Original subtitles

>> Speaker 1: I don't know if they want us to go.

Do you want us to go?

>> Freddie Mercury: Freddie, the engine will be arriving

in half an hour.

>> Speaker 1: Half an hour?

>> Freddie Mercury: Half a minute.

>> Speaker 1: Half a minute.

>> Freddie Mercury: I can get married and

divorced in that time.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Shoot David.

>> Speaker 1: 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?

>> Freddie Mercury: No, the bigger the better.

In everything. [LAUGH] I want to break free.

Just sing it.

>> Speaker 1: After making 80 million hits,

why does the emperor of rock want to wear new clothes?

>> Freddie Mercury: Emperor of rock, huh.

We had 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.

It doesn't mean I'm gonna finish with Queen, or whatever,

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

>> [MUSIC] >> Freddie Mercury: Come on.

Baby, can't you see?

I've got to break free.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: [APPLAUSE] >> Freddie Mercury: I

probably was really frustrated sort of not being able to do

a solo album a long time ago I guess.

So I'm just putting everything into every song that I written.

>> Speaker 1: I think we decided we needed a break, but

I think it was fueled by Freddie

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

>> Freddie Mercury: He made it very clear and

it wasn't a question of leaving Queen or anything like that.

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

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: He was so typically Freddie, I think he

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

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: There was a track called Mr. Bad Guy, and

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

>> Speaker 1: Why is it called Mr. Bad Guy?

>> Freddie Mercury: Because it's me.

>> Speaker 1: I'm Mr. bad guy.

Yes I'm everybody's Mr. bad guy.

>> Freddie Mercury: Do you miss the rest of the guys?

>> Speaker 1: No.

>> Freddie Mercury: I'm Mr. Mercury.

Oh oh.

Spread your wings and fly away with me.

>> Speaker 1: Who plays on the album?

Are there any sort of surprise guests?

>> Freddie Mercury: Yeah, me.

I was hoping to use people like Jeff Beck or

Rod Stewart happened to be in town, he just came in and

we started jamming and we wrote songs together.

All I do is give.

All you do is take.

>> Speaker 1: Sorry, sir.

>> Freddie Mercury: Michael Jackson was gonna do a song,

so worked with him before.

>> Speaker 1: He used to just come and

see our shows at the Forum in L.A. I guess he liked us.

And so I got to meet him.

And he kept coming to see us.

And then we started talking.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Michael suggested they might record something

together, so Freddie went up to Michael's studio and

they started working on a couple of tracks.

>> Freddie Mercury: There must be more to life than this.

There must be more to life than this.

How do we cope in a world without love?

There must be more to life than this.

>> Speaker 1: When I'm talking to him I think,

my God, he's 25, I'm 37 yet

he's been in the business almost longer than I have.

Because he started that young.

And, for me it's sort of quite frightening when I'm talking to

somebody who's 25 and you think if somebody who is 22 or 25 and

has just been starting out or whatever, and

I could sort of teach them a few tricks.

But not Michael.

>> Freddie Mercury: They got on well.

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

saying dear can you get on over here,

because you've got to get me out of the studio.

I said, what is the problem?

He said, I am recording with a llama, and he said,

Michael's bringing his pet llama into the studio everyday and

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

And I've had enough and I wanna get out.

>> Speaker 1: I think one of the tracks would have been on

the Thriller album if I finished it.

But I missed out.

I was born to love you.

By the time I actually got into recording,

I found that I was doing it all myself.

And then I turned the other way and I just said,

I want to do it completely myself.

If I was

born to take care of you >> Freddie Mercury: 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.

>> Speaker 1: I wanna love you.

I love everything about you.

I want to love you, love you, love you.

>> Freddie Mercury: Michael Jackson had just finished

the Thriller album and it sold 25 million copies, and CBS

were very much awash with money, so I approached in New York.

And proposed a deal which Walter accepted.

>> Speaker 1: Once more to take care of you.

>> Freddie Mercury: It's actually I think the worst deal

he ever did.

>> Speaker 1: CBS, cocks, bullocks, and satisfaction.

>> Freddie Mercury: [LAUGH] >> Speaker 1: Freddie

was actually getting an advanced 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: There is an inward jealousy,

that would happen anyway.

And their all wondering and all waiting to see if my album is

going to do better than the last Queen album.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: He liked being in Munich and

being away from it all.

He said once, this is so wonderful,

I can eat a 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: Do you think from your stay in Munich?

>> Speaker 1: I've learned a lot >> Freddie Mercury: All I know

is all the swear words like.

That means lick my ass.

[LAUGH] >> Speaker 1: He took a liking

to how we live together as a family.

Which might have been what he had wished for

when he was younger, because he was shipped off to school, and

he really wasn't really all that close with his parents for

a lot of time.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: I was put in an environment where

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

>> Freddie Mercury: Your birthplace is Zanzibar?

>> Speaker 1: Yes, that's right.

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

So I mean, I went from Zanzibar to India for a while, and

then I came back to England.

A very upheaval of an upbringing.

Freddie had whatever you were taught in the choir at school

and that was it.

That was his vocal training,

everything else came from within him.

>> Freddie Mercury: I went through art college.

I was going to be a graphics illustrator,

you know, it's just I can paint and do that, but.

When I was going through college, I mean,

I was very interested in music.

So I joined other bands, and I got to know Brian and Roger.

And then I realized that through college, I spent more time

rehearsing our songs and things, than doing the other thing.

And I just said look, I'm going to try and

make money out of this, or make a life out of it.

And then we were in our management offices and

Fred just says oh by the way, I'm changing my name.

And we said really?

What to? I'm gonna be Freddie Mercury.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: He created this umbrella which was like

Queen music, and underneath that,

you could pretty much do anything you wanted.

>> Freddie Mercury: Each song is in a different sort of

category really.

From the 1920s roadible to the real sort of rock and

roll to the ballad, you know.

>> Speaker 1: She's a killer queen, got that agility,

dynamite with a laser beam.

>> Freddie Mercury: I think when we found we had our first number

one in England, that was very nice.

>> Speaker 1: He's just a poor boy, from a poor family,

sparing his life from his monstrosity.

We were just checking in to one of the hotels and

we realized that Bohemian Rhapsody had gone to number one.

>> Freddie Mercury: Bismillah! No, we will not let you go.

>> Speaker 1: The four of us were in a lift jumping up and

down, and the fucking lift stops.

So there we are. I though, my god,

here's the number one group in England just going

to suffocate in this damn lift.

>> Freddie Mercury: Find me somebody to love.

Find me somebody to love.

Find me somebody to love.

>> Speaker 1: People kind of put us into one category.

There are a lot of ingredients that make up Queen and

you can't put your finger on it really.

>> Freddie Mercury: No time for

losers 'Cause we are the champions.

>> Speaker 1: I'm burning through the sky, yeah.

200 degrees.

That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit.

Traveling at the speed of light.

I wanna make a supersonic man out of you.

Crazy little thing called love.

