All language subtitles for George.Michael.Freedom.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org_track3_[eng]

This programme contains
very strong language

On Christmas Day 2016,

we heard with shock and disbelief

that our dear friend George Michael
had passed away.

Only days before,

he was putting the finishing touches
to the film you're about to see.

This is George's film Freedom
and it's his final work.

ADELE: # Looking for some

# Education

# Made my way into the night

# All that bullshit

# Conversation

# Baby, can't you read the signs?

# I won't bore you with
the details, baby

# I don't even wanna waste your time

# Let's just say that maybe

# You could help me ease my mind

# I ain't Mr Right

# But if you're looking for

# Fast love

# If that's love in your eyes

# It's more than enough

# Had some bad love

# So fast love is all that I've got

# On my mind

# Oooh-ho

# Oooh-ho... #

MUSIC PLAYING QUIETLY

# ..all the lovin' that your heart

# Oh, yeah

# I can give you all the lovin'
that your heart

# Desires

# Give you all the lovin'

# Baby, can't you see...? #

GEORGE: In 1988, George Michael

became the biggest-selling artist
in the world.

This is the story of just how fame
and tragedy intervened

to change his life for ever.

I was massively unhappy and lonely.

I remember standing there with a
tear in my eye, thinking,

"I really don't know if I'll ever
do this again..."

MUSIC: Freedom! '90
by George Michael

..and it changed everything,

from that day to this.

I was single, but I hadn't come out.

If I could have the self-awareness
and the strength to walk away,

I could change my life.

I felt that stepping back

would save me from somehow
screwing up my career.

MUSIC: Freedom! '90
by George Michael

Erm... Yeah, Waiting, please.

Here we go!

I first became aware of George
Michael's music

when I was probably like...I was
definitely a little girl.

I think his music was really...

It's just there in your psyche,

I just think it's not even taken
for granted,

it's just there in the ether.

# There ain't no point in moving on

# Till you've got somewhere to go

# And the road that I have
walked upon

# Well, it filled my pockets
and emptied out my soul... #

He's got a voice like an angel.

There's certain songs that you could
ask George just to sing

and it would make people cry,
just the resonance of his voice.

# ..and some of them
are about you... #

It comes from someone who
has felt pain

and it comes from someone who has a
deep talent.

# Now I know there's no way I can
right those wrongs

# Believe me

# I would not lie... #
George is...

..in the category of many of us

who have been blessed with the
gift of music.

# But you once said there's a way
back for every man

# So here I am... #

There's no voice like his
on the radio.

# Oh, don't people change?

# Here I am

# Is it too late to try again?

# Here I am. #

I genuinely believe that there's
something very odd

about people in my position.

But the central belief that my
musical journey

would be of my own making

has been the thing that's informed

almost every decision I've
ever made,

in terms of my career.

I have a musical ability
which was,

uh...

..powered as a young...

As a teenager, it was powered by
this desperate ambition to be famous

and to be loved and respected,
whatever. Um...

And all I wanted at that time
was success.

# Sorry if I spoilt your plan... #

I had no master plan,

I didn't know if I was going to be a
singer or anything,

but at school I met Andrew

and we formed this ska band called
The Executive,

and we were terrible, basically.

But Andrew and I had already
developed a knack

for writing these catchy
little songs,

and we'd got together a couple
of tracks -

one was called Careless Whisper and
one was called Wham Rap.

# You got soul on the dole

# You're gonna have a good time
down on the line... #

The '80s was probably one of the
most depressing,

sort of, demoralising times

that we've ever had for young
people in British history

because the recession,
because of everything,

because of mass unemployment,

so I think music then was probably
really, really important.

In terrible depression, you have the
people that come out and say,

"This is terrible. This is
terrible depression."

# This town is coming
like a ghost town... #

And then you have the escapists,
those who go, "Let's party!"

# Young guns having some fun

# Crazy ladies keep 'em on the run

# Wise guys realise

# There's danger in emotional ties

# See me, single and free

# No fears, no tears,
what I want to be

# One, two, take a look at you

# Death by matrimony... #

It wasn't all sugary. He was
singing about being on the dole

and having kids and, you know.

There was a bit of social commentary
there and he was embracing this

new-fangled thing called rap,
you know...

dressed like someone from West Side
Story. We should have known then.

Then Club Tropicana taught us,

"Don't worry, you can suntan."

He predicted global warming...way
before its time!

HE LAUGHS

# Club Tropicana,
drinks are free... #

I mean, I can't get the little white
shorts out of my head.

# Call me good

# Call me bad

# Call me anything you want... #

I'll be very honest,

I was a Culture Club fan

and we used to throw eggs at the
Wham! fans.

They were massive, weren't they?
Wham! and George Michael and that?

It was like... They were just
fucking everywhere, weren't they?

# Baby, I'm your man... #

Anyone of my generation,

you really can't remember the first
time you heard about George Michael

if you grew up in the UK because
he's just part of the fabric...

..of it.

It was a time of Wham!, which
was like a lot of fun.

I was going to clubs like
Heaven, etc,

and we were having a lot of fun
and we loved it.

It was truly representing the time,
you know.

I'm sure, our kid, my older
brother, I'm sure he was...

I'm sure he had a bit of a Wham!
moment, you know what I mean?

# Somebody told me

# Boy, everything she wants is
everything she sees... #

I already felt I was too old
to like them.

I felt a bit ashamed that I was
liking this teen band,

but they were great. They had
something else. They had a lot more.

# And now you tell me that you're
having my baby

# I'll tell you that I'm happy if
you want me to

# But one step further... #

Wham! itself was an absolute joy.

It was as joyous as it sounded.

They say youth is wasted
on the young.

My God, what a wonderful
joyride for two 18-year-olds.

# Yeah, yeah, yeah

# Na-na-na-na na

# Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah-yeah

# Yeah, yeah, yeah...

There was a humour about Wham!
that no-one ever gave us credit for.

We were so taking the piss out of
ourselves half the time.

How can the country be in love with
these two idiots?

I knew how to make these records

and how to make them
jump out of the radio,

and the idea that just because I
was wearing ridiculous shorts

and curtain rings in my ears

would actually stop people
from noticing that,

when I look back, I still think
it's kind of stunning.

By the end of it,

I had no doubt that I could become
an international solo success

and it's as though there's always
been a red, this red line,

I see it like a red line,
which goes through everything,

like a staircase to whatever
you're about to do next.

And I could feel that
at the final concert.

I already had one foot
in my solo career.

OK...
CROWD CHANT

That's enough of that.

I'm not ever going to be a fan
of a boy band, right?

It's not going to happen.

When he went solo,
the whole thing went up ten notches.

# Time can never mend

# The careless whispers

# Of a good friend... #

I think he was the first one that
was definitely an obvious teen band

to then go on to be a serious
singer-songwriter

and take over the world.

