mean, he was chain-smoking,

he was marching up and down.

We met here, and the Hotel Ritz.

He was a little shy in the beginning

to...to sing with me.

He was so nervous

that instead of saying,

"How lovely to meet you, would you like some lunch?"

And all the various plans that we had, he just blurted out,

"I've written a song for you, would you like to hear?"

MUSIC: EXERCISES IN FREE LOVE

And I tell him, "But you sure you want to sing with me?"

And he says, "Yes, I was dreaming of that all my life."

The only thing I ask him, to have the score of Exercises In Free Love.

I saying, "Give it to me, the music,

"I will learn and maybe from that, come something."

But I was tricking him because I wanted to sing

that as a vocalize

in one of my recitals at the Royal Opera House.

Well, Freddie didn't know, Freddie wasn't told about it.

This was her idea.

And Montserrat came on, but the normal pianist didn't.

And Mike Moran walked on after her and sat at the piano.

They then... She then performed Exercises In Free Love.

And I was surprised because of the recognition, the public was crazy.

I make them be quiet and I says,

"I'd like to present the Komponist, which is Mike Moran,

"and...Freddie Mercury."

So, they went into applause and he was very... Big impact for him.

He says, "It's the first time I receive an ovation

"at the Royal Opera House."

Well, last night, she sang one of my songs at the Royal Opera House,

so it was amazing.

Now I am going into opera, you know, forget rock 'n roll.

And we went after this to his home to have dinner

and so we went in to...after the dinner, to work.

Simple songs are...

It's good fun, eh?

Something incredible, I have never heard something like that.

No, it's good!

I'm very excited.

I said, "This is very good because this is a crossover

"with feeling, not only with knots."

You're not tired now? Just rest a little?

I'm fine.

No, I don't want you to go... I just...I think, let's rest.

Freddie was worried, "Oh, you're tired, you've got a flight

"at nine, you know, I don't want to be in trouble because you're late."

She says, "Oh, you don't like me, you don't like my voice."

-I sound so terrible.

-You sound...No!

I can sing till six o'clock in the morning with her.

Well, what surprised us, we were

in his home until 6am.

And they were asking what we have done.

I said, "Well, we have done everything,

"but not what you thought."

She said things like, "Only one song, are you sure?

"You only want to do one song?"

I said, "Well, let's see how we get on.

"You know, if you like more of my music."

And she said, "How many songs does a normal rock 'n' roll album have?"

And I said, "Something like ten". "Oh, we'll do ten songs then."

And we knew we were away. And then she went on to say,

"But the song I really want is about my hometown.

"I want a song about Barcelona."

What drives you on?

At this very moment, it's Montserrat Caballe.

It is like a flippant gesture for me to start it off with.

I really thought it would never come to any sort of fruition.

And when she accepted, I was dumbfounded.

So then I thought, "My God, I better put my money where my mouth is."

# Oh, oh, oh, oh! #

It is such a challenge, actually.

I've never thought of writing songs in that way.

Now she said she wants to do duets with me,

I have to sort of think in a totally different way.

I tell him, when we do an album,

it has to be an album of friendship

and also of understanding, musically.

Both. Not like two worlds, everyone singing his way, no.

Two worlds come together.

# I had this perfect dream

# Un sueno me envolvio

# This dream was me and you

# Tal vez estas aqui

# I want all the world to see

# Un instinto me guiaba... #

I'm sure the opera critics would slam it and everything,

but, I mean, this is something that...

It's a good challenge at this time in life, you know.

# My dream is slowly... #

Pavarotti was saying, "It's bad, so bad, you are dumbing down opera."

-# Barcelona!

-It was the first time that we met

-# Barcelona!

-How can I forget?

# The moment that you stepped into the room

# You took my breath away

# Barcelona!

# La musica vibro Barcelona!

# Y ella nos unio...! #

98% of the people who bought the Barcelona single had never

heard of Montserrat Caballe.

So, Freddie was doing them a great service by introducing them

to a great artist. It was an immediate hit.

# Some day... #

Freddie Mercury has done a lot of good stuff over the years,

with those videos back in '76 with Bohemian Rhapsody

and now he brings opera into the singles chart.

The highest new entry this week with Montserrat Caballe, Barcelona.

The critical reaction was puzzlement.

I wouldn't say that the press were negative about it

because they knew, "Wait a minute, this woman is selling out,

"Covent Garden, she has got to be good,

"so, I don't want to show my ignorance by condemning it.

"But on the other hand, I don't know what it is about, so I can't

"say that it's good, so let's just say, 'oh, this is different.'"

# Start the celebration

# Ven a mi

-# And cry

-Grita

-# Come alive

-Vive

# And shake the foundations from the skies...! #

I was a Queen fan when the Barcelona came out.

I was probably only 12.