>> Freddie Mercury: We all do different things.

They'll leave me for just the wardrobe, I guess.

[LAUGH] >> Speaker 1: They'll leave me

to the wardrobe, doing and writing the hits.

>> Freddie Mercury: [LAUGH] Oh.

Now what happens when one of them writes a song that

>> Speaker 1: If I

don't like it >> Freddie Mercury: Do you like

the lyrics? Yeah, that's

what I was gonna say.

>> Speaker 1: You know, I'm not gonna sit there and say yes,

a song's good if it's not good.

>> Freddie Mercury: Do they come and tell you that?

>> Speaker 1: Of course, of course they do.

And I tell them to fuck off.

[LAUGH]

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Another

party's over. And I'm that cold sober.

My baby left me for somebody new.

>> Freddie Mercury: While I don't think

the music industry generally understood Freddy.

He was always pushing boundaries, you know.

Changing, changing, type, keep them guessing.

Keep the public interested.

>> Speaker 1: Want to be intoxicated with

that special mood.

>> Freddie Mercury: This used to be my restaurant in the 1970s.

And Freddie would come and

play the piano over there along with Elton.

I remember one night Cliff Richard was singing, and

Elton playing the piano and Freddie singing as well.

It was kind of my When I first met him he was this guy who was

already a bit of a rock star,

but poised to be a major rock star.

And the Liza Minnelli Cabaret soundtracks playing

in the house and there's cats everywhere.

So I thought [LAUGH] kind of doesn't compute.

>> Speaker 1: I'd always known him as someone

whose personal interests were beyond rock.

>> Freddie Mercury: My interests are in what's going on now.

And so it's a kind of research.

So I go to the ballet.

I go to all the musicals to find out what's happening.

I want to do interesting things and

things that I haven't done before.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: I knew Joseph Lockhart who was

the chairman of EMI quite well and

as he was also the chairman of 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.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: He was fascinated by the scale and it's

quite epic, and everything about Freddy's performance was epic.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: In 1979, he said to me,

you've got to come to the coliseum,

I'm [LAUGH] performing with the royal ballet.

>> Freddie Mercury: They asked me.

They actually thought I could dance,

so they actually asked me to do a charity concert.

And then I realized how I couldn't dance.

>> Speaker 1: He did live vocals to backing track,

being sort of manipulated around the stage by 18 ballet dancers.

>> Freddie Mercury: Mama, just killed a man.

Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger,

now he's dead.

Momma, life had just begun, but

now I've gone and thrown it all >> Speaker 1: This included that

moment when he had his jump where he just goes swish.

>> Freddie Mercury: Momma, ooh.

>> Speaker 1: Any way the

wind blows >> Freddie Mercury: I

don't wanna die.

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

>> Speaker 1: He disappeared behind a wall of dancers.

And about 20 seconds later, they just sorta lifted him up.

And there he was wearing a silver sequin outfit.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: So you think you can stomp 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.

>> Speaker 1: There was a bandit outside it'd be terrible.

[LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: But

I can kick my legs up real high.

>> Speaker 1: [LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: Nothing

really matters- >> Speaker 1: And

then at the end he sung the last line of Bohemian Rhapsody,

absolutely upside down.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Any where the wind blows.

>> Freddie Mercury: [APPLAUSE]

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: 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 left and he was really living it up.

He was in the bars every night.

He loafed during the summer and

that's where some of the musical influence came from.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: We got more publicity from him growing

a mustache than he would have done if he had committed

suicide, I think.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: It was the height of gay hedonism.

And I think Freddy lived that life

outside of England where it 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

were, you know you start to think you can do anything and

lead any kind of live without any consequences.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Love kills, drills me You through your heart.

Love kills, scars you from the start.

It's just a living pastime, ruining your heart line,

stay for a lifetime.

Won't let you go, cuz love, love,

love won't leave you alone.

>> Freddie Mercury: I like to try different things every time.

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

That's why something like Hot Space, we'd went off on a limb,

and I said,

let's just do some of this black stuff that I liked, and

I sort of forced the other three to do it, and they hate me for

now because it didn't sell that much.

Stay in power.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Haha!

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Woo!

>> Speaker 1: Freddy is particularly looking for

a certain sound which sounds good in a certain kind of club.

>> Freddie Mercury: Yeah!

>> Speaker 1: 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: We still fight like kids.

Every time I'm in the same room with Brian,

within five minutes, we sort of.

>> Speaker 1: Sparks fly?

>> Freddie Mercury: I haven't hit him, yet, but

there's still time.

[LAUGH]

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: When I got involved with the band,

one of the first things Freddy said,

we need to have a personal.

Personal.

I said what's a personal?

So, I figured out that they needed somebody to just kinda

run out, general dogsbody, somebody that I could relate to.

So, I knew Paul Prenter, and I hired him.

>> Freddie Mercury: Paul Prenter was

an important part of Freddy's life.

He showed Freddie what he could do,

what was available in the nightclubs, in the club scene.

>> Speaker 1: Let me show it to you.

>> Freddie Mercury: Hunter was disrupting creative moments,

where something would be actually working, and

he would sort of pace up and down on the side of the control

room, off going looking at the watch, and it's like 7 o'clock,

it's 8 o'clock, it's club time.

We were scoring guys, and scoring coke, and

scoring opportunities to get debauchery happening.

>> Speaker 1: Yeah, the less said about him, the better.

>> Freddie Mercury: Stay in power.

>> Speaker 1: I saw him as a very subversive influence,

in the worst possible sense.

>> Freddie Mercury: I don't see Queen touring in the 60's.

I won't be with them if they are.

I hope that I'm sleeping.

>> Speaker 1: What Paul Prenter was to Freddy was his,

a partner in crime.

If there was criticism of him, he didn't attempt to, to say,

curtail, sort of,

just dampen things down, at various times.

And that would have, that would have helped a lot.

>> Freddie Mercury: The band sort of rejected Paul Prenter,

and so Paul Prenter wanted to take Freddy away from the band,

I suppose, and to a degree he did.

Freddy took him on his own payroll,

when the band disagreed and didn't want him around any more,

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

When we toured America that last time, because it turned out to

be the last time, he was the guy who answered the phone.

So, radio stations would phone up, and

he would be the intermediary, and

he was telling everybody that Freddy wasn't interested,

Freddy 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 is a personal assistant,

managed to piss off the whole of America.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Being a world famous rock star,

does this make it more difficult for

you to actually keep a friendship going?

Yes, because I think it's harder for other people to try and

understand me as a normal person.

>> Freddie Mercury: There must be times when you do need to

turn to someone.

>> Speaker 1: I don't have that many people to turn to.

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

She's been a girlfriend of mine for a long time, and even though

we're not together right now, I actually refer to her a lot.

>> Freddie Mercury: When I met him he was living with Mary and

the cats and Liza, and I think the most difficult thing for

him was to not hurt Mary.

I wasn't around when they had the talk, but

he was very conscious of not embarrassing her or

putting her in any difficult positions.