# There's things that you guess

# And things that you know... #

It's still very rare for an act like
that to go to America.

The '80s just spawned this handful
of massive celebrities that were

constantly battling in the charts.

# That's all I wanted

# Something special,
something sacred

# In your eyes... #

If I was looking for happiness,
this was the wrong road,

but I don't think there's any way I
could have controlled my ego enough

to have stopped me exploring the
possibility

of being the biggest selling
artist in the world,

so I went with full gusto into
creating a new character,

you know, one that I thought would
be resonant enough to stand up there

next to Madonna
and Jackson and Prince.

And I guess I did that pretty
effectively,

alongside what was a very,
very commercial record.

# Well, I guess it would be nice

# If I could touch your body

# I know not everybody

# Has got a body like you... #

The attitude, he was creating, like
a personality, as we call it.

He was very charismatic and every
video had a very strong impact.

# Oh, but I need some time off

# From that... #

He's, like, in jeans, you know,

tight and sexy, like a rock image,
moving with the hips like that.

A little like Wham!
before, you know?

A little like that,
but more, like, sexy.

Check this out then,
modern-day Elvis.

# I gotta have faith... #

I liked the spirit of Faith because
you do have to have it.

I remember his "baby"...

# Baby! #

Yeah, I remember that.

I didn't realise that people would
look at the Faith image

and go, "Fuck, that's cool".

# ..giving you the blues

I was really, really overwhelmed by
the size of things, I suppose.

I lived in fucking sunglasses.

I couldn't make eye contact with
people, it was bizarre.

# And another who tied me down
to loverboy rules... #

I still suffered terribly with
insecurity about my looks.

It goes back to a family background,

where conceit of any kind was
considered an absolute sin,

so no-one was ever praised
about the way they looked.

# Well, I need someone to hold me

# But I'll wait for something more

# Yes, I gotta have faith... #

Faith was number one in Britain
for one week,

but, in America, number one
for 12 weeks.

And then on top of that,
he had four number one singles,

a number two single
and a number five single.

In 1988, he was the biggest pop star
in the world.

All I remember is Faith being played
50 times a day on MTV.

You had to be in heavy rotation on
whatever pop station you were on.

Duran Duran, David Bowie, Eurythmics
was played on MTV like constantly,

played on all the video stations.

You really didn't hear
any of those artists,

but you heard George Michael
on some of the urban stations,

right after Luther Vandross.

His music broke the rule
to everybody.

In America, radio play, for me,

was substantial on a lot of
R&B stations.

He uniquely achieved recognition on
the R&B soul charts that very few

white performers ever got.

He obviously had studied American
soul music

and felt a connection and
a kindred spirit.

We were introduced to each other, so
we're going back now to about '86,

maybe, and it was his thought

that he wanted to do a duet with
one of my artists.

# When the river was deep

# I didn't falter

# When the mountain was high

# I still believed

# When the valley was low

# It didn't stop me

# Didn't stop me
No!

# I knew you were waiting

# Someday
Somewhere

# Some way
Somehow

# For me... #

It was great that I had my own voice

and that I'd worked
with Aretha Franklin

and everything had gone so well.

From an artistic point of view,
it just got better and better.

George Michael's voice, to me,

was always very soulful and was very
warm and sultry and urgent.

He had soul, period.

Soul is an expression of the soul,
of the heart.

It was good to be number one
in the black charts,

it was an amazing thing to see,
obviously.

England has a great love affair
with American black music and R&B,

and a great tradition of our own
interpretation of soul music.

I think that he's...he's kind of up
there at the pinnacle of it.

# But remember this
Every other kiss

# That you ever give
Long as we both live

# When you need
the hand of another man

# One you really can surrender with

# I will wait for you
Like I always do

# There's something there

# That can't compare

# With any other... #

Making that album, I'm sure I was
incredibly proud of it,

but I don't think I ever imagined it
would be bigger than Wham!.

NILE RODGERS: I imagine that the
pressure on someone like George

must have been insane

because he was doing stuff
that was just so...phenomenal.

After you have that kind
of success, like, what do you?

What do you go home at night and
go...

"Now what do I do?"

I do remember it being shocking
to me

that I could become more successful
than I had been with Wham!.

I suppose the whole exercise was an
effort to raise my profile,

to kind of define what my solo image
was going to be,

but I really had no idea how
effective it was going to be,

especially in America.

And I had no idea what it was like
to be that big in America.

George is really, really private and
I think, when he was young,

with all that fame, I think it came
too fast

and it wasn't actually what
he was expecting.

I was probably most out of control,
in any kind of sense like that,

during the whole Faith thing.

Being caught in the eye of this
storm is catastrophic,

it's just 24/7,

full-time, in your face.

I mean, the wind burn is terrible.

I can't really explain
how overwhelming

that kind of hysteria can be

if there's only one person
to absorb it.

When I was with Andrew,

it was so easy to keep one foot in
my old life,

the life that I'd known with him
before we'd been famous.

It was so easy to keep each other
grounded and to take the piss out of

each other, and be able to look at
each other

and talk about the madness
that was going on around us.

But when you can't do that,
suddenly it is scary.

I don't know many 24-year-olds who
would not have...

..at least subconsciously,

found that frightening enough
to self-destruct.

Now the problem is, the record came
out everywhere in the world

pretty much at the same time,

so everybody wanted a piece of
George to help promote the album.

Enormous pressure.
Huge, huge pressure.

Ten months of that was enough
to really push me to the edge.

I was terribly lonely.

Me and my red line
were very lonely...

..and the only good part of my day
was playing live.

When I sang Careless Whisper,

I can't remember which was the last
gig on the American tour,

which would have been the end
of the whole tour,

I think it was Pensacola.

But when I sang Careless Whisper
that night,

I remember standing there with a
tear in my eye, thinking,

I really don't know if I'll ever
do this again.

# Time can never mend... #

WILD CHEERING

# The careless whispers

# Of a good friend

# To the heart and mind

# Ignorance is kind

# There's no comfort in the truth

# Pain is all... #

CHEERING

I was intelligent enough to know
I should not be

trying to catch up with
Michael Jackson, or Madonna,

or whatev... Which was absolutely
what I was intent on doing.

I felt that tired and exhausted

at being the centre of
that much attention.

I suppose the way my lack of
mental balance showed itself was

that I actually really began
to hide away when I got home.

And I did almost nothing for a year,

but try and re-establish some
idea of a real life.

Music was my very controlling lover.

I had millions of lovers
that I never saw,

other than in the sense
of live work.

But I still deserved one,
just one of them, for me.

And I knew that the only way I was
going to find that one person,

that lover, was to jump off
of the merry-go-round,

just for long enough to
catch my breath.

And letting my heart rule my head,
rather than, you know, the red line.

The red line that goes
up, up, up, up, up.

Sometimes you feel like...

..he's got like a layer or
two of skin missing.