But that song, I just thought, was magnificent.

It was so exciting.

It was so...uplifting.

# Barcelona!

# Such a beautiful horizon!

# Barcelona!

# Like a jewel in the sun...! #

The single, I thought, was fantastic.

You sometimes think, "Well, is he having us on?"

But it was so good musically and so intriguing, wonderful melody

and beautifully sung.

And Freddie matched Montserrat.

# Barcelona! Abre tus puertas al mundo...! #

There's only ever really one Freddie who could do that

kind of thing can make that kind of record and make it OK.

And I think the reason why it was OK is you've got this guy

standing in front of you, going, "It's all right, you're safe.

"You're with me, I know what I'm doing."

Even though it is the most ridiculous thing

in the entire world, it's OK.

# Barcelona!

# Aaaaah! #

When Freddie decided to record his second album,

I went back into New York

and said to Walter that we have come in to discuss the second album.

Well, the first album had sold about 130,000 copies and CBS were

reeling from the loss that they had made on the first album.

So he sat there, he said, "Well, I understand,

"we've got to do a second album. So, what is it?"

I said, "Well, it's a duet album."

And he said, "Well, that sounds interesting,

"we might get something out of that. Dueting with who?"

And I said, "It's Montserrat Caballe,

"she's a Spanish opera singer."

And he completely freaked and he said,

"You have to be joking, you can't conceivably be delivering me

"an opera duet album as a second album."

And in the end, he paid us quite a substantial amount

of money to go away and deliver the album somewhere else,

which is what we did.

I think the thing about the Barcelona album as it allowed

Freddie to do things that he couldn't really do with Queen.

Queen allowed Freddie to do a lot,

but they certainly wouldn't have allowed him, I think,

to get an opera singer in, especially a female one.

There was such intensity because it was a difficult thing.

Don't forget, this had never been done before, really.

He was stepping into an area he didn't really know a lot about.

And one of the reasons why the album was originally recorded

solely on keyboards was because that way he could control

at least one end of the environment he was working in.

I said, "I'll write the songs, then you come in the studio

"and sort of try out things."

She looked up her schedule and she said,

"Well, I have three days to spare in May and that's all."

She thinks she can just come in and do it,

and that's the way they work, you see.

She says she thinks in three days she'll just come in

and sing the whole...

So, I have got to have it all prepared.

But I think three days is pushing it.

At one point, Fred and I really got bogged down.

We got really stuck on the lyrics.

# I know the same old

# And ooooh... #

It's easier for me to write a melody and a structure,

but in terms of the actual lyrics,

I find it hard, because I'm not a poet

and I hate writing lyrics anyway.

I wish somebody else could do it.

He said, "Oh, you know, why don't we get Tim Rice?"

I was very happy to be roped in.

And I did a couple of lyrics for Freddie,

to these amazing backtracks I was given.

I was given complete carte blanche to write about what I wanted

and I thought, "This sounds operatic and it sounds dramatic,

"so I'll create some characters."

The two songs I wrote had sort of, I suppose, similar titles.

One was called The Fallen Priest. And one was called The Golden Boy.

# The boy had a way with words He sang

# He moved with grace He entertained, so naturally

# No gesture out of place His road in life was clearly drawn

# He didn't hesitate,

# He played, they saw He conquered as the master of

# As the master of his fate... #

My favourite song on the album is The Golden Boy,

cos I always think of it as the song that has everything.

It starts off dark and mysterious

and minor chords and angry.

And then it goes really sweet - "I love you for your silence."

# ..for your silence

# I love you for your peace... #

And then the gospel comes in,

and you just don't see that coming at all.

-# His rise was irresistible

-Yeah!

# He grew into the part

# His explanation simply That he suffered for his art... #

And then it goes dark again at the end.

# The words that made them happy once

# Now echoed... #

And you feel like you've heard a whole life in one song.

# Aaah! #

I think one of the reasons that Freddie put so much of himself

into the Barcelona project was the fact that he had just found out

of his AIDS status.

He explained to me that, obviously,

he had some rather heavy news for me.

And I suppose, like everybody's reaction,

just total disbelief, "No, we must get someone else's opinion on this."

We talked a little about it, but then he just said,

"Look, these are the top AIDS specialists there are."

In terms of gay visibility back then,

you had some people like Jimmy Somerville, people like that,

who were quite political,

but there was something quite austere about them

and sort of asexual.

Or you had gay people who were in the closet.

But Freddie, along with Elton,

was just quite flippant about his sexuality.

And he didn't have a care in the world about it

and it was a really great role model, I think.

He wasn't overtly sexual. I mean, he was camp as anything, you know.

He was the most camp performer ever, he has got to be.

But I don't think there was ever anything sexual about it.

-Hello.

-Hello.

Fred, it's true that the song I Want To Break Free

is dedicated for the gay world?