>> Speaker 1: Mary's gone through just about everything.

She's about the only person I can think about, otherwise I

just fend for myself and I just, >> Speaker 1: I cross

my hurdles in my own way.

Can.

>> Freddie Mercury: [APPLAUSE] >> Speaker 1: Can you find me

somebody, somebody.

>> Freddie Mercury: Surely comes a time when

you want to share your life with someone.

>> Speaker 1: Yes, but nobody wants to

share their life with me.

Somebody.

>> Freddie Mercury: The more I open up, the more I get hurt.

So, I mean, basically what happens is I'm just riddled with

scars, and honestly, and I just don't want anymore.

>> Speaker 1: Body to love.

Can you find me

somebody to love?

>> Freddie Mercury: [APPLAUSE] >> Speaker 1: Are you ready?

>> Freddie Mercury: [APPLAUSE] >> Speaker 1: Are you ready,

brothers and sisters?

>> Freddie Mercury: [APPLAUSE]

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: 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 you're doing to me.

I have spent all my years in believing you,

I just can't get no relief.

Somebody, somebody,

can anybody find me somebody to love?

>> Speaker 1: It's not easy living with me.

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

the better the songs are going to be.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Once I find somebody,

I mean, I can find a long lasting relationship.

Ben does all the research for the wonderful songs.

At the moment you, 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.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Somebody to love.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: [APPLAUSE] >> Freddie Mercury: Don't

want my

freedom.

>> Speaker 1: You said the rest of the guys have houses in L.A.,

I assume you mean the other members of Queen.

>> Freddie Mercury: Yeah, who do you think I meant?

>> Speaker 1: What are their names again?

[LAUGH] Oh, I'm sorry.

>> Freddie Mercury: Stop that shit.

There's Brian, Roger, and John.

>> Speaker 1: Roger and John.

Yes.

>> Freddie Mercury: I sometimes forget them, too.

>> Speaker 1: But you don't really hang out with them or

anything, do you?

>> [MUSIC]

[MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: They have very different characters,

and they like different things.

I like to go to ballet and opera.

They don't like all that.

They just keep going to rock and roll shows.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: He liked listening to Pavarotti's voice.

Just for the control.

For the amount of training that the voice had and

just the sound that he was able to produce.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: I said look.

Why don't you hear him live?

>> Speaker 1: He says okay, 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 one scene two the soprano gets her bit in.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: From the minute the voice started,

Freddy's jaw had just sorta fallen open.

He could not believe what he was hearing

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: I was at Coven Garden, the Opera House,

for a recital by.

>> Freddie Mercury: And out of the corner of 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 [LAUGH].

He was just like a 12 year old kid, seeing the Beatles.

>> Speaker 1: The grin on his face,

he was just so apt from that whole show.

He says look, I have now heard the best voice in the world.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: I was in Munich for

a playback of The Mister Bad Guy album.

And we were all sitting there in Music Land Studios.

It was a strange playback,

because 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.

Switch it off.

I want to play 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's Montserrat Caballe.

She has the most beautiful soprano voice in the world, and

I want to sing with her.

Well we're all sitting there listening to this Mr.

and we looked around, and I said are you serious?

He said, absolutely.

He said, go and find her and

tell her I want to sing with her.

Freddie had some of the best years in the business and

maybe he sat there at that early stage thinking,

this is not gonna work.

Maybe that's why he interrupted and

said, let's listen to Montserrat Caballé cuz he was moving on,

I think already sitting in the studios in Munich aware that

maybe he'd produced an album which wasn't his greatest work.

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

Freddie, which one do you find the most rewarding personally?

>> Speaker 1: Oh I don't know.

The one that sells the most.

>> Freddie Mercury: I was on the album actually.

We've sorta fully supporting him but every time I go to Munich,

he'd say come out and sing some backing vocals or something.

Dear, I got a minute and there'd be no further on.

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

It was terrible and it just wasn't going anywhere.

I thought I've heard this before.

>> Speaker 1: He underestimated the work load.

When Michael Jackson has three or four number ones,

there is probably 60 song writers and 900 songs involved.

He was just doing everything himself.

>> Freddie Mercury: Fooling around with me.

You keep fooling, you keep fooling.

>> Speaker 1: I would love for

my album to be better than the last Queen album, because that

would set a precedent and then the next Queen album, we're

gonna say it had better than Freddie Mercury's solo album.

>> Freddie Mercury: Unfortunately,

the album didn't sell and so from CVS point of view is

that we're still financially cuz they paid a lot of money for it.

>> Speaker 1: Freddie always said money is great.

It tells me that I'm successful.

It tells me that people like my work.

Well, this must have been very odd for him cuz he had a lot of

money, which was the advance, but it wasn't really,

it wasn't real money, cuz the record wasn't selling.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: 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.

You think they just like you to stay in the bracket they know

you and that's that?

>> Speaker 1: Whatever I'd like to.

I don't give a shit.

I do what I want to be honest.

I don't sit down and say oh okay.

What is Mary Pottenbogner going to buy tomorrow?

And you can't write songs like that because you can't please

everybody anyway.

>> Freddie Mercury: Freddy didn't like failure.

And this album was a failure.

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

instantly.

>> Speaker 1: So you will be working with Queen again?

>> Freddie Mercury: Oh yes, definitely.

>> Speaker 1: Even if? >> Freddie Mercury: Otherwise

I'm going to be a carving addict, dear.

>> Speaker 1: [LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: He came

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

>> Speaker 1: The next project will be a Queen album.

>> Freddie Mercury: When will that happen?

>> Speaker 1: Soon, soon I hope.

If we stop talking to each other that is.

>> Freddie Mercury: Okay, thanks a lot just cut back.

>> Speaker 1: [APPLAUSE]

Aye oh.

>> Freddie Mercury: Aye oh. >> Speaker 1: Aye oh.

>> Freddie Mercury: Aye oh. >> Speaker 1: Aye oh.

>> Freddie Mercury: Aye oh.

>> Speaker 1: Aye oh.

>> Freddie Mercury: Aye oh.

>> Speaker 1: Aye oh.

>> Freddie Mercury: Aye oh.

>> Speaker 1: Aye oh.

>> Freddie Mercury: Aye oh.

>> Speaker 1: Aye oh.

>> Freddie Mercury: Aye oh.

>> Speaker 1: Hey oh.

>> Freddie Mercury: Hey oh. >> Speaker 1: Hey oh.

>> Freddie Mercury: Hey oh. >> Speaker 1: Hey oh.

>> [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE]

>> Freddie Mercury: All right.

>> Speaker 1: All right.

>> Freddie Mercury: How does it affect you when you know that

you've won an audience?

>> Speaker 1: I always win an audience.

>> Freddie Mercury: So how are you affected then?

Every night you play to a crowd?

>> Speaker 1: That's the part of my role I have to win them over

otherwise it's not a successful gig.

