Brian May

Speaker 30:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in two thousand and two, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:29

My castaway this week is a rock musician. He'd planned on becoming an astronomer, but while he was studying for his doctorate, the music that had always occupied his spare time took over his life. This was due not only to his dedicated professionalism, he'd made his own guitar out of hardboard and a lump of mahogany, but also to the recruitment of a charismatic lead singer called Freddie Mercury. The band, yes it was Queen, was formed in the early 70s and the rest is rock music history. This summer the man who started it all stood tall on the roof of Buckingham Palace playing God Save the Queen as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations. A salute, it could be said, from one kind of royalty to another. He is Brian May. It was a great moment, Brian, you up there on the roof, banging out the national anthem, and your picture was on the front of practically every newspaper the next morning. But you said it was an exercise in fear management. What were you like...

Brian May1:23

I wasn't frightened of falling off, that wasn't the problem. Um just the fear of messing it up, I think that the chances of of of being really bad um were very high. Um

Brian May1:35

It was completely live and there was no safety net in that sense.

Presenter1:39

But apparently it was your idea to be on the roof. They wanted you somewhere else to

Brian May1:43

Yes, they asked me to open the show, but not in that situation. They wanted me to be inside the palace strolling around playing a guitar and I just couldn't see that working. So after that, I was just going to say,

Presenter1:52

Not exactly scrolling.

Brian May1:53

Uh Instruct

Presenter1:53

Trouble. I am still struck by your image.

Brian May1:55

No, and I thought well if I'm gonna do this I have to be up there, I have to be this lone piper sort of figure.

Presenter2:00

Well, that's right, but there is something terrific about that, this kind of icon of the rock industry, standing on the the very roof of the establishment, if you like.

Brian May2:08

Yeah, I think I saw it that way. It was a symbol um for my generation because of course when I started off it would have been unthinkable for somebody playing that horrendous rock guitar instrument, that loud thing on top of the Queen's Place.

Presenter2:22

And your horrendous rock guitar arrangement was that one I mentioned in the introduction, wasn't it? The one you made yourself, the Red Special.

Brian May2:27

The one that I've had all my working life, yes, that I made with my dad.

Presenter2:31

I calculate she's forty years old next year or something.

Brian May2:34

Yes, she's doing well for an old lady.

Presenter2:37

I want to I want to ask you much more about it, but none of this would have happened if you turned to astronomy, would you? I mean, what was your special field of astronomy? Was it or was it just astronomy in general that you looked at?

Brian May2:43

What's your

Brian May2:47

My special field was the motions of interplanetary dust, and I studied the something called the zodiacal light, which is how you do that.

Brian May2:56

Very beautiful. I mean, I think I liked astronomy well, I know that it was from very early on.

Brian May3:01

And I read one of Patrick Moore's books and I was hooked forever. I still am. I'm still completely.

Brian May3:07

Hooked into astronomy. And when I was a kid, I wrote a monologue which I used to.

Brian May3:13

perform to this particular um piece of music called Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age. Now it's much more appropriate now, thing's old age is getting very close. But it it's not um

Brian May3:27

It's not a a pessimistic thing at all. It it's you can hear a relentlessness in this music and a kind of timeless quality, which makes you feel like you're you're kind of walking into eternity. And I think that's a wonderful thing to to hear as you're looking up at the stars.

Presenter4:43

It's beautiful, isn't it? Part of Saturn, the bringer of old age from Host's Planet Suite, played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Sir Alexander Gibson. You say he wrote a monologue to it. What about?

Brian May4:54

It was actually um about one winter's night um and the the progress of the stars. So it was kind of an astronomical um monologue. They still have it somewhere.

Presenter5:03

You still have it somewhere.

Brian May5:05

No, I didn't sing, I just spoke it.

Presenter5:06

But do you s did you sing as a child?

Brian May5:09

All the time. Apparently, that's what my mum used to say. Apparently from the cradle I would

Brian May5:14

toddle around or crawl around or whatever, singing. Yeah, it's terrible.

Presenter5:17

And did you have curly hair?

Brian May5:18

Curly hair.