No, not at all, not at all. That song...

To start off with, that song was written by John Deacon, you know?

And, well, he's a very happily married man,

you know, with about four children.

It has got nothing to do with the gay thing.

Besides, it's not my song anyway, John wrote it.

Some people now are a bit more critical of Freddie Mercury,

they feel that he was a bit closeted

because he didn't talk that directly about his sexuality.

And they also think he should have spoken about his illness.

But I think you have to accept that the media at the time

would crucify almost anyone who spoke about that.

'Like some prison officers demanding protective clothing,

'some policemen wearing masks and gloves when dealing with homosexuals,

'some morticians refusing to embalm the bodies of AIDS victims.'

I always feel terrible

when people are judged on their sexual behaviour in the '70s

from the perspective of today's knowledge.

Because in fact, while we were going through the '70s,

it was assumed that there would be no consequences

for whatever your sexual actions may be.

I was extremely promiscuous. It was excess in every direction.

I want everyone to get fucked all night every day, just like I do.

He intentionally didn't get tested for several years.

Because in those days, since there was no treatment,

a lot of people chose not to get tested.

They didn't want to know.

And Freddie was one of them.

I did this big interview with him in Ibiza, Pikes Hotel, Ibiza.

He had his friends around the swimming pool,

played a bit of tennis, and it was sadly that day

when I realised something was wrong,

that he might possibly have HIV.

And I brought this up in the interview

and he was very, very honest.

Freddie, how has the AIDS thing affected you?

Well, I've stopped going out, whatever,

and to be honest, I tell you,

I've almost become a nun.

I thought sex was a very important thing to me and I lived for sex

and everything, and now it has just gone completely the other way.

And it just frightened me to death and I just...

I have... I've just stopped having sex.

-Have you?

-Yes. I just like titillation now.

You know? I'm also an old bird now.

One of these days, in the studio,

I saw two glasses of champagne

and I wanted to take one

and he told me, "No, the other one, the other one."

I say, "I'm sorry, I not knewed you have to ask this."

And I wanted to make a kiss like we have always done, muack, muack.

You know? And he says, "No, don't kiss me anymore."

And I thought, "You are angry?"

Because I don't understood.

And he says, "No, but, Montserrat..." Montse,

he calls me Montse, "Montse, I am zero positive.

"And I don't want to make a kiss to you."

It was the beginning of this illness.

And of course,

I say, "But you look so good, you are so strong

"and you sing so wonderful."

He says, "Yes, but I know there will come one day that I can't anymore."

Freddie was incredibly loyal to his friends,

even in the case of Paul Prenter, Freddie supported him, basically.

He gave him money so that he could get his life together again.

But then he soon went back to Ireland

once he had sort of got on his feet again.

He disappeared back and that's where he sold the story.

When he betrayed him in the newspapers, that was it,

he was devastated.

Because, I think,

it really was the first time that Freddie had been publicly betrayed.

And that was a terrible shock.

If you entrust somebody with all your secrets and then they go

and sell it to a newspaper

for just £32,000, I mean, it was just dreadful.

All of this was going on while he was preparing to, you know,

record with, for him, the greatest singer in the world.

# When all the salt is taken from the sea

# I stand dethroned

# I'm naked and I bleed

# But when your finger points so savagely

# Is anybody there...? #

One of the fascinating things about AIDS,

which is a fairly long death sentence,

is that it increases the creativity in artists.

Freddie was not alone in having an enormous burst of creativity

towards the end of his life.

# How can I go on from day to day?

# Who can make me strong in every way...? #

As a songwriter,

do you ever have a fear that your inspiration may dry up?

I don't wake up every morning and say, "Oh, look, have I dried up?"

# In this great big world of sadness... #

He's looking after me.

# How can I forget...? #

When that happens, I'll...

It won't happen, that's all there is to it. There you go.

I don't think it will ever happen. I'll die first.

# They're lost And they're nowhere to be found... #

The time I saw it, I see his adieu.

He took the hand and I wanted to... to retain,

and he don't want it.

It's so significative, you know,

every movement, every look,

everything.

In his mind, he had to create the best music he could for Barcelona

because it might be the last thing that he was ever involved in.

He absolutely immersed himself into this album completely and utterly.

It was, for him, possibly the most important work he ever did.

-# Aaah...

-Aaah...

# Aaah...

# How can I go on...? #

I'm glad I did it. It was a totally different adventure.

I'd like to see other rock 'n' roll singers try things like that.

You know? And see if they can get away with it.

They probably couldn't, Freddie, but you did.

-I'm wonderful, aren't I?

-Yes.

Barcelona was the first major crossover with a major rock star

and a major opera star.

And I think it kind of... It made it OK for other people to do it.

I mean, then in the '90s,

there was Pavarotti with... you name it - Bono, Sting, Elton.