It's my job to make sure I win them over and

make them feel like they've had a good time.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: He was just a natural at communicating with

the whole audience, an amazing thing to watch actually.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: On stage, you give this impression that you're

quite a formidable individual, Freddie.

>> Freddie Mercury: I am.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Another one bites the dust, yeah.

>> Speaker 1: Another one bites the dust.

>> Freddie Mercury: I'm very frivolous,

and I like to enjoy myself.

And what better way to do it than on stage in front of

300,000 people?

And I just cook.

>> Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.

>> Freddie Mercury: Yeah, yeah. >> Speaker 1: Give me yeah, yeah.

>> Freddie Mercury: Yeah, yeah.

>> Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. >> Freddie Mercury: Yeah, yeah.

>> Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.

>> Freddie Mercury: Yeah, yeah.

>> Speaker 1: Another one bites the dust.

>> Freddie Mercury: Another one bites the dust.

>> Speaker 1: Another one bites the dust, yeah.

>> Freddie Mercury: 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.

He was that fan who sat there and watched Jimi Hendrix.

And Jimi Hendrix made that contact with him and

I think gave Freddy the feeling that anything was possible.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: You always felt when he was playing,

that you were in on whatever this amazing kind of camp

ridiculous joke that some people came quite outraged by it.

If you were there in the audience,

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

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: And I seen him from two rows away.

I've seen him right from the back.

And you never felt any further or closer either place.

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

>> Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Yes.

>> Freddie Mercury: [APPLAUSE]

>> Speaker 1: Everybody looks at me on stage and that's how

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

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

>> Freddie Mercury: A lot of people think

that you are reclusive.

>> Speaker 1: I am a bit actually, yes.

But not in a Greta Garbo way.

It's not alone alone.

I like to be alone with my friends and

then check myself off here.

I'd hate to be on a deserted island.

I'm petrified of being alone.

I'm very happy with my relationship at the moment, and

I couldn't ask for better.

I finally found a niche that I was looking for all my life.

>> Freddie Mercury: Well we first met accidentally,

I suppose, in the club.

He offered to buy me a drink and

I told him to sling his hook basically.

>> Speaker 1: Did you know it was Freddie Mercury?

>> Freddie Mercury: I didn't know who he was, no.

It was just- >> Speaker 1: Really?

>> Freddie Mercury: A total absolute stranger to me, yeah.

>> Speaker 1: So then what happened after that?

>> Freddie Mercury: I think some would suffer that I were out

at a restaurant.

A friend I was with just happened to mention,

oh guess who's behind you.

I said, who?

Freddie Mercury again.

I didn't see Freddie again for oh,

gosh I think about 18 months.

And I bumped into him at a club. And-

>> Speaker 1: And.

>> Freddie Mercury: That was it

was it? >> Speaker 1: That

was it. Same

routine again. Let

me buy you a drink.

[LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: What was he

like in real life? What was he like off stage?

>> Speaker 1: He was quiet,

very reserved.

Just plain ordinary

Joe [INAUDIBLE] on the street really.

>> Freddie Mercury: But I'm not

scared of doing what I want to do.

Before I sort of hide in my prayers.

So when I went out, I had to sort of try and perform a little

as well, and say it like not letting them down or anything.

Cuz Freddie Mercury had to 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 so that I was actually

living in a way, living a false image of myself.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Tear stains on my pillow.

Blood on my- >> Speaker 1: That party in

Munich was really something else.

But it did fill the chambers like the last hurrah.

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

And it was kind of like Freddy saying goodbye

to that whole hedonistic lifestyle.

>> Freddie Mercury: Success is my breathing space.

I brought it on my self.

>> Speaker 1: Freddie was tiring of the rock and

roll life style I think.

>> Freddie Mercury: I can take it or leave it.

Loneliness.

>> Speaker 1: It was kind of like the last days of Berlin.

That was Freddie's last hurrah.

>> Freddie Mercury: What more can I say.

Whoa.

Is this the world we created?

We made it on our own.

Is this the world we devastated, right to the bone?

I know there will be a time when I can't run around on stage

because it'll be ridiculous, you know that,

there comes a time when you have to stop.

To the world that we created.

>> Speaker 1: [APPLAUSE] >> Freddie Mercury: I

remember the very last gig in [INAUDIBLE].

Freddy said I can't fucking do this any more.

You'll have to bleep me again, really.

It's pretty hard to quote Freddie without swearing.

[LAUGH] It was just part of his vocabulary.

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

we thought oh it's just Freddie being Freddie.

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

that there are going to be different phases to his career.

Because rock and roll is a young man's game and when he's coming

to be middle aged, he's going to have to do other things.

>> Speaker 1: You might not have the physical fitness to run

around on stage, but you could still write songs, so one way or

other the music side is always gonna be my life.

Is this kind of magic.

>> Freddie Mercury: 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 was coming out called Time.

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

it was pretty, yeah because there was one

time where 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.

>> Speaker 1: 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 time.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Dave Clark and

I had worked on the album of Time which featured wonderful

selection of really great artists.

Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Cliff and he told me one

day I think Freddie Mercury's gonna do two tunes.

I said well that's fantastic.

I met Freddie,

this incredible force of nature hurdled through the door.

It was just 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.

And he said, before we do that,

I've really always wanted to record a cover version,

something I've never done in my own name.

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

>> Speaker 1: Hello, my name is Freddie Mercury.

And this is my latest recording, The Great Pretender.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Oh yes I'm the great pretender.

>> Freddie Mercury: Oh oh, oh oh.

>> Speaker 1: Pretending I'm doing well.

>> Freddie Mercury: Oh oh, oh oh.

>> Speaker 1: My need is such I pretend too much.

I'm lonely but no one can tell.

Oh, yes.

>> Freddie Mercury: I wanted to do a cover version a long time

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

we just write our own to the 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.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Play the game, but to my real shame,

you've left me to dream all alone.

>> Speaker 1: It is brilliant.

The whole thing is brilliant. Five.

>> Freddie Mercury: Well,

well over-the-top.

Karina?

>> Speaker 1: I think it's brilliant,

and the video had lots to it.

>> Freddie Mercury: Yeah. >> Speaker 1: I'll give it five.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: What my heart can't conceal.

>> Freddie Mercury: It's one of the best videos ever.

It's really good.

I really like that.

Can we get a tape?

>> Speaker 1: Oh, yes, I'm the great pretender.

>> Freddie Mercury: What I like about it is the way

he's setting himself up.

I think anyone who can mock themselves in that way deserves

all the marks.

I give it five and a half.

>> Speaker 1: So well done to Fred.

He wins this week's pop panel.

>> Freddie Mercury: Oh, yes.

>> Speaker 1: He thought it was appropriate,

because he was a pretender.

He was certainly the great self invention.

>> Freddie Mercury: In Freddy,

you had a shy person who lived with the protection of his

persona.

>> Speaker 1: I seem to be.

>> Freddie Mercury: That's the stuff I do, it's pretending,

it's like acting.

