You’re watching Queen The Greatest,
and in this episode we revisit yet another
of the band’s stand out hits.
One Vision.
In September 1985,
Queen returned to Musicland Studios
in Munich with the idea of
getting together to ‘see what happened’.
It resulted in a new song that would be
only the second in their career to be
credited as written by Queen,
rather than a specific band member.
[John Deacon] “Freddie was on the phone,
and he wanted to go back in the studio
and do some more recording.
So in the end we went back in the studio
and we actually recorded another single.
It was his idea really, that we could go
in and actually write a song together.”
[John Deacon] “In fact, I was late getting
to the recording sessions because I was
actually on holiday at the time.
But, it’s credited as a Queen composition
but to be honest I’d say it was mainly
Roger, Brian and Freddie that did
most of the writing for it.”
The song’s creation began
with a riff created by Brian,
and some lyric ideas from Roger…
[Roger Taylor] “Yeah, I had a, sort of,
set of lyrics that I think I used for two
songs actually, with sort of amendments.
I think it started with those lyrics and
we literally wrote the song
between ourselves in the studio,
around those lyrics really.
We were all throwing in bits
of chicken bone.”
As the song started to take shape,
it was clear that Queen were at a stage
where this way of working suited them.
[Brian May] “We know where to stop with
each other, we know how far we can go,
and we respect each other, I think.
We think that in spite of all the problems
that we may have, that Queen is
still something that’s kind of precious.”
[Brian May] “Something happens which is
a situation where you can be creative
and it works for a long time,
you’re very lucky.
I’m sure I can leave the group
and I can find people to play who’ll do
exactly what I tell them,
but it won’t be the same as what we have.”
[Roger Taylor] “That really was a proper
collaboration of everybody,
I mean Brian came up with the riff,
and then John came up with the Bass part,
and Fred came up with a Chinese menu
which he was reading at the end.
We’ve got a version actually somewhere.
He goes through half the menu.
Which is why we kept Fried Chicken
at the end.”
Although the process had been an unusual
one for the band, the end result was
another global smash hit, even if,
as Roger admitted at the time,
the sentiment behind his original lyric
ideas had got lost along the way…
[Roger Taylor] “The original words,
actually, were about Martin Luther King,
and now I haven’t got a clue
what it’s about.
Somebody said it was about Bob Geldof,
but I don’t think it is.”
[Interviewer] “So you don’t know
what it’s about?”
[Roger Taylor] “No, not anymore.
Well they changed all my words.”
[Interviewer] “Who did?”
[Roger Taylor] “Well that rotter,
Freddie.”
On it’s way to being a fan favourite,
One Vision would also serve as a memorable
opening number for the Magic tour.