Brian May5:19

Yes, always curly hair and I hated having curly hair.

Presenter5:20

What was the big pair you did have?

Brian May5:23

Uh

Presenter5:23

You were an only child. I mean, give me a sketch of of home and parents and your aspirations.

Brian May5:30

Um

Brian May5:31

A very happy home, a very secure home, with just mum and dad and me.

Brian May5:36

I think I was lonely because I remember I had imaginary friends that I would play with and make up stories and scenarios where I'd be rescuing something or somebody, I mean. Um but very happy and Dad always used to come home at the right time with a newspaper under his arm and something for me probably.

Presenter5:55

What did he do?

Brian May5:56

Um dad was a a civil servant, but a technical civil servant. He was an an electronics draftsman, but he could turn his hand to anything. He was just an amazing person. He could fix everybody's equipment from radios to T V's. Everything that we had in our house was pretty much made by him, the radio, the T V, the record player. Eventually we made my guitar together.

Presenter6:16

And what were you like at school? I mean, were you therefore good at music there or good at chemistry or or even your physics?

Brian May6:22

Um I was a bit of a swat really. I I had a lot of application and a lot of encouragement from my parents and I liked achieving.

Brian May6:31

Um so I was a bit of a swat really. I wasn't particularly known for being good at music. I didn't have any any encouragement whatsoever from school.

Presenter6:39

So if Patrick Moore was your um astronomical hero, as it were, who were your musical heroes then?

Brian May6:46

Um the first thing I remember w was um

Brian May6:51

My dad brought a a Lonnie Donegan record home, um, with the sound of the guitar and the voice and that blues feeling. And Lonnie was really the first person who brought who brought blues into England.

Brian May7:01

Um and then I used to lay under the covers with my little crystal set, um listening to Radio Luxembourg and all the stuff which seemed very exciting and dangerous and forbidden, all those American records. So it was uh the Everley brothers, Elvis I suppose, Little Richard and Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The first time I heard Buddy Holly was just chills up the spine and ele and an electricity which I still have. That that's kind of what propelled me into wanting to make that noise I think.

Presenter7:30

Should have record number two, hm?

Brian May7:33

Strangely enough.

Brian May7:36

Fadi Hollyand and the Crickets, of course, and its Maybe Baby.

Presenter7:40

Maybe baby, I'll have you Maybe baby, you'll be true

Presenter7:47

Baby, babe, I'll have you for me

Presenter7:54

It's funny, honey, you don't care You never listen to my prayer

Presenter8:01

Maybe, baby, you will love me someday

Brian May8:08

Uh

Brian May8:09

Wow.

Presenter8:10

Great. Buddy Holly and the Crickets and Maybe Baby. That hit the spot for you when you were seven. And were you actually playing then? Did you have a guitar?

Brian May8:18

I asked for a guitar for my seventh birthday and my parents obliged. I only realize now how much that cost them, because they had absolutely no money whatsoever.

Brian May8:27

Uh but somehow they got me a guitar and it was on the end of my bed when I woke up on that morning of the seventh birthday and I'll never forget the look of it. It was very big'cause I was very small, so I could hardly get my fingers around it. And it had that particular smell. I'll never forget that sort of new varnish smell. And now I already kind of knew how to play because my dad had taught me um some chords on the ukulele banjo.

Presenter8:48

He was a George Formby fan.

Brian May8:50

He was a George Formby man, yes. And um I quickly figured out how to adapt the chords from four strings to six strings in my own way and I kind of made up my own chords.

Brian May9:01

Um but

Presenter9:01

You were a teenager before you you and he made this guitar, the the the Red Special.

Brian May9:06

Yeah.

Presenter9:07

Just you gotta tell me what it was made of,'cause I mean it's got everything to motorbike springs in it, hasn't it?

Brian May9:12

Yes, the motorbike valve springs were the sort of driving part of the tremolo arrangement. But it was made out of just junk, really. The the neck is a piece of a fireplace of a friend of ours, an old piece of mahogany. That's the mahogany piece. And it's got little wormholes which are still there, plugged up with matchsticks. And the body was made out of a piece of an oak table surrounded by blockboard. The tremolo arm is a piece of stuff that used to hold up a saddle on a bike.