So, you onstage, I pretend to be a martian man and all that.

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

and you're pretending anyway.

So, I think it's a great title for what I do, and

it's sort of suited to what I was doing.

Yeah!

All this is a pretense, and it's just fun.

>> Speaker 1: To real when I feel what my

heart can't conceal.

Oh yes, I'm the great pretender.

>> Freddie Mercury: These days, we know so

much about celebrities.

If he was around today,

people would be taking camera phone pictures of him or

there would be snapshots of him in Heat magazine.

But Freddy Mercury was truly elusive and

mysterious and enigmatic.

We didn't know a lot about Freddy, and

we still don't really know a lot about Freddy.

>> Speaker 1: Why haven't you done any interviews

in the past few years?

>> Freddie Mercury: Because I hate them.

>> Speaker 1: Why? >> Freddie Mercury: I just hate them.

I hate talking to people I

don't really know.

Pretend that you're

still around.

>> Speaker 1: It's the media basically that built me up being

a real ogre and tyrant on stage,

because of the way I come across on stage, and I'm very volatile,

and that's the only part they see of me.

I mean, I don't talk to everybody, so

they don't really know the real me.

I don't think anybody will.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: 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 play some

nice little classical thing on the piano.

He said, and I'll warble over the top and

we'll kind of figure something out.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: It became the B side of the Great Pretender.

>> Freddie Mercury: I was planning to do a solo project,

and 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 in which I would never dare.

I don't want to end my life just being a rock and roll star.

>> Speaker 1: It was 1986, just before Christmas,

when Freddy got a call that Montserrat Caballé had heard him

on an interview when they were in Spain on the tour.

>> Freddie Mercury: You won't believe this but.

>> Speaker 1: I put the television on, and

there was the group and Freddy of all, and I says what do you

like more of Spain, and he was answering Montserrat Caballe.

>> Freddie Mercury: She's the best.

That's why I listen to.

>> Speaker 1: I love very much Freddy, but

I was surprised he says that on television.

>> Freddie Mercury: He'd said you'll never guess,

I've had a phone call from Montserrat Caballe, and

she wants to meet us.

I said well, she wants to meet you.

He said no, no, no.

He said you're coming with me.

We're going to Barcelona on Saturday.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: He said, I think we ought to

take something to play, which might make a laugh and

kind of cut the ice a little bit.

He said, why don't we take this thing that we did.

>> Speaker 1: We built a full concert PA system, and

we laid out a lunch, so that 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 we want to do.

>> Freddie Mercury: I have never in my life seen Freddy so

nervous, I mean,

he was chain smoking, he was marching up and down.

>> Speaker 1: We met here in the Hotel Ritz.

He was a little shy in the beginning, to sing with me.

>> Freddie Mercury: 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, and then it was, he just blurted out,

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

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: And I told him,

but you're 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 sat, give 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: Well, Freddy didn't know.

Freddy 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.

>> Speaker 1: And I was surprised of the quick ovation.

It was crazy.

They make them require, and I says,

I like to present the companies, which is Mike Moran and

the in the Freddy Mercury.

So they went into applause and he was ready making.

It is the first time I received,

an ovation at the Royal Opera House.

>> Freddie Mercury: Well, last night, I mean,

she sang one of my songs at the Royal Opera House.

It's amazing.

Now, I'm going in to opera.

Forget rock and roll.

>> Speaker 1: And we went after this,

to his home to have dinner.

We begin to, after the dinner, to work.

>> Freddie Mercury: It is the simple songs that [INAUDIBLE].

>> Speaker 1: Something occurred and I [INAUDIBLE] lay down.

>> Freddie Mercury: No. [LAUGH] >> [INAUDIBLE]

>> Speaker 1: I say this is very

good, because this is a crossover we filling,

not only with notes.

>> Freddie Mercury: You look tired now honey,

you must rest a little.

>> Speaker 1: I need to

[INAUDIBLE] >> Freddie Mercury: No, no, no.

I don't want you to go.

I just, I think let's rest.

>> Speaker 1: Freddy was worried.

Oh, you're tired.

You've got a flight at nine.

I don't want to be in trouble because you're late and all.

She says oh, you don't like me.

You don't like my voice.

>> Freddie Mercury: I sound so terrible.

>> Speaker 1: You sound- >> Freddie Mercury: Nice.

>> Speaker 1: [LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: I can sing

til 6 o'clock in the morning.

>> Speaker 1: Well, everyone was surprised as We were in his

home until 6 AM and they were asking what we have done.

I say, well we have done everything but

not what you thought.

[LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: She

said things like, only one time, are you sure.

You only want to do one song.

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

If you like more of my music.

And she said, how many songs does a normal rock and

roll album have?

And I said something like ten.

We'll do ten songs then.

>> Speaker 1: And we knew we were away, and then she went on

to say, but the song I really want is about my home town.

I want a song about Barcelona.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: What drives you on?

At this very moment, it's.

>> Speaker 1: It's like a flippant gesture for me.

It started off, I really thought it would never come.

[INAUDIBLE] fruition, and we she accepted I was dumbfounded.

So then I thought,

my god I better put my money where my mouth is [LAUGH].

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: It's such a challenge actually,

I never thought of writing songs in that way.

Now she said she wants to do duets with me I have to think in

a totally different way.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: I told him, if 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: I had this perfect dream.

>> Freddie Mercury: This dream was me and you.

>> Freddie Mercury: I want all the world to see.

>> Freddie Mercury: 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.

>> Speaker 1: My dream is slowly.

>> Freddie Mercury: Pavarotti was saying it gets bad.

So bad.

You're dumbing down opera.

>> Speaker 1: Barcelona.

>> Freddie Mercury: It was the first night that we met.

>> Speaker 1: How couldn't I forget the moment

that you stepped into the room

you took my breath away.

>> Freddie Mercury: 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.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Freddie Mercury has given us a lot of good stuff

over the years with those videos back in 76 of Bohemian Rhapsody

and now he brings opera into the singles charts.

The highest new entry this week with Montserrat Caballe,

Barcelona.

>> Freddie Mercury: The critical reaction was puzzlement.

I wouldn't say the press were negative about it because they

knew, wait a minute, this woman is selling out Covent Garden.

She's gotta 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's about.

So I can't say that it's good.

So let's just say, oh this is different.

>> Speaker 1: Stop the celebration!

>> Speaker 1: And cry!

>> Speaker 1: Come alive!

>> Speaker 1: And shake the foundations from the sky!

>> Speaker 1: I was a Queen fan when Barcelona came out.

>> Freddie Mercury: Shaking all our lives! >> Speaker 1: I was

probably only 12.

But that song, I just thought was magnificent.

It's so exciting.

It was so uplifting.

>> Freddie Mercury: Barcelona, such a beautiful horizon.

Barcelona, like a jewel in the sun.

>> Speaker 1: 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 Monserrat.

>> Speaker 1: There was only

ever really one Freddie who could do that kind of thing, and

make that kind of record, and make it okay.