It was a huge success.

And it rode in on the back of Barcelona, which was a big track.

And it was a very successful album indeed.

As he looked back at his artistic life,

of course he would be most proud of Queen.

Let's not pretend that he wasn't.

But, boy, would he be glad that he got this one in.

# I want it all

# I want it all

# I want it all

# And I want it now... #

After we took this long sort of holiday doing our solo stuff,

we decided we'd only come back together if we really wanted to.

And we felt that we really wanted to.

We just came into the studio and things just evolved,

naturally, straightaway.

So, we were hungry for it and it felt like the early days,

and that's when we got very sort of excited.

And out came a whole load of tracks.

# I want it all

# I want it all

# I want it all

# And I want now

# I want it

# Now! #

In 1989, the doctors told him,

"You stop everything -

"the cigarettes, the drink, everything."

"You stop and you'll have a bit more life."

But they had also told us at that point,

"Be prepared that Freddie will not see Christmas."

Ladies and gentlemen, of course, the top band of the '80s are Queen.

APPLAUSE

Innuendo was actually seen as a real critical return to form.

And Innuendo was the first number one they had had

since Under Pressure.

This year's special award

for an outstanding contribution to British music

goes to Queen.

APPLAUSE

There was absolutely no impression for me that he could have been sick.

He was full of beans and singing away.

# You can be anything you want to be

# Just turn yourself into anything you think that you could be... #

There was a feeling of sort of re-exploring our youth almost

buried in there somewhere. And it was fun.

# Surrender your ego... #

We were working really flat-out on everybody's ideas

and not being kind of possessive about things.

It was quite liberating.

Actually, we had some fantastic times and were very close knit

group, like a family, and we would work in the studio until...

really, until Freddie got tired.

# You make me smile when I'm just about to cry... #

He had more concern about his cats than he did

about most human contact.

# You make me laugh and I like it... #

He would much rather, if he was on tour or away recording or something

talk to his cats than he would friends. And he really would.

He would call them up.

# When you throw a moody You're all claws and you bite... #

He would call up whoever was in the house

and expect to talk to one of the cats.

# Meow, meow... #

They were his babies. His cats were his babies.

-Would you like to have children, for example?

-I can buy them.

Of course I would like to have children,

-I'm just being really frivolous and flippant.

-Yeah.

But, yes, I would.

With the right... with the right girl, yes.

BABY SQUEALING

-Hey, hey, hey.

-It's nice, isn't it?

Are you not even taping him?

He was having radiation therapy, but he had to do that about 5:30,

six o'clock in the morning, because it had to be done at the hospital,

it couldn't be done at home.

But it had to be done

when as few people as possible were around to see him going in there.

Yet he would still go home, have a couple of hours rest and go

and make music.

When we did discover that Freddie had this terrible AIDS virus

in his body, there was still a disbelief in us, you know?

You think, "No, it can't happen to our mate,

"it can't happen to Freddie.

"There is going to be some way out of this, he's going to be cured."

And right up to the last minute, I think we knew but we didn't know.

We sort of refused to know, if you like.

Do you ever worry that you could end up a lonely, rich, old man

when you are 70?

No, because I will be dead long before that.

-You don't expect to be an old bones?

-No. Actually, I really don't care.

I have lived a full life and if I am dead tomorrow, I don't give a damn.

The man was so strong that you couldn't even tell he was sick,

really, honestly.

And finally he said, "Well, I have to sit down now for singing."

Maybe I was stupid but...

Or maybe I was just trying to ignore it, maybe I couldn't believe it

and I didn't want to believe it.

The last time we met was approximately ten days before he died

and he and I had a long meeting.

And I talked to him about preparing a press release,

which he really didn't want to talk about.

He said, "Well, whatever you want to do, I don't mind."

Because what he wanted to talk about was his music, still,

because even at that very late stage in his life,

the music was the one thing that brought him to life.

It never really sank into me, you know,

up till I suppose the last two weeks that he was dying.

Um, I think I really carried on my normal work.

Just to keep myself occupied.

I didn't want to go absolutely crazy thinking about it all the time.

When they phoned me up, like, two weeks later,

"This is the Daily Mirror, do you know that Freddie Mercury is dying?"

"Do you have anything to say about it?"

It was weird. He didn't seem like he was dying.

To me, he was full of beans.

Right till the end.

The music world has been paying tribute to Freddie Mercury,

the lead singer of the rock group Queen.

He died last night,

24 hours after confirming he was suffering from AIDS.

I turned on teletext and it said, "Rock star Mercury dies of AIDS."

And I wept and howled and shrieked

and I cried all night.

The night after he died, I went to 1, Logan Place.

There were probably 100 people there and people just crying

and comforting each other.

And it was just incredibly sad.

Why did you want to come today?