Speaker 39:26

That's the smallly.

Brian May9:43

Capped by a piece of my mum's knitting needle. And the um the mother of pearl dots on the fingerboard were all filed out. I filed everyone out by hand.

Brian May9:52

Um, from my mum's button-box.

Brian May9:55

Please.

Presenter9:55

It's amazing. And it's lasted this long. It's lasted forty years.

Brian May9:59

Still works, yeah. Most like nothing else as well.

Presenter10:00

Most likely.

Presenter10:01

So you've never, you know, busted up, you've never thrown it up in the air, even for great effect in performance?

Brian May10:07

No, no, no. I did throw up a copy once and there was no one there to catch it and it bit the dust.

Brian May10:13

And I

Presenter10:14

Another one bites the dove.

Brian May10:15

Yeah.

Presenter10:15

Record number three.

Brian May10:18

Uh record number three, this doesn't sound very rock and roll really, it's Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

Brian May10:24

And this really took me all through my college days. I was at Imperial College doing physics degree.

Brian May10:31

and then astronomy, second degree. And um I was very lonely. My first proper relationship had broken up and I thought it was the end of the world. This was the girl that I was convinced I was going to marry from the age of sixteen. And um

Brian May10:45

I'm smiling now, but I wasn't then, you know. And I think I saw myself as this great tragic figure. And every time I heard this record, it seemed to sort of.

Brian May10:53

Move me.

Brian May10:55

into a place where I sort of felt comfortably sorry for myself, I suppose uncomfortably. And I thought that the singer was a girl. I kind of fell in love with the voice and it was much later that I got the record and I thought, well, where is Smokey on the front of here? I imagined I imagined her as being this sort of dusky maiden. It turned out to be a bloke.

Brian May11:14

Which is very strange, but I still think it's one of the most fantastic voices um in uh in the history of popular music, Smokey Robinson. And I think, you know, the song is everything. The song and the singer, okay. And uh it's called Tracks of My Teens.

Presenter11:29

I need you again, I need you.

Presenter11:35

Since you left me up you see me with another girl Seeming like I'm havin' fun

Speaker 311:43

Yeah.

Speaker 311:43

Yeah.

Presenter11:43

Although she may be cute, she's just a substitute because you're the permanent one So take a girl

Presenter11:58

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles with Tracks of My Tears. You said that was the you said you got used to

Brian May12:03

Still gets me every time. Yeah, see that's what made me want to write songs, you know, that connection from heart to heart that can really grab you.

Presenter12:10

And you want people to identify.

Brian May12:13

Yeah, to express and to empathize and ah, it's wonderful.

Presenter12:13

To see.

Presenter12:15

Yeah.

Presenter12:17

Well, obviously you're deeply connected with your own emotions. I mean it's

Brian May12:21

Yes, I mean, I was brought up as a scientist. It's very odd, you know, I have a there's a side of me which is very factual and I can I can sort out every problem. And of course the problems you can't solve are the emotional ones and they turn out to be the most powerful things in your life. You think you can order your life, but um, you know, the the emotional side of my life has always been a a

Brian May12:42

A roller coaster, I suppose you would say.

Presenter12:45

bit of a nightmare sometimes

Brian May12:46

Mm, yeah, but you ha you if you if you're hardened off, you're not living. You you have to be vulnerable, I think, to

Presenter12:52

But you were saying that's sometimes why people want to become pop stars, to kind of overcome this emotional valor.

Brian May12:58

I think so, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it rather than stand around at a dance when you're a kid and and worry about rejection, it's it's much better to get up on the stage and just pound something out. Then you're in a very powerful position and you don't have to worry about all that.

Presenter13:11

Now you were doing that all the time you were at school and university, weren't you? You had a band on the side.

Brian May13:16

Yes, I had bands of various kinds.

Presenter13:18

And indeed you went after university, you went to teach briefly in a in a comprehensive I mean, did did did the kids then know that that's what you did by night?

Brian May13:26

No, they didn't. No. I was really doing three things at at once. I was trying to write up my PhD.