And I think the reason why it was okay is because you

have this guy standing in front of you.

A guy saying it's all right you're safe,

you're with me I know what I'm doing.

Even though,

it's the most ridiculous thing in the entire world, it's okay.

>> Speaker 1: Barcelona!

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Aah aah aah

ooh ooh.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: When Freddie decided to record his second

album, I went back into New York and

said to Walter that we've come in to discuss a second album.

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

were reeling from the loss that they'd made on the first album.

So he sat there.

He said, well I understand we've gotta do a second album.

So what is it?

And I said, well it's a duet album.

And he said, oh well that sounds interesting.

That's, you know, you might get something to that.

So, dueting with who?

And I said it's Montserrat Caballé,

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

a 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: I think the thing about the Barcelona

album is it allowed Freddie to do things he

couldn't really do with Queen >> Speaker 1: Queen

allowed Freddie to do a lot but

they certainly wouldn't have allowed him.

And I think to get an opera singer in,

especially a female one.

>> Freddie Mercury: There was such intensity because it was

a difficult thing.

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

>> Speaker 1: He was stepping into an area he didn't

really know much about >> Freddie Mercury: 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.

>> Speaker 1: I said I would write the songs and

you would have to come in the studio and

sort of try out things, so she said.

>> Freddie Mercury: She looked up her schedule, and

she said, well I have three days to spare in May, and that's all.

And she things that she can just come in and do it, and

that's the way they work, you see.

So she sees she has three days, she'll probably just come in and

sing the whole, so I've gotta have it all prepared.

I think three days is pushing it.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: At one point, Fred and I really got bogged down.

We got really stuck on the lyrics.

>> [MUSIC] >> Speaker 1: I know the same.

And all of.

>> Freddie Mercury: It's easier for me to write a melody.

And the structure.

But in terms of the actual lyrics I find that hard.

Because I'm not a poet.

And I hate writing lyrics anyway.

I wish somebody else could do it.

>> Speaker 1: He said oh, you know, why don't we get Tim Rice.

>> Freddie Mercury: I was very happy to be roped in.

And I did a couple of lyrics for

Freddie to these amazing back tracks 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.

>> Speaker 1: 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: 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 a master of, as a master of his fate.

>> Speaker 3: My favorite song on the album is The Golden Boy,

cuz 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: For your silence.

I love you for your peace.

>> Speaker 3: And then the gospel comes in and

you just don't see that coming at all.

>> Freddie Mercury: He threw into the fire his explanation

simply that he suffered for his heart.

>> Speaker 3: And then it goes dark again at the end.

>> Freddie Mercury: The words that made them happy once now

echoed, echoed as a curse.

>> Speaker 3: And you feel like you've heard a whole life in

one song.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 4: I think one of the reasons that Freddy put so

much of himself into the Barcelona Project was

the fact that he had just found out of his AIDS status.

>> Jim Hutton: He explained to me that,

obviously he had got some rather heavy news for me.

And I suppose like everybody's reaction it was total disbelief.

No, we must get someone else's opinion on this.

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

these are the types of specialists there are.

>> Speaker 3: In terms of gay visibility back then you had

some people like Jimmy Summerville,

people like that who were quite political.

And then there was quite austere about them, and

sort of asexual, or you had gay people who were in the closet.

But Freddy 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 kind of role model I think.

>> Speaker 6: He wasn't overtly sexual.

I mean, he was kempt as anything.

He was the most kempt performer ever, he's got to be, but

I think there's anything ever sexual about it.

>> Speaker 1: Hello. >> Speaker 7: Hello [LAUGH]

Said, it's true that the song, I Want to Break Free

is dedicated for the gay world?

>> Freddie Mercury: No, not at all.

Not at all.

That song [COUGH] To start off with that song was written by

John Deacon.

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

with about four children.

It's got nothing to do with a gay thing.

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

>> Speaker 3: 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.

>> Speaker 8: 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.

>> Speaker 9: I always feel terrible when people

are judged on their sexual behavior 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: I was extremely promiscuous,

it was excess in every direction.

I want everyone to get fucked all night

every day just like I do.

>> Speaker 10: [LAUGH] >> Speaker 9: 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 Freddy 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 realized something was wrong.

That he might possibly have HIV.

And I brought this up in the interview and

he was very, very honest.

Freddy, how has the AIDS thing effected you?

>> Freddie Mercury: Well I've stopped going out, or whatever,

and to be honest I tell you I've I've I've almost become a nun.

I thought sex was a very important thing to me and

I've lived through sex and everything and

now it's just gone completely the other way.

And it's frightened me to death and I just,

I have I've just stopped having sex.

>> Speaker 9: Is that you?

>> Freddie Mercury: Yes, I just like to delay it now.

[LAUGH] I'm also an old bird now, dear.

>> Montserrat Caballé: One of these days in the studio, I saw

two glasses of champagne and I wanted to take one, and

he tells me not this one, the other one.

I say I'm sorry, I no knew you have none of this.

I wanted to make a kiss like we always had done moi moi,

you know.

And he says no.

Don't kiss me anymore.

And I thought you are angry?

[LAUGH] Because I don't understood.

And face no, but once are at.

Once he hit on me but once.

And once he, I am zero positive

and I don't want to make a case to you.

It was the beginning of this illness

and of course I said but you look so old, you are so

strong and you sing so wonderful.

He says yes but

I know this will come one day that I can't anymore.

>> Speaker 12: Freddie was incredibly loyal to this friends

even in the case of Paul Prenter.

Freddie supported him basically.

He gave him money.

Said that he could get his life together again.

But then he soon went back to Ireland once he sort of got

on his feet again.

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

>> Speaker 13: 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

sell it to a newspaper for just 32,000 pounds.

I mean, it was just dreadful.

>> Speaker 12: All of this was going on while

he was preparing to, you know, record with.

For him the greatest singer in the world.

>> Freddie Mercury: When all of the salt is taken from the sea.

I stand here though, I make it and I plea.

But when your finger points so solidly, is anybody else.

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.

>> Speaker 1: How can I go on from day to day?

Who can make me strong?

In every way.

>> Freddie Mercury: As a songwriter,

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

>> Speaker 1: 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.

When that happens, it won't happen,

that's all there is to it there.

I don't think it'll ever happen.

I'll die first.

They're lost and they're nowhere to be found.

>> Freddie Mercury: Every time I saw it, I see his adieu.

He took the hand and I wanted to retain, and he didn't want it.

It's a significant if, you know?

[INAUDIBLE] look, everyday think.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: 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.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: He absolutely immersed himself into

this album, completely and utterly.

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

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: How can I go on?

>> [SOUND] >> Freddie Mercury: I'm glad I

did it, it was a totally different adventure.

I'd like to see other rock and

roll singers try and things like that.

And see if they can get away with it.

>> Speaker 1: They probably couldn't get away with it,

Freddie, but you did.

>> Freddie Mercury: I'm wonderful, aren't I?