Like he just...

Like he bruises easier,

and because of that, he can write
these amazing songs.

I never wanted to be someone else,

I wanted to be a star and I wanted
people to love me

and recognise me in the street.

As a child, that's what I wanted.

But I never really wanted
to be someone else.

I believe I am a writer much more
than I am anything else.

And I want to leave songs.

I believe that I can leave songs
that will mean something

to other generations.

This award is for Favourite Soul
and R&B Album.

And the winner is...

George Michael!

AUDIENCE SCREAMS

George Michael!

I've been a lover of soul
music since I was a kid.

And I'd just like to thank everybody
who's helped me this year.

I'd like to thank to thank
black radio,

I'd like to thank everyone
in CBS Records,

in the R&B department,

and I would like to thank everyone
who voted for me,

I can't believe it.
Thank you very much.

I won these two awards that were
traditionally received

by black artists.

And I think there was a perception
that it had gone too far.

The black male artist works
very hard to get his due.

If Bobby Brown had
across-the-board play,

and he could compete in
the same categories

George Michael competes in,

that would be a whole other thing.

That was the same point in time
that Public Enemy arrived,

Spike Lee arrived.

Playback!

Spike Lee, what's up?
What's up, Flava Flav?

PE's in the house. Mad power, G.

Flav, I saw you on the
American Music Awards.

What's George Michael doing there?

How'd he win all the awards?

How'd he win the R&B category...?

Suddenly, crossover was not hip.

I see their point, I totally saw
their point at the time.

I just felt it was sad, you know,

that white and black people
recording together,

suddenly was kind of
dancing with the enemy.

You mean George is white?

Are you serious? Oh, my God.

And he is blind, right?

I think it had a huge effect
on George because he'd

won in this category,

he'd achieved something that was
beyond his wildest dreams,

only to have the carpet pulled
from under his feet.

I don't think there's any
attempt to kind of...

..steal black heritage in
what I'm doing,

all I think that's happening is
I'm trying to make good music.

Music is not based on the
colour of one's skin,

or, you know, they say, "Well, this
is soul music or this is pop."

To me, these things are like, it's
kind of old, you know what I mean?

I suddenly couldn't get anywhere
near a radio, black radio.

That was the reason, really,
Listen Without Prejudice was called

Listen Without Prejudice.

It was me saying here is an
album that has bits

of gospel, you know, bits of R&B,

some very white stuff,

and it was just me trying to say,

let me be both of these things

without having to be one
or the other.

I don't know if I bought it,
stole it or it just sort of like,

just got delivered.

You know what I mean? Sometimes you
get albums like that,

you know what I mean,

they're that great, they just
end up in your house.

What can I say about the sound
of it? It's very ethereal,

it has a mystery about it.

George, on this album, got
everything he had inside his gut

on to vinyl or CD or cassette.

Thank God he did.

Let's have a party, pop pickers.

MUSIC STARTS

A-fucking-1.

This song now, it's just got
such a big opening,

and message, actually, I think.

That opening, it reminds me
of John Lennon.

Like, of one of John's solo albums.

# These are the days of
the open hand

# They will not be the last

# Look around now

# These are the days of the
beggars and the choosers. #

When I listen to
George Michael songs,

I think not only has he tapped into
his dark side of whatever's going on

in his life,

but he's tapped into the truth
about who he is and what he is

and what life is and he wasn't
afraid to share that with us.

# The rich declare themselves poor

# And most of us are not sure

# If we have too much

# But we'll take our chances

# Cos God's stopped keeping score

# I guess somewhere along
the way

# He must have let us all
out to play

# Turned his back

# And all the children crept
out the back door

# And it's hard to love. #

Not only really just his writing,

but it's the vocal performance,
you know.

And it's always just like...

..it just always feels so honest.

You just believe kind of every word
that he sings and even the

ad-libs, even him throwing
out a line was like,

better than most people's verses.

When I hear that, it's right up
there, you know what I mean?

And then you're getting the lyrics.

The one that jumps out is,
the rich declare themselves poor.

I like it because it's got a bit
of a dig, you know what I mean?

It's like, I mean that's the
way I take it anyway,

it's like you bunch of
fucking cunts,

always fucking playing the
poverty card.

I like that because it's got a bit
of a Lennon vibe,

he likes to dig people out.

There was no-one before The Beatles
that did them kind of songs.

It's a classic, it's up there.

I'd say it could have been cut from
the same cloth as Imagine,

you know what I mean?

It's a bit much, innit?

I didn't expect to be
as moved as that.

# Let me tell you a secret

# Put it in your heart and keep it

# Something that I want
you to know. #

It was my time to discover
The Beatles.

And at the time, I was big into
Abbey Road and Revolver, you know,

and it's the people that you are
trying to emulate sometimes that can

bring you up.

I made one record to show how much
I loved Lennon,

I made another record to show
how much I loved McCartney.

I didn't dream that McCartney
would ever sing it.

And actually when he sings it,

it sounds like a Paul McCartney
record.

Next week, we are going to do some
vocals, yeah?

Cos you're in for a few days.

# I can heal the pain that
you're feeling inside. #

It was the most surreal moment
of my career, I think,

to have Paul McCartney singing
something that I wrote as a tribute

to Paul McCartney.

I don't think I would have had the
nerve to ask him when I wrote it.

Sounds like a fucking group.

Cool.

# I'll be good to you

# I can make this thing true

# And get to your heart somehow. #

Yeah, go on, lad!

OK.

You know, the man forgot
to introduce me.

But I heard the beginning of
Baby You Can Drive My Car start up.

There's this bit of film of
me going...

So that's what I did, I just ran on

just before I was suppose
to sing the chorus.

# You can do something in between

# Baby you can drive my car... #

I haven't done this in a long time.

MUSIC STARTS

See how piano-based the album is?

# No more lying friends

# Wanting tragic ends

# Though they do pretend

# They won't go when I go. #

I mean, it sounds like Stevie.

I love this song.

I hear...

..so much...

..like, exhaustion.

Like, not exhaustion in
him as an artist,

but exhaustion in him, you know,

as a human in this world we live in.

I hear...

..a fight.

SHE CHUCKLES

Sometimes, you know...

..you definitely hear
the pure talent.

Pure talent.

I hear hope.

Brilliant.

They Won't Go When I Go, for sure.

Like that was...

That was probably my introduction
even to Stevie Wonder.

The version that he did of
They Won't Go When I Go,

it brings back a lot of
memories because,

it's a thought that at
the end of the day,

we come...

..alone in this world and
we will die alone.

It's what we do in-between that's
going to determine how and what

we'll be remembered as and what
we can think about in spirit.

So, it's great to hear him
sing this song.

I'm actually crying, so...

You know, it takes a massive
amount of bravery

for George to do a song like that.

When you go into an area

that you know is sort of like
sacred ground...