Brian May13:32

I was rehearsing what was to become Queen and I was teaching in the comprehensive school to try and make enough money to finish off my PhD.

Presenter13:40

By this time, of course, you'd met Freddie, hadn't you? He Freddie Bulsara as he then was.

Brian May13:42

That's right.

Brian May13:44

I met him through friends once I was um at Imperial College, and he was a friend of uh our current singer.

Brian May13:51

And he used to come along very flamboyant character even in those days. He kind of looked like a star, even though he obviously wasn't, and he behaved like one.

Brian May14:00

And we thought, well, a bit of an eccentric character

Presenter14:02

But you didn't know he could sing.

Brian May14:02

Uh

Brian May14:03

No, no, well, what he said he could sing, but a lot of people say they can sing, don't they?

Presenter14:09

And did he think of the name Queenview? Was that his invention?

Brian May14:12

I think that was his idea. We had a whole list of names.

Brian May14:16

which came from all of us. And we would try them out on Friends and see what the reaction was. And when we said Queen, there was always a reaction. Not always a good one, but there was some kind of reaction.

Presenter14:25

Because of its camp connotation people say you're not gonna call yourself

Brian May14:27

Yeah, so you know, it was a sort of odd thing, you know, why would you want to call yourself that? And so it stuck, and that's what we went with, yeah. It had other connotations. Yeah, there was the sort of camp thing which I was quite comfortable with, it doesn't bother me.

Presenter14:35

It had other

Brian May14:40

and didn't at the time, um, this sort of ambiguity thing. It was kind of fun in those days and everything was very you know, androgynous was cool in those days in Kennedy to Market and the sort of places we moved.

Presenter14:52

But it took you ages, didn't it? I mean, I think that first album was two or three years in the kind of bird. That's right.

Brian May14:58

That's right, overnight success takes a long time.

Presenter15:02

But then it happened round about, I think, seventy three, something like that.

Brian May15:06

Gradually started to happen, yes.

Presenter15:08

And you, in the meantime, had turned down an offer of a job from Joddrell Bank, no less.

Brian May15:12

Yes, the crunch came. I had to decide between astronomy and and music, and I had a couple of wonderful offers. Jodrelbank was one of them, and I I could have gone up there to what was the state of the art radio astronomy establishment of the world at that time.

Brian May15:26

And it was a really hard decision. I have to admit now, although I wouldn't have admitted at the time, that I stayed in London for music. And that would have that would have really upset my dad.

Presenter15:34

That would have really upset my dad.

Brian May15:36

Yeah, yeah, my dad was upset and he said

Presenter15:38

I mean, it was not a proper job what you were doing.

Brian May15:40

A proper job is the word. Yeah, he said, you know, you're throwing up your education. How could you do this? You've got this wonderful education. What are you doing?

Presenter15:49

When was he converted?

Brian May15:51

He was converted when I flew my mum and dad on Concord out to New York and they came to see us play in Madison Square Garden.

Brian May16:00

a mythical, magical place, and I put them up in uh I think it was the Ritz and said, Look, Mum and Dad, you know, you can

Brian May16:07

Order what you like, we're rich Joking of course and um my dad looked at me afterwards and said, Okay, I get it, I understand, I can see why this has got you and I can see that it's worthwhile, I can see what it does to people and um good luck to you.

Speaker 116:11

And

Presenter16:16

Yeah.

Presenter16:24

Got number four.

Brian May16:26

Record number four. This is well into Queen Time that this happened to me. This is called Back on My Feet Again and it's by a little known group called The Babies. But this was my pick-me-up when I was in Munich much later on.

Brian May16:39

Some hard times, um, which I won't go into, but generally we used to drink till dawn, and around dawn time my

Brian May16:47

fantastic tech who was called Jobby, Brian Zellis at the time, used to drive me home and um I'd generally be pretty sad for one reason or another um and he'd put this on the car radio and this would pick me up and I would be like punching the air and I'd be I'd be ready for everything again.

Speaker 117:06

I was so lonely until I met you Told myself I'd get by without love

Speaker 117:14

Drowning my sorrows, I fought in tomorrow's kinda felt that I just had enough.