>> Speaker 1: Yes. >> Freddie Mercury: [LAUGH]

>> Speaker 1: Barcelona

was the first major crossover with a major rock star and

a major opera star.

I think it kind of made it okay for other people to do it.

I mean, then in the 90s there was Pavarotti was,

you name it Bono, Sting, Elton.

>> Freddie Mercury: It was a huge success.

And it rode in on the back of Barcelona,

which was the big track.

And it was very successful album indeed.

>> Speaker 1: 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, yeah, yeah, I want it all,

I want it all, and I want it now.

>> Freddie Mercury: After we took this long

sort of holiday with 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 straight away.

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.

Hey, hey, hey.

>> Speaker 1: I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now.

>> Freddie Mercury: Oh, oh, oh.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: And I want it now.

>> Freddie Mercury: In 1989 the doctors told him that you stop

everything, the cigarettes, the drink,

everything, you stop and you will have a bit more life.

But they had also told us at that point,

be prepared that Freddie will not see Christmas.

>> Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen,

of course the top band of the 80s are Queen.

>> Freddie Mercury: [APPLAUSE]

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Innuendo was actually seen as a real critical

return to form.

And Innuendo was the first number one they'd

had since Under Pressure.

[APPLAUSE] >> Freddie Mercury: This

year's special award for

outstanding contribution to British music goes to Queen.

>> Speaker 1: [APPLAUSE]

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: There was absolutely no impression from me

that he could have been sick.

He was full of beans and singing away.

>> Speaker 1: You can be anything you want to be.

Just turn yourself into anything you think that you

could ever be.

>> Freddie Mercury: There was a feeling of sort of re-exploring

our youth almost buried in there somewhere, and it was fun.

>> Speaker 1: Surrender your hero, be free.

>> Freddie Mercury: We were working really flat

out on everybody's ideas.

And not being possessive about things.

It's quite a liberation.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Actually we had some fantastic times and

we were very close knit group like a family, and we would

work in the studio, usually until Freddie got real tired.

>> Speaker 1: You make me smile when I'm just about to cry.

>> Freddie Mercury: He had more concern about his cats than

he did about most human contact.

>> Speaker 1: You make me laugh and I like it.

>> Freddie Mercury: 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.

>> Speaker 1: When you saw a booty.

You ride cars and your bike.

>> Freddie Mercury: He would call up whoever was in the house

and expect to talk to one of the cats.

>> Speaker 1: Meow.

>> Freddie Mercury: They were his babies.

His cats were his babies.

>> Speaker 1: Would you like to have children, for example?

>> Freddie Mercury: I can buy them.

>> Speaker 1: [LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: Of course I

would like to have children.

I'm just being very frivolous and flippant.

>> Speaker 1: Yeah.

>> Freddie Mercury: But, yes I would.

With the right, with the right girl yes.

>> [SOUND] >> Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey,

hey, hey.

It's nice, isn't it?

Well you're not even taking him.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: Mm.

>> Freddie Mercury: Mm.

>> Speaker 1: Mm.

>> Freddie Mercury: He was having radiation therapy, but

he had to do that about 5:30, 6:00 in the morning.

Because it had to be done at the hospital.

It could not be done at home.

But you had to be done when few people as possible were

around to see him going in there.

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

go and make music.

>> Speaker 1: When we did discover that Freddie had this

terrible AIDS virus in his body.

And there was still a disbelief in us.

You think no, it can't happen to our mate,

it can't happen to Freddie.

There's gonna be some way out of this, he's gonna be cured.

And right up to the last minute, I think it was, we knew, but

we didn't know.

We sort of refused to know, if you'd like.

>> Freddie Mercury: Do you ever worry that you could end up

a lonely, rich, old man when you're 70?

>> Speaker 1: No, because I would be dead long before that.

>> Freddie Mercury: You don't expect to make old bones,

is that what you're saying?

>> Speaker 1: No, actually I really don't care.

I have lived a full life, and

if I'm dead tomorrow [INAUDIBLE] >> Freddie Mercury: The man was

so strong that you couldn't even tell he was sick, honestly.

And finally he said,

well, I have to sit down now for singing.

Maybe I'm stupid, or maybe I was just trying to ignore it.

Maybe I couldn't believe it.

I didn't want to believe it.

>> Speaker 1: 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 didn't really want to talk about.

And he said, well, whatever you want to, dear, 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.

>> Freddie Mercury: It never really sank into me, the doctor,

I suppose probably the last two weeks, that he was dying.

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.

>> Speaker 1: Then, they found me up there like two weeks

later, they says, Danny Merit,

do you know that Freddie Mercury's dying?

Do you have anything to say about it?

>> Speaker 1: It was weird.

He didn't seem like he was dying.

To me, he was full of beans.

Right to the end.

>> Freddie Mercury: The music world has been playing 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.

>> Speaker 1: I turned on Teletext, and it said rock star

Mercury dies of AIDS and >> Freddie Mercury: And I wept,

and howled, and shrieked, and I cried all night.

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

There were probably 100 people there, and people just crying,

and comforting each other.

And it was just incredibly sad.

>> Speaker 1: Why did you want to come today?

>> Freddie Mercury: Well, just to pay our last respects to him

just to show what sort of person he was.

Person everyone loved.

Never hurt nobody.

>> Speaker 1: I wrote on a note there can be only

one which of course is a slogan from Highlander,

which is a film that Queen did the music for.

And I pinned the note on the door, and I light a candle,

and Queen music was blasting out of the house.

But it was just the saddest, saddest, saddest thing.

>> Freddie Mercury: Why have you come?

>> Speaker 1: I can't answer any questions.

>> Freddie Mercury: Some say the greatest gift Freddie Mercury

left behind was his public acknowledgment that he had AIDS.

Just 24 hours before he died, he ended speculation about his

health by issuing a statement saying he was HIV positive.

>> Speaker 1: I think the press had their final

bit of sort of victory against Freddie at that time, you know?

Which is amazing that we had some nasty reports saying,

some of them even saying that he deserved to die because he had

a promiscuous lifestyle.

Quite unbelievable things that people wrote.

So, Roger and I went on television,

to just sort of sent the records straight really.

>> Freddie Mercury: Everybody's becoming experts on the life,

and past of Freddie Mercury.

Be they in the papers or be they on television.

Where did they go wrong and

where did they go right in their assessments?

You first.

>> Speaker 1: Well, I mean, it's been quite distressing to read

some of the reports in the press.

>> Freddie Mercury: Yes, I mean it would be wrong of us not

to say that

he has been depicted in certain quarters as sort of decadent.

Wild, bisexual, irresponsible, lover.

>> Speaker 1: Certainly, the Freddie we knew wasn't

wildly promiscuous, he wasn't consumed by drugs,

any of these things that people are saying.

He was, he had a very responsible attitude to everyone

that he was close to, and he was a very generous, and very caring

person to all the people that came through his life.

And more than that you can't ask.