You're going to a place

because your heart tells you
to go there.

You have a love of something and
you want to be...

You want to live in that world.

The reason for me doing so many
Stevie Wonder covers,

I've done, in over various sets,

I've done like four or five
Stevie Wonder covers,

and apart from the fact
that I consider him

to be an incredible writer,

his voice, the key that he was
writing for at that time

is perfectly suited to my voice.

# His patience's long,
but soon he won't have any

# To find a job is like
a haystack needle

# Cos where he lives they
don't use coloured people

# Living just enough,
just enough for the city... #

Stevie, one more time!

Well, George reminds me of me
as a little kid, you know,

my passion for music.

He and I doing Living For the City,
I remember that,

it was a lot of fun.

Chemistry is something that
you can't fake.

It's about how you relate to each
other and how it connects.

I'm aware of the need for a persona,

and my actual persona, I'm not
really prepared to give.

I'm a real home body,
I'd much rather be...

..taking my dog for a walk or,
you know, be with friends.

I feel like I don't
belong out there,

being this professional person
going round selling his wares.

He had a much harder journey than me
in a way because if you get fame and

accolades and wealth beyond your
wildest dreams, as a teenager,

it usually goes wrong.

But he obviously had a wiser head
on his shoulders than most.

I think a lot of young musicians now
are kind of, you know,

what's the word, manufacturered.

And I think for him, he didn't
ever want to be like that.

Part of his reactionary way was
to break away from all of that.

I was still struggling with the idea
of having that much attention

and I think I recoiled from that,

and I felt that stepping back
would save me from

somehow screwing up my career.

I see kind of hard sell promotion as
prostituting myself,

I can't help it.

Even if it's a complete fallacy,
that's how I see it.

I'm of that generation.

He felt he needed to withdraw from
the merry-go-round that is

promoting albums.

I'll explain in a very articulate
way that he just felt he had

to withdraw from that, for the
moment, for his own sanity,

that we'd probably get more albums
out of him if we just allowed him

to back off.

It was quite a bombshell, I suppose,
for us to have to deal with it.

The fact he didn't do any promotion
of it, it begs, you know,

it's quite astonishing.

MUSIC STARTS

What's coming up now is one
of the great intros...

Boom, boom, bap, ba-boom,
ba-boom, bap.

..and it's not me on piano either.

Which is...

I always hated him for that.

# I won't let you down

# I will not give you up

# Got to have some faith
in the sound

# It's the one good thing
that I've got

# I won't let you down

# So please don't give me up

# Cos I would really,
really love to stick around. #

Freedom! '90 is kind of like this
funk-groove masterpiece that

just comes in on like track two.

You're striving to make something
every time you go in the studio

half as good as a record like that.

It's the Mona Lisa.

# Heaven knows I was just
a young boy

# Didn't know what I wanted to be. #

Big judgment. He is not there.

He doesn't appear.

Beautiful girls out there, the top,
top, top, top, top models.

If you're going to say to your
record company, "Look,

"I'm not going to be in this video,"

I'd say that's a fairly good
consolation prize, really.

Five absolutely gorgeous super
models that people still want to

look at today.

It changed the whole face of
how videos were done.

The video said everything.

It was genius and it was a
revolutionary thing.

George had raised the bar
to a whole new level.

That was like a big statement.

It was really well done.

It could have been a disaster.

It was a specific group of women
that George wanted and had just

been on the cover of British Vogue
that was shot by Peter Lindbergh.

It was like, "He wants you five
and it has to be all of you five."

Now in fashion, there is
no super models.

Like this, this is gone.

It was like the magic
moment of modelling.

I suppose that's the lasting memory
of that whole video shoot,

was the cost of the girls and the
fees they were charging

on a daily basis, that was
pretty ground-breaking.

George pitched it to me in
LA and his exact words were,

"You're the leader of the gang
and unless you say yes,

"the rest of the girls won't."

His people talked to my people.

Yeah. You know how it
went back then.

It was like, "Well,
is Christy doing it?"

My scene where I'm sort of
crawling on the ground,

you can just my eyes
and people think like,

"Oh, that's so like
sexy and mysterious."

It was just really...

I didn't know the words.

I prepared in the trailer
with George.

He showed me how to hit the notes
and it's hard to lip-sync.

David Fincher was directing it,

and even though the shot
ended up looking

like the steamy bath scene,
there was no water in the tub,

I was freezing cold, I was covered
in glycerine to make my skin shiny,

and I kind of thought, "I hope
Fincher knows what he's doing."

I remember David and George
working closely together.

He was right there looking
through the lens at times.

Everything suited each girl.

I think it was just strong,
and we were all so different.

It's such a fun song.

You listen to the words and
kind of the statement,

it has much more meaning.

And I feel like that whole time
for George Michael

was about him saying, "Enough, like,
you guys tried to pre-package me

"and sell me in a way that
wasn't authentic."

# All we have to see

# Is that I don't belong to you

# And you don't belong to me

# Freedom

# I won't let you down

# Freedom

# I will not give you up. #

You can see the biker jackets,
which is burning, like, with fire.

So, it's, like, symbolic.

I got the impression he was saying
that chapter's closed

and I'm done being a
public figure pop star.

The burning of the jacket,

the exploding guitar,

the exploding juke box was me just
saying, "I'm sick of this,

"I really can't cope with it."

Not only were we not going to
get him appearing

in promotional videos,

but we weren't going to get his
image on the album sleeve,

we weren't going to get his name
on the album sleeve.

Would I have chosen an album sleeve
that wasn't a beach shot,

taken from 1940 or whatever it was?

Yeah.

Would I have liked his name on it?
Yeah, of course I would.

A lot of people are just pimping
themselves out 24/7,

you know what I mean?

And the mystique about
George Michael...

# But today the way I play the game
has got to change

# Oh, yeah, oh, yeah

# Now I'm going to get me
some happy. #

Making records is fun,
and then you have to

talk about it, which is not fun.

Yes, I thought it was bonkers.

But then it all makes sense,
doesn't it?

When I spoke to the Los Angeles
Times about

stepping back from promotion,

Frank Sinatra wrote me an open
letter that just said, "You know,

"get over it, be glad that
God gave you a gift,

"and get out there and use it."

I don't think he wrote the letter.

I actually believe that was the work
of a publicist,

not the work of a genius.

What a wonderful letter.

Here, probably the greatest male
singer of all-time is saying,

embrace your talent, enjoy the
success, don't be threatened by it.

Now even though he's the greatest
singer that ever walked the planet,

as far as I'm concerned,

I wasn't taking any advice
from Frank Sinatra.

You can't put a gun to any creative
person's head and say,

"Create, write, promote,
market, whatever."

You just have to go with it.
That's what we had to do.

By now, even though I delivered them
what I thought was a great album

and a visual feast
in the form of Freedom! '90,

Sony America was not promoting
Listen Without Prejudice.