Speaker 117:22

You line up my face with your jokes and your smiles And the way that you came every night

Speaker 117:29

Don't know what you got, but I'm sure glad I found it could be

Presenter17:36

Back on my feet again and the babies. And your dad charted your career ever after that. Wasn't he your greatest fan?

Brian May17:42

Yes, he was so supportive. Everywhere we went in the world he was plotting our progress and he was plotting the progress of the uh records in the charts all round the world on graphs. Amazing.

Presenter17:54

Yeah.

Presenter17:55

Two years in to your success, you recorded Bohemian Rhapsody, five minutes, fifty-five seconds. I I I read it was beautiful. Pure magic. Short for an opera, but long for a pop song. Revolutionary stuff. Everybody said it it wouldn't happen because it was too long. What what made the difference? What made it catch on?

Brian May18:01

Of pure magic.

Brian May18:03

Sure.

Brian May18:13

I don't think we'll ever really know. In this country, Kenny Everett got hold of it and played it to death, which was wonderful. Before it was even finished, he was playing it on the radio over and over again. So it gave us a massive start in this country. But I suppose in the rest of the world it was the video which gave the in. You know, the videos didn't exist as such in those days as promotional vehicles. We made this very cheap little piece of tat as a video, you know. I mean, it was made on a shoestring and very sort of tongue-in-cheek, but it just put across the atmosphere of the sort of madness of the record.

Presenter18:45

Is that the one we still see, which begins with your heads kind of floating bodiless around black class, isn't it?

Brian May18:49

Yeah.

Brian May18:51

Absolutely.

Brian May18:53

That's right. Yeah, it's a very sort of iconic image.

Presenter18:56

And it was, obviously, a an incredibly distinctive sound because I mean, you really do create a whole orchestra and a whole opera company on that track, don't you?

Brian May19:06

Yes, and it's just the four of us, yes. It was a quite a departure.

Presenter19:08

It was a

Presenter19:10

So that so a lot is done in the studio and a lot in post-production work. It's kind of layered and layered and layered so that you're all multiplied.

Brian May19:18

Yes, like painting a picture in the studio.

Presenter19:20

But doesn't that mean therefore obviously, self-evidently, you can't recreate that on the stage. It means that that that Queen, the recording artists, were quite different from

Brian May19:25

That's right.

Presenter19:30

Queen the Live Band

Brian May19:31

That's absolutely true, and we always treated it as separate. And it's noticeable we never played the whole of Bohemian Rhapsody on stage. When it came to the operatic bit, we would go off and change our frocks and come bursting on back for the last bit, and there would be a light show for the middle bit. Yes, we never attempted to recreate the studio sound on stage. It was separate.

Presenter19:50

But I wonder which gave you personally greatest enjoyment, because in in that sense one feels you're your father's son, because although you had great technicians, you spent a lot of time

Brian May19:57

Do you spend a lot of time?

Presenter19:59

You have done, time and time again, over the decades, haven't you, in a studio?

Brian May20:04

I get great satisfaction from that. I like the um the sort of craftsmanship side, but I think the greatest buzz is always the live thing, you know, and that's really that's not craftsmanship, that's the sort of moment of spontaneity and art, if you like, and and connection and adrenaline and all that sort of stuff. It's wonderful. There's nothing quite like that moment when you connect with an audience and something is coming out of you which never came out before. They're rare moments, but they they're just the most wonderful thing you can you can experience, really.

Presenter20:35

Next record.

Brian May20:35

Uh

Brian May20:36

Well, one of the most wonderful things you can experience. The next one, record number five, is my darling wife, as she is now, she wasn't then.

Brian May20:47

And she's singing To Know Him is to Love Him. Now, this is a recreation of a Phil Spector song, originally done by the Teddy Bears, and the original is damn good.