>> Freddie Mercury: I tell you we do feel absolutely bound to

stick up for him, cuz he can't stick up for himself anymore.

>> Speaker 1: Well, I think you can't defend anybody in

the context of having poor Daniel sitting next to you.

>> Freddie Mercury: Were you a fan of Queen,

and of Freddie Mercury?

>> Speaker 1: No, cuz I wasn't a fan of any music.

I just put my head down, I should imagine

down like you did into music, I put my head down into magic.

>> Freddie Mercury: You're a dick.

>> Speaker 1: Can I equally say that I'm not giving

any of the Royal family magic lessons,

which I read in the paper this week.

>> Freddie Mercury: It's winter fall.

Red skies are gleaming.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: It's 4 years since Freddie Mercury,

the lead singer from the rock group Queen, died from AIDS.

Today, owing to a combination of his foresight, and

the marvels of modern recording techniques, a new Queen album

will be released with Freddie Mercury singing.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Am I dreaming?

>> Speaker 1: It was a monumental task to, to put that

album together, which became, called Made in Heaven.

But I think it's one of our best albums, strangely enough.

>> Freddie Mercury: A Winter's Tale really

came out of that sort of desperately ill stage,

cuz we knew that the situation was closing in on us, and

so, we sort of made the most of every moment.

>> Speaker 1: They ware made very much out of an awareness

that Fred wasn't gonna be around very sound of

merry laughter skipping by.

>> Freddie Mercury: Gentle rain beating on my face.

What an extraordinary place.

>> Speaker 1: The whole album is a fantasy because it sounds

like the four of us are there all together having fun, and

making the album, but of course for most of the time when you're

listening that's not the case, it's built to sound that way.

>> Freddie Mercury: It's all so beautiful,

like a landscape painting in the sky.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Yeah, mountains are zooming high.

Little don't scream and cry.

>> Speaker 1: We felt he was almost in the corner of

the room, and had sort of known each other so well, and so

long, that we sort of you know thought he'd like that bit but

I mean he wouldn't like that bit.

And so, we sort of got there.

>> Freddie Mercury: Am I dreaming.

Am I dreaming.

>> Speaker 1: Now, having been through that I can listen to

the album, and it's just joy.

>> Freddie Mercury: Oh, it's bliss.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: And at number one,

5 years after it's original release,

Freddie Mercury's Living On My Own.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Sometimes I feel I'm

gonna break down and cry.

Nowhere to go, nothing to do with my time.

I get lonely.

So, lonely.

Living on my own.

>> Speaker 1: The very last thing he said to me,

was you can do anything you like.

With my music, my image, my life, anything.

But never make me boring.

>> Freddie Mercury: I don't have no time for no monkey business.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Speaker 1: When I decided to remix Living On My Own,

I went to EMI, and so there's a great track on his other album,

and I think we should remix it.

They didn't agree, and

they said no the album is dead it doesn't work, and

I said well in that case we'll go ahead, and do it ourselves.

And we remixed it independently, put it out independently,

and then, EMI picked up the track later,

once it had become a dance hit across the clubs of Europe.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: I got probably about 100 to 120 hate

letters from die-hard fans saying, how dare you.

What are you touching his music for?

And.

The reason I'd done that, is because Freddie had always made

it very plain, that he was not precious about what he produced.

To him it was a disposable product.

>> Speaker 1: Got to be some good times ahead.

>> Freddie Mercury: Songs are like buying a new dress,

or a new shirt.

I mean it's just, you wear it and then you discard it.

I mean people are always writing new songs.

I think okay, a certain few classics will always remain, but

as far as I'm concerned,

I like to sort of look upon it as writing new material.

What I've written in the past is finished and done with.

>> Speaker 1: Freddie Mercury was quoted as saying my songs

are disposable.

And he was either being modest, or disingenuous, but

either way he was wrong because his songs have

completely stood the test of time.

They might have been written for fun, but

actually they mean a lot to a lot of people.

And they would be listened to long after any of us are gone

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Now that we're at the 25th anniversary of

the Barcelona song, it seemed the right moment

to do what I'm quite sure Freddie would have wanted to do,

had he had the balls at the time.

Which was to do the album with full orchestra and

not with keyboards.

So, we are working with Stewart who's a musical director

from We Will Rock You in London.

And he has gone back to the album and

orchestrated it faithfully for

80 piece orchestra.

And then we will put Freddie and Montserrat's voice back onto

that, and realize the album that I think should of been

there had we had the balls to do it at the time.

>> Speaker 1: Barcelona!

>> Speaker 1: Barcelona!

>> Speaker 1: It turned out to be such a success that it sold

better after he died than before he died.

Then in 1992 the Olympics actually happened in Barcelona,

and the song goes to number two.

It succeeded in its great purpose, but

it's great purpose was after Freddie had died.

>> Freddie Mercury: Barcelona!

>> [MUSIC]

[INAUDIBLE].

>> Speaker 1: Freddy was a shy boy.

He was so worried about his skin and his teeth and

how he looked and everything.

But he overcame everything to become that rock god.

>> Freddie Mercury: Made in heaven, made in heaven.

It was all there, too.

>> Speaker 1: Do you think you're going to get to heaven?

>> Freddie Mercury: No, I don't want to.

>> Speaker 1: You don't want to?

>> Freddie Mercury: No hell's much better.

>> Speaker 1: [LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: Look at

all the interesting people that you're gonna meet down there.

>> Speaker 1: [LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: You're gonna

be there too you know.

>> Speaker 1: If it's really meant to be, so

plain to see, yeah.

Everybody, everybody, everybody- >> Freddie Mercury: He really

invented this persona, which he inhabited in public with his

outrageous sort of showmanship, etc, etc.

But at the heart of it, he was a brilliant, brilliant musician

and I think that's what people forget about Freddie Mercury.

>> [MUSIC]

>> Freddie Mercury: Written in the stars.

>> Speaker 1: How would you like to be remembered?

Oh I don't know.

I don't really think about it.

It's up to them.

When I'm dead who

cares, I don't.

Go on, again.

Yeah, mm-hm, mm-hm.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> [INAUDIBLE].

>> Freddie Mercury: Now your album's being shipped round

the world Freddie,

have you anything to say to the stations in Australia?

>> Speaker 1: Looking to actually outrage them with my

new costumes.

>> Freddie Mercury: Do you have a message for

the stations in Brazil?

>> Speaker 1: I just want them to have a carnival

every time they listen to my songs.

>> Freddie Mercury: A message for the stations in Japan.

>> Speaker 1: Japan better watch out.

>> Freddie Mercury: And do you have a message for

the stations in Mexico?

>> Speaker 1: No.

>> Freddie Mercury: [LAUGH] Why not?

>> Speaker 1: Because I don't give a shit.

[LAUGH] >> Freddie Mercury: [LAUGH]

>> Speaker 1: And finally

the stations in Sweden.

>> Freddie Mercury: Fuck everybody else, that's it.

You forgot Tibet.

Oh fucking hell, come on that's enough.