In the meantime, I did the one thing
I was prepared to do - live work.

The basis for me going to do
Rock In Rio

was I wanted to see Brazil.

# So you want to be free

# To live your life

# The way you wanna be

# Will you give... #

The front of those 160,000 people,
there was this guy over

on the right-hand side
of the stage that just

fixed me with this look.

And it was so cute.

I was so distracted by him,
that I stayed away from that end

of the stage for a while,

because otherwise I thought I was
gonna get really distracted

and forget the words or something.

# Tainted hearts

# Heal with time

# Shoot bad love

# So we can... #

The moment I looked at him,
I got the feeling...

..that told me I was going
to know him very well

and that he was gonna be
a part of my life.

# Solitary brother

# Is there still a part of you that
wants to live? #

Anselmo was the first time I think
I really loved someone selflessly.

It was kind of immediate.

Everybody, with the exception
of my family,

was introduced to him
very, very quickly,

because I felt immediately that
everything had changed.

# Solitary sister... #

All our friends knew, of course.

I remember seeing him
and just thinking how I'd...

Just feeling so happy for him.

The two of them met
and changed George's life.

It's very hard to be proud
of your own sexuality

when it hasn't brought you any joy.

Once it's... Once it is associated
with joy and love,

it's easy to be proud
of who you are.

The first time you actually believe
somebody loves you...

..that's a wonderful moment
in your life.

And it was a wonderful six months.

What a poser!

He was just very
full of energy, very loving.

I was happier than I'd ever been
in my entire life.

He didn't care who saw him
with Anselmo.

He'd found something. He'd found
what he was looking for. You know?

By the time I met Anselmo, I had
made the decision

to jump off the merry-go-round.

And I was already in the early
stages of my confrontation

with Sony.

Recording an album...

...and then saying, "I'm not gonna
to promote it,"

or, "I'm not going to market it,
I'm not going to participate..."

..that's a serious detriment
to an album.

I think we had some
personality issues between...

Between people in the UK and people
in the American company.

Why wasn't this Faith part two?

We wanted all those nice pop songs.

What do you mean he's not
going to promote with...

We're not going to have his image
on it?

It's like saying,
"I'll do a movie but I...

"I won't go to one premiere.

"I won't do any interviews
for the movie."

You know, you say, "Oh, my God."

The moment someone says to a
musician or to an artist,

make more of them
or do more of that, it kills you.

And I think probably for someone
like George, especially...

at certain times in his career,
he must've felt quite trapped.

In England, they made an effort,

and Listen Without Prejudice
outsold Faith.

And lots of places it outsold Faith,
because I think it was actually

a better album.
But it wasn't about that.

It was about the total and utter
lack of respect

that the minute somebody doesn't see
themselves as a commodity,

they have the audacity to think,

"My God, I am actually
creating something

"and I must keep myself sane
in order to do that."

The minute somebody does that,
they're over.

We tried very, very hard to get the
American executives

to come over and listen to why
George felt the way that he did

from George, cos there was no-one
better to put that forward than

George Michael telling them,
as he had told us.

The reasons how he really
felt deep down.

But they wouldn't come.

There were executives that came
to London in 1989

and we played them the record.

I explained to them that Faith had
taken me to the edge of madness,

that I wanted to be a long-term
player in this business.

Now, any logical CEO, I think,
would have thought,

"OK, he's gonna do this.
He'll get it out of his system

"and he'll get back on board."

George is very stubborn.

He's incredibly one the most
stubborn people I've ever met.

But he was right to be stubborn
on this occasion,

and I'm sure the record company
recoiled in horror.

It was very much a clash
of cultures, really.

In America, there was definitely
a door that shut.

# But losing everything...

# Is like the sun going down
on me. #

Mr Elton John!

I managed to have a couple of really
big hit records in the meantime.

There was the track with Elton,

and, of course, the Red Hot + Dance
album came out.

# Hey, you're just too funky
for me

# I gotta get inside of you

# And I'll show you heaven,
if you let me. #

It was very difficult
to make that video.

It all fell apart, not for
any of George's reasons.

It just fell apart...

and he saved it.

Linda, bless her heart,
came back again.

We got a bit drunk.

I won't say any more about that.

It's your stupid, stupid song.

This would look great on me.

I think George should wear this.

So I realised at that point that if
a hit record was not going to

reinstate any kind of relationship
with Sony, then nothing was.

I don't want to pick a fight.

I just wanted to work with people
who want to work with me

and who would have some respect
for the fact that I was...

growing up.

It was deeply, deeply
troubling times,

because you could see this...
It was like trying to watch a...

train wreck in slow motion.

There was nothing you could
do to stop it.

Anselmo and I were in LA when...

..he was advised to go for his test.

He hadn't been tested for a while

and he was absolutely
healthy looking,

more than healthy looking,
when I first met him.

Within a month or two
of meeting him,

he had a flu
that he couldn't get rid of...

..and some red marks that
came up on his chest.

And I remember the kind
of terror of...

..me understanding
that this was possibly...

..the beginning of, you know,
an illness.

I remember him
leaving the house and...

..to this day, I remember...

..looking at the sky and saying,
"Don't you dare do this to me."

I mean, I was 20... 27 going on 28.

But at that point in time, you think
that's a lifetime to have waited

to be loved.

Anselmo had the test...

..in Brazil.

I went home
to my family for Christmas

and sat at the Christmas table...

..not knowing whether
my partner, who the people

sitting around the table
did not know about,

not knowing whether this man I was
in love with was terminally ill.

And, therefore, not knowing whether
I potentially was terminally ill.

That Christmas was probably
the darkest...

..DARKEST, most frightening...

..time in my life.

I remember my publicist calling me
to tell me that Freddie Mercury

had died.

And he died of HIV obviously.

And I remember I was...

I was crying and...

He actually just thought... I mean,
bless him, I was really sad

that Freddie had passed away.

But, of course, I was crying
about something else entirely,

which was the fact that both my
partner and possibly myself

were HIV.

It was an incredibly difficult...

..period for George, because it was
something that he had

to hold close to his chest.

I was just absolutely devastated...

..to find out that he had
a terminal illness.

I was just devastated.

# Each morning I get up,
I die a little

# Can barely stand on my feet

# Take a look in the mirror and cry

# Lord, what are you doing to me?

# I spent all my years
in believing you

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

# Somebody
# Ooh, somebody

# Somebody

# Can anybody find me
somebody to love? #

Even by the time Freddie's
tribute had been put together,

I was still sworn to secrecy.

# I got no feel, I got no rhythm

# I just keep losing my beat
# You just keeping losing... #

I'm very proud of that performance,
but Anselmo was in the crowd

and I went out there knowing
I had to honour Freddie Mercury

and I had to pray for Anselmo.

# Someday I'm gonna be free, Lord!

# Find me somebody to love

# Find me somebody to love. #

But I just wanted to die inside.