Brian May20:59

But I'd have problems being on this desert island without her, you know, I I would you know, it it's really

Brian May21:05

She's such a big part of my life. She's kind of welded to my soul. And I would need to be able to hear her voice on the island, so I've chosen this. And um there's a bit of me playing the guitar on this as well, which I don't often hear, I must say. Um

Brian May21:20

But it was a moment, a moment of sort of um

Brian May21:24

Wonder and terror I suppose and magic and tragedy because my marriage was breaking up. I didn't know it at this time, but it was. And um I was sort of we were irresistibly heading towards each other um and trying to resist but these things you can't resist. There are certain things in life which you don't have control over, I have discovered. And um you can fight and you can struggle but basically it happens and um

Brian May21:50

I'm happy to say we're married now, which is great. But this is when we were children really, putting this together.

Speaker 321:58

No, no, no him is to love, love, love him Just, just to see him smile Maybe

Speaker 122:09

Big smile

Presenter22:11

Life worthwhile to know, know, know him is to love, love, love him, and I do

Presenter22:21

Yes, I do.

Presenter22:28

Mita Dobson, my Costaway's wife, singing to know him is to love him. And there you are, Brian May, playing guitar on there as well. You've been together since the late eighties and Queen had stopped touring by then, hadn't they? Because I think Freddie announced in 1986 that he didn't want to tour any more. Did you do you think he had AIDS then or knew he did then?

Brian May22:49

Yes, I think he knew. Uh we didn't know until much later. But um

Brian May22:55

Yeah, he knew that at that time. And it was much later when he said, Look, you know what I'm dealing with and I don't want to talk about it.

Speaker 122:57

That time.

Brian May23:03

I just want to get on with it and make music and uh

Brian May23:06

Um be as normal as we can until it's until it's over.

Presenter23:09

How great a bl I mean, obviously you deal with the personal grief of losing a a very, very close friend, but professionally, how great a blow was it?

Brian May23:18

Oh, huge. Um we were a family and we developed together. Um so it's it's a gap which can never be filled, absolutely. Th there isn't a day goes by where um a thought about that doesn't pop into my head.

Presenter23:34

So that was one kind of family you lost. You'd also your father had died, hadn't he, by then?

Brian May23:39

Yes, it was what you would call a difficult time. My father died around that time too. Um my marriage broke up.

Brian May23:46

And um I felt that I lost I felt I was losing my kids and

Presenter23:50

How low did you get?

Brian May23:51

Um absolutely to the bottom. And I didn't get treatment, which w in retrospect I should have done. I just kind of tried to swim through it. Um

Brian May24:02

And um yeah.

Presenter24:03

Yeah.

Brian May24:04

Hell for years and years.

Presenter24:05

You did get treatment eventually, though.

Brian May24:07

Well, I sort of got low in another period later on and I eventually did get treatment, yes, which was great. It was the best thing I ever did. I went to this place where it was like a sort of a rebirth really, you know, something between a university and um and a treatment centre and whatever. But the best thing I ever did, yes, was to actually hold up my hand and say, Okay, I can't cope. I think there was a fundamental lack of loss of self in me. And that might sound strange from someone who's strutting on stage looking very confident and whatever, but of course that's that's a show, you know, and there is a part of me which can find the strength to do that at any point. But when you're alone later on in in your room or whatever, it's a different story.

Presenter24:49

He got suicidal at one point, I read. Or was that an exaggeration?

Brian May24:53

No, it's not an exu exaggeration. No, it it um

Brian May24:58

No, it's not an exaggeration. I I I certainly didn't want to live and that's when I realized I had to to check into some place and and be sorted and it was the right decision. I feel great these days.

Presenter25:10

You always look in in in in an artist's work for um for this kind of thing, because obviously if you if you're not in your work, who is? And and I I suppose one looks as you talk like that at uh at um

Brian May25:11

Great.

Brian May25:19

I suppose

Presenter25:23

That song you wrote too much love will kill you in the end. I mean, was that kind of...

Brian May25:26

Yeah.

Presenter25:27

Yes.

Brian May25:29

Yes, those two solo albums were very straight from the heart and um yes, it's all in there someplace if you want to get into that. I suppose the g the nice thing is if you're writing stuff like that you're hoping again that you're communicating with people and if you're expressing stuff like that it's expressing it for them too.

Speaker 125:38

Uh

Speaker 325:38

Uh

Presenter25:49

Two.

