The Story of Freddie Mercury’s Last Dramatic Music Video With Queen

He insisted for several days, until he got it. On the morning of May 30, 1991, Freddie Mercury arrived at Limestone Studios in London to meet bandmates Roger Taylor and John Deacon. The idea was to film a music video for the song These are the days of our lifeone of the promotional singles from Insinuationthe last album Mercury recorded with Queen.

At that time, Freddie Mercury looked very sick . He was emaciated, very thin, and a foot injury prevented him from walking calmly. Despite the fact that in the close entourage of the group they pointed out the risk of exposing themselves, the singer of Queen did not want to know anything and pushed the group to continue creating as long as he had the strength. With their HIV/AIDS diagnosis pending since 1987, time was turning against them.

Since the group did not go on tour, precisely because of Mercury’s poor health, they had devoted their efforts to working in the studio full-time. Therefore, somewhat out of gratitude to his colleagues, Mercury had insisted on recording the music video as it should. Of course, precautions had to be taken. To disguise her skinny appearance, heavy layers of makeup were used. In addition, a set of lights was designed, which together with the black and white film gave the production a nostalgic air. The colorful vest with images of cats designed by Diana Moseley, the regular seamstress who worked with the group, brought a dose of optimism.

Back then, Freddie Mercury could barely stand . Illness had almost completely consumed him. For this reason, the directors, Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher, were asked to speed up the production as much as possible so as not to overwhelm the singer, who rested between takes because the work required a considerable effort for his limited energies.

Guitarist Brian May did not participate in the original filming session as he was on a promotional tour. Therefore, he recorded his part of the video once back in the UK, and it was digitally added to the record months later. That is why it is also included in the music video.

Although at that time Queen signed their songs as a whole, These are the days of our life is credited to drummer Roger Taylor, who received help from his peers. According to the musician, it was an introspective song, originally sparked by his fatherhood, which made him look back. “He was sitting at home in a rather thoughtful mood and he knew that Freddie was sick. and I think it comes from this somewhat melancholy state of mind”, he explains years later in an interview quoted by smooth radio .

But inevitably, the situation of Mercury conditioned the reading of the song. “I guess I was trying to give it an optimistic bias somehow: it was time then. And these are the days of our lives: today is more important than yesterday Taylor added.

The video had two versions . In the best-known, the clip ends with a close-up of Mercury singing the line, “I still love you,” after which he is seen exiting the screen. Perhaps as a last farewell to the world. But in the version released on VHS The Greatest Flix III (1999), after this Mercury take, it connects with a Brian May take to end with Taylor playing congas, while he fades.

the simple These are the days of our life was released in the UK on December 9 after the death of Mercury on November 24, with the song Bohemian Rhapsody, as a double A-side. Perhaps due to the disc shock, it debuted at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and remained at the top for five weeks. Since the band never played it live with Mercury (the last tour was the Magic Tour in 1986), it was incorporated into the Tribute Concert repertoire on April 20, 1992, when Taylor, Deacon and May played it with GeorgeMichael. with Lisa Stansfield on vocals.