So, it was so much to me,
all in that one performance.

# Find me somebody to love

# Can anybody find me

# Somebody to... #

Come on!

CROWD: # Love! #

Yeah!

# Find me somebody to-ooh love

# Ooh
# Find me somebody to-ooh love

# Find me somebody, somebody

# Somebody to-ooh love
# Somebody to love. #

I was so overwhelmed by the sadness
of singing the songs of this man

that I absolutely worshipped as a
child, who had passed away...

..in the same manner that my
first live-in partner

was going to experience.

It was just overwhelming to me.

# Anybody, find me somebody to love

# Yeah, yeah

# Oh. #

It's not an accident
that the performance

probably most well-known
in my career was sung...

..to my lover who was dying.

Who was the reason I had the
strength to go to battle with Sony.

I saw it as, if I'm going to do
nothing but love this man

and care for this man, if I could do
nothing beneficial as a musician

because I cannot even think
of a note,

maybe I have a chance to do
something truly special and change

the standard record
contract forever.

I didn't think that it would end up
in court, at the time...

..because I really thought
that sanity will prevail.

Well, I was wrong.

It didn't.

Our relationship broke down
because they said,

"No, you are this kind of artist.

"This is the kind of artist
that we sell.

"This is the kind of artist
we know how to sell.

"And if you don't want to sell
yourself that way,

"and you want to go off
on this journey

"and find this other audience,
we're not gonna support you."

The relationship
had completely disintegrated.

George flew out to New York
with his publisher

and basically, it was at that
meeting that George

told the head people at Sony that
he'd wanted out of the deal,

wanted a divorce.

What he was basically saying is,
"How can I stay with a company...

"..who won't support me in any way
when I feel so strongly?"

We issued a writ three days later.

I will never know if Sony and I
would have ended up in court

had Anselmo not become ill.

I was absolutely terrified
of losing him

and the prospect of watching him die
of AIDS.

I was in LA and the phone rang,

and I was told that Anselmo's best
friend in Brazil was on the phone.

And...

..then it all goes blurry
for a long time.

He still, 23 years later,
brings a tear to my eye.

He was... He was my saviour.

It's still very hard for me to
explain how finding a companion

at that stage in my life...

..changed me.

And such a beautiful companion,
such an amazing...

person.

I think, to some degree, the Sony
court case was a perfectly

good place to put my anger.

I used to go and run on a treadmill
every day and play squash

and do everything I could get rid
of all of this anger and fear.

But that best place for it was
court number one, really.

George, come on, George.

There was the part of my personality
that could say,

"OK, fuck this!
This can't all be bad.

"I've got to do something good
with this time in my life...

"..and change the path
of artists' lives."

One of Britain's most successful
pop singers, George Michael,

is today asking a High Court judge
to declare

his recording contract null
and void.

He says the contract with Sony music
is too restrictive and that

the company takes too much
of the profits.

George Michael's counsel told the
court that this case

is not about money.

Mark Cran QC argues that his
client's contract

is in restraint of trade.

He stressed what he called
its unreasonable length,

perhaps 12 to 15 years,

and he says
it's drafted in Sony's favour.

For the music industry, this case
could mean a dramatic shift

in power towards major artists.

How are you feeling after
today's trial?

George, look up. Look up, George!

What is it going to mean for the
record industry?

This was a worldwide, major artist
saying to a record company

that the basic contract which record
companies used was invalid.

If you really fall out with
the people who control your

professional life...

..you have a right to walk away.

I think that is the right of
every individual.

And the music industry takes away
that right

from every artist it signs.

George is very, very brave.
He's not afraid of anybody.

And he thought he was being wronged
and he went out

and fought his own corner.

What we couldn't do was stand up
and say, "Yeah, you're right.

"These contracts are slavery and
they shouldn't be allowed...

"..your honour."
We weren't going to do that!

You would have artist
after artist queuing up...

to take their record company
into court.

I can't think of one artist
that supported me.

I know of a lot of artists who sat
back and waited for the result.

But that's a different thing.

Artists like George Michael come
along, if you're lucky,

once-in-a-lifetime. My feelings as
the court case went on were...

that we'd lost him. How could you
ever patch that up?

I'd never let on to George
of the problems

until after he'd
been in the witness box.

And I said, "It's not going well."

And, you know, you shouldn't raise
your hopes at this stage.

The pop star George Michael loses
his High Court battle

to break away from
his record company, Sony.

In dismissing the claim,
the judge, Mr Justice Parker,

ruled that the contract
was both reasonable and fair.

The 30-year-old singer had argued
that the agreement

was stifling his artistic
development and he threatened

never to record for Sony again if
he lost.

George Michael says he'll appeal
against the judgment,

which he said condemned him
to "professional slavery."

Having received this judgment,

I would like to reiterate the
reasons why I embarked upon

these proceedings.

I have no right to resign.

In fact, there is no such thing as
resignation for an artist

in the music industry.

Effectively, you sign a piece of
paper at the beginning

of your career and you are expected
to live with that decision,

good or bad, for the rest of your
professional life.

I shall obviously take full advice
from my lawyers.

But the initial view is that we have
very strong grounds for appeal

and we hope to have the appeal
heard as quickly as possible.

Thank you very much for your time
and for all the support

that I've received since this action
began. Thank you.

George, will you sing
for Sony again?

After the court case
was finished and I'd lost

and not just lost...
I lost completely.

I mean, I lost on everything.

Every count.

They then called up and, you know,
kind of said, well, isn't?...

Can't we patch things up?
Kind of thing.

But I knew in reality
that was like a formality.

They had to do that.

Erm...

But ultimately, the whole thing
was a complete waste of time.

And I regret it to this day.

Looking back on it now, 25 years on,

my first thought is that I just
think it's sad.

When you win a court case,

you're normally out
there high-fiving and...

putting the drinks in.
But I don't think anyone felt,

not on my team anyway,
a sense of euphoria.

Certainly, there were no winners.

I mean, we won the court case,
but we didn't win anything.

You've actually lost because you've
lost the support of that artist.

George said in passing,

"David Frost wants to do
an interview with me."

And I said, "You've got to do it."

They know you're a man
of principle.

Now, you've got to be a man of
principle who's totally obsessed.

Well...

What happens now
is that we go to appeal.

I can't see any other way around it.

I mean, of course,
there is the ultimate option

that an appeal at the House
of Lords, which would take...

forever. Oh, it was all bluff.

I mean, they intended to take it to
the Court of Appeal in the UK.

Never to the House of Lords, never
to the European Court of Justice.

They can only lose...

by going to appeal.

Everybody was watching. Erm...

including David Geffen.

No-one was going to let a talent
like that flounder out there

for very long.

So David Geffen contacts
Sony and said to them...

"Listen, guys...

"He's never, ever going to make
another piece of music

"for you. Ever.

"You might as well let him go."

I flew to New York, had a very quick
meeting there, where basically,

you know, we agreed that
the contract would be sold.

I was like in seventh Heaven.

Sony said, "We want
this transfer fee" and...

It would've bought
you a top class footballer.

It probably would've even bought
you Lionel Messi in those days.

In the end, he did whatever he did
with David Geffen and Virgin and...

basically bought himself
out of the contract.

Was it a good decision
in hindsight of history?

I'm not sure.

George unquestionably...

lost the battle but won the war.

Because he got the freedom
that he craved for.

Cos he felt he had to get away.

Peace to George Michael.

CHEERING

Peace.

I think the whole experience
of losing Anselmo,

the period of grief,
roughly two years,

that I didn't write a note
of music...

And then, the absolute knowledge

that the next album
I was going to write

would be about grief and recovery.

Older is my greatest moment.

# Kindness

# In your eyes I guess

# You heard me cry

# You smiled at me

# Like Jesus to a child... #

I sat at a keyboard, played
a very simple string part,

stream of consciousness
rubbish comes out my head.

Just rubbish.

And then, I sang
"like Jesus to a child".

And I thought, Oh, my God.

That's him.

That's him and me.

Like Jesus to a child.

# But now I know

# When you find a love

# When you know that it exists... #

Then I was so excited that I'd
finally been able to put my feelings

about Anselmo into words.

And within a week of writing it,

I was singing it in front of
the Brandenburg Gate,

playing my first kind of
public tribute to him there.

# Well I've been loved

# So I know just what love is

# And the lover that I kissed

# Was always by my side...

# Oh the lover I still miss...

# Was Jesus to a child. #

I just celebrate people who are able
to use their joys

and their pains to
really help people to heal.

I think I wrote the best,
most healing piece of music.

It was all systems go
from that point on.

# In the absence of security...

# I made my way into the night

# Stupid Cupid keeps on calling me

# And I see lovin' in his eyes

# I miss my baby ... #

For anyone who had a clue

about any kind of symbolism,
I was coming out.

And you know,
Fast Love makes me laugh,

because it's all about cruising
and covering my pain.

Blunting out that pain
with fast love.

Simple as that.

# I do believe that we are
practising the same religion... #

There's not one track on that album
that is not about Anselmo,

about the risk of AIDS,
which was Spinning The Wheel.

# Watch you spinning...

# That wheel for me...

# You've got a thing about danger

# Ain't you getting
what you want from me?

# You've got a thing about strangers

# Baby that's what we used to be

# That's what we used to be

# You've got a thing
about danger baby

# I guess the hungry just can't see

# One of these days you're going
to bring some home to me... #

I believe I was destined to feel
that particular pain

so that I could do the ultimate
with my music in terms of healing.

And the number of people
who come up to me and say,

"Oh, you don't know how much you
helped me with Older

"when I lost this person
or when I lost that person..."

# Give me time

# And I'll lead you...

# Back to... #

# You've got a thing about... #

And the winner of the
Best Male Solo Artist is...

George Michael!

CHEERING

Now, unfortunately...

George cannot be here tonight.

But I...

But I have a message from him.

And I've got to read it out.

And it says, "to everybody here
and everybody watching at home,

"I would like to apologise for not
attending tonight's award show.

"I would genuinely have loved
to have been there

"to say a huge thank you..."

I had about a six-month period
where things were OK

and I was recording Older.

Then I found out that
my mother had cancer.

I was so...

spiritually crushed after Mum died.

So crushed and so...

Felt so bloody picked
on by the gods, you know?

For all of my adult life, she was
phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.

A terrible...

Horrible loss.

From the day that I found out
about my partner,

to the day that I could say

I actually felt that I was well
on the mend from my mother,

it was just constant... fear.

It was either fear
of death or...

Or fear of the next bereavement,
you know?

And I just took it very, very badly.

Very badly indeed.

I've never felt that kind
of depression.

I felt... It was something
different to grief.

It was on top of grief, because I
was grieving for my mother still.

But it was something else. It was...

I felt like...

A sportsman that...

had had a terrible injury
in the middle of...

an incredibly successful career.

I'm so,

so much more aware of how intrinsic
to my entire being it is

to be able to create music.

Having lost it for three
or four years of my life,

I really did, I lost...
the music at the centre of me,

which was like losing God for me.

It really was.
It was the darkest, darkest time.

GEORGE GROANS

But even when I've lost control,

even when I've really hit
rock-bottom, I believe...

that the red line is still there.

There's a part of George
which is really private.

His inner soul is quite private.

There's a space for him and
I think that's why, you know,

he's writing his music,
he's performing...

All of that is
this big external thing.

But all of that comes from some
really private internal place.

I think if George wasn't like
a superstar musician,

he'd be an accountant that
writes poetry every night.

Do you know what I mean?

CHEERING

I'd just like to say
very genuinely, I'm...

really touched by this, er...

The first half of the '90s
was pretty crap for me.

And, er...

1996 has kind of made
it all worthwhile.

Thank you very much.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It always feels better when you're
able to, you know, to be yourself.

To just be you.

And, erm...

Being you means, you know,
not being afraid or ashamed...

of sharing the gift
that you've been given.

One, two, three, yeah!

# Star people...

# Counting your money
till your soul turns green... #

George is authentic.

And there aren't that many
authentic artists around.

He's real. He's not mass-produced.
He isn't owned, he isn't...

He isn't bossed around by anybody.

He's never been bossed around
by record companies.

He's done exactly
what he's wanted to do.

You know, and everyone
had this go about him

because he didn't come out
when he was 18.

Loads of people didn't come out
when they were 18.

Especially when they've got signed
at some fucking giant record label.

But boy, did he come out
later in a big way.

# And yes, I've been bad

# Doctor won't you do with me

# What you can? #

When he came out, I wanted to go,
George, you don't need...

We know!

Don't make a song
and dance about it.

And he did.
He did a song about it, didn't he?

Did a whole song and dance about it.

# You want it, you got it
I never really said it...

# Before... #

He's fearless. He disarms...

the press, cos they think
they've got him.

They say, "Oh, you did this."
And he goes, "Yep".

"And?" And then when they went,
"Ah, you're gay!"

He went, "Yeah.
Sorry I didn't call you."

You know what I mean?
He didn't call everyone.

Listen... I think people
genuinely adored George.

Not just the music...

But they feel for him
and his struggles.

He's a villain.

George Michael is probably
my favourite singing convict.

Bless him.

He did his time. We're all imperfect
and we've all made mistakes.

George has made his mistakes
sometimes publicly.

But people are willing to forget,
because underneath,

I know for a fact George is one of
the most kind kindest,

most generous people
I've ever met in my life.

# I'm your man...

His music feels like...

feelings or moments in your life
that are personal to you.

Someone saying the very same thing
that you felt. Go!

# If you're gonna do it, do it right

# Right, do it with me

# If you're gonna do it,
do it right... #

It feels like he just puts
his arm around you and says...

"You're not on your own."

It's just such a journey.

He's just taken
us on a journey with him.

# Baby!

# I'm your man!
I'm your man!

I love it!

# You know that...

# Baby, I'm your man!
Baby, I'm your man!

# You better...

# If you're gonna do it,
do it right... #

Without that sketch,
I don't think I'd have a...

successful show in America.

Because... There was something
so joyful about it,

there was something so
brilliant about being with him
that made us go, oh...

I wonder if we can do that
with other artists?

In Extras, George played George
Michael, on Hampstead Heath,

looking for fun. I've only got
20 minutes, actually.

I'm on my lunch break.
He just nailed it.

He gave us that sort of decadent...

almost bored rock star...

Lunch break?
Yeah, I'm doing community service.

Are you still doing that?

Oh, not that one, no.

I'm doing another one now,
I'm picking up litter now.

All right.
What did you do wrong this time?

Fly-tipping, believe it or not.

It was great.
It was really, really great.

I was, I was really...

really knocked out on
how good an actor he was.

And such a sport.

Well, I'd better get going
cos, you know,

I'm going to have to
get back to work soon.

Come on then, you.
I'll give you a quickie.
Oi! I'm not that desperate, matey.

Cheeky bastard!

# I'll be your sexual freak... #

I think he's challenged
the stereotype of...

the gay man, as well.

And what was acceptable.

Because, you know...

Even when people were out in, like,
the '60s and '70s, they were safe,

sexless gay man.

Whereas George went,
I've got a cock.

RICKY LAUGHS

That, that, that...
That frightened some people.

Yeah.

Literally, I imagine.

You know something about George,
he's really sexy.

You know? Really sexy.

And living with that, good-looking,
sexy, talented...

You know? It's tough out there.
TRACEY LAUGHS

He's very hairy, isn't he?

RICKY LAUGHS

# Doing it to me, to me

# I know that you're horny

# But there's something about
that Bush ain't right...

BUSH LAUGHS

# Right, right, right... #

There's so many different
facets to George.

And you can see him growing
as an artist

and moving away from the original
stuff into a more...

beautiful kind of Edith Piaf,
Frank Sinatra territory.

But it's George.

# I know...

# How do you keep the music playing?

# The way I feel for her...

I just loved that
he was very friendly.

We got along great.

He just walked in very prepared.

And he was so spontaneous
he did it in one take.

I couldn't believe how...

equipped he was.

And I remember saying,

"Boy, this guy
is going to be around a long time."

# Forever... #

I really am not in the business of
selling myself any more.

When I do it,
I want to do it properly.

# She takes the back road
and the lane

# Past the school
that has not changed

# In all this time. #

When he does up-tempo,
it's full of joy.

And when he does sorrow, which
is the true mark of a great singer,

you can hear the pain
and everything.

He's a brilliant singer of lyrics.

It's an extraordinary
talent to have.

# Just to give him life

# That man

# She loved that man

# For all his life... #

I absolutely, definitely know
that George Michael

fits into the category of a great
artist, a great performer...

# And rosebuds know to bloom
in early May

# Now, I know deep in my mind... #

You could hear pain,
you could hear joy,

I mean, you can hear everything
in George Michael.

# And I'll be loving you...

# Loving you until the rainbow
burns the stars out of the sky

# I'll be loving you! #

Mary J Blige and George Michael
doing As, it was amazing!

The marriage of the two of them
was just a magical...

experience of that song.

And I was in awe when I heard it.

# Now ain't that loving you? #

I know him as an extremely
gifted artist

and I embrace the records
that he made

with Aretha and Whitney.

Probably my two greatest vocalists.

# If we...

# Take this chance...
Take this chance...

# And extend to each other romance
And extend to each other romance

# I hope...

# Baby, I hope... #

You want to watch him,
you're interested in him,

you want to listen to him, you want
to know what he's got to say.

The impact that he's had, you have
to see when you go to his concerts.

You have to really see it.

It is phenomenal.

So, would you like one more song?
MUFFLED CHEERING

The word I think I'm hearing
the most is...

# Freedom!

CHEERING

# Freedom!

# Freedom!
Freedom!

# You've gotta give
for what you take

# Freedom

# Freedom... #

When you play somebody a record
like freedom, that music

is going to continue to mean
something to people, like,

as long as it's heard.

# Freedom! #

And that's why you get
to have a three-decade career.

# All we have to do now

# Is take these lies

# And make them true somehow

# All we have to see

# Is that I don't belong to you

# And you don't belong to me

Yeah! Yeah!

# Freedom...

# Freedom

# Freedom

# You've gotta give
for what you take

# Freedom

# Hold on to my freedom!
Freedom!

# Freedom

# You've gotta give
for what you take

# What you take...

# Yeah...

Yeah!

# You've gotta give what you,
give what you...

# May not be what you want from me

# Just the way it's got to be! #

MUSIC FADES OUT

What would you be hopeful for
as a way to be remembered?

You mean what would I like
written on my...?

Well, let's not go that far. OK...

But I mean, what would you hope
the legacy

that's attached to your name is?

Great songwriter.

You know, and, erm...

I think two things. One...

You know, great singer-songwriter
from a period of time

which I don't think will be, erm...

will be seen again. You know,

I don't think youth culture will
produce people like...

myself and Madonna and Prince.

I don't think it's going
to do that any more.

I think it's too fragmented now.

So I'd like to be remembered
as one of those last...

kind of big stars

in the sense that there was
a certain glamour to it.

But really, it's just the songs.

And I hope that people think of me
as someone who had some kind

of integrity. And I hope I'm
remembered up for that in a way.

Very unlikely. I think it's
all been a waste of time.

Waste of effort.

# I'd say love was a magical thing

# I'd say love
would keep us from pain

# Had I been there

# Had I been there

# I would promise you all of my life

# But to lose you
would cut like a knife

# So I don't dare

# No I don't dare!

# Cos I never came close

# In all of these years

# You are the only one
to stop my tears

# And I'm so scared

# I'm so scared

# Take me back in time

# Maybe I can forget

# Turn a different corner

# And we never would have met

# Would you care?

# I don't understand it

# For you, it's a breeze

# Little by little

# You've brought me to my knees

# Don't you care?

# No, I've never come close
No, I've never come close

# In all of these years
In all of these years

# You are the only one
You are the only one

# To stop my tears
To stop my tears

# I'm so scared

# Of this love

# And if all that there is
And if all that there is

# Is this fear of being used
Is this fear of being used

# I should go back to being lonely
I should go back to being lonely

# And confused
And confused

# If I could

# I would

# I swear

# Oh...

# Yes, I swear...

# If I could

# I would

# I swear. #

Subtitles by Ericsson