Brian May25:50

Um so yes, I poured it all into the music and um

Presenter25:54

Too much love will kill you if you can't make up your mind.

Brian May25:56

Yeah.

Presenter25:57

Yeah.

Brian May25:58

Will almost kill you.

Presenter26:00

Yeah.

Brian May26:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm glad we're not playing that today.

Brian May26:04

Uh

Presenter26:05

What are we playing? I'm just a

Brian May26:07

We are playing Since You've Been Gone.

Brian May26:10

By Rainbow.

Brian May26:13

Again, it's a big uplift, because I'm on this desert island and I'm going to get moments where I'm going to get blue. And this always gets me and picks me up.

Speaker 126:21

Just goes to show you don't give my favourite Since you've been gone, since you've been gone

Speaker 126:29

Out of my head, can't take it.

Brian May26:33

Could I be wrong, but since you've been gone

Brian May26:37

You catch this bounce so break it!

Presenter26:45

Uh

Brian May26:48

Since you bingo

Presenter26:50

Rainbow and since you've been gone, um you kind of implied that that that it was sort of therapy going out on the road solo as it were.

Brian May26:59

Partly, yes. I just plunged into it, you know, that so I couldn't tour with Queen any more and I just thought, Okay, I can still tour, I guess and I went straight out there. Well, I suppose I went straight in the studio.

Brian May27:08

Finished the solo album and then went straight out on tour.

Presenter27:13

But you'd spent all those years kind of just right of centre as it were, hadn't you? Looking very comfortable.

Brian May27:17

Um

Brian May27:18

Amen.

Presenter27:20

But Freddie was comfortable. Yeah, Freddie was the lead guy. He did the talking. He was a kind of front man, and he was the one who was.

Brian May27:21

I was comfortable.

Brian May27:26

That's right, he was the vehicle. He was the the medium in a sense. Everything flowed through him and suddenly I had to sort of take that position in my own band.

Presenter27:28

He was

Presenter27:34

That was hard, wasn't it? I mean, there's tales of you kind of going to play your guitar and you've still got the mic in your hand or that's what I'm getting stranded out on stage and not getting back to the mic in time to get it.

Brian May27:39

That's right.

Brian May27:43

Exactly. Yes, it's a whole re-education process. And I enjoyed it. It was a fantastic challenge. And in that period I didn't want to talk about Queen. I just wanted to talk about the new thing. And my attitude was, yeah, Queen was this part of my life and now I have another part. I decided in the end that I wasn't a singer. I have to say, I don't think I'll do that again because I don't feel satisfied with the way I sing. I don't have the right instrument. It's great to try. And I love to sing, you know, but I don't think that I'm a singer.

Presenter27:44

DS

Presenter28:09

And you said you you you felt sort of Freddy sitting there, egging you on.

Presenter28:14

on occasions.

Brian May28:15

Definitely. In fact, when I made Driven by You, I played it to Freddie, and that was um.

Brian May28:20

When things were still, you know, as they were. And I said, Freddie, do you fancy singing this? And he went, No, no, no, no, darling. You know, you sing it perfectly well. Just get on with it. And he said, And and

Brian May28:30

In a quieter moment he said, Look, I know you're hesitating about this because of what's going on you know, he said but go for it. You know, you've got your career ahead of you. Don't don't let what's happening here stand in your way. Put it out and get on with your solo career. He was very supportive.

Presenter28:45

Number seven.

Brian May28:46

Number seven. Ah yeah. Well, I figure on this island there's moments when I need to just get up and

Brian May28:53

And let it all explode out of me and uh do some air guitar. I'll go to the highest point in the island and scream and shout and

Brian May29:00

Wave the fist in the air, and this will be the record which I need to need to have with me.

Presenter29:05

Why does Brian May need to do ergota handle? That's for the rest of us.

Brian May29:09

Oh, it's fun really, I suppose. It's just a a body thing. A C D C to me are the purest form and there's nothing like an A C D C concert to sort of clear you out and bring you back to basics. I love it. Nobody's gonna mess me around Pay Shaja Pay Mages

Speaker 129:33

Ow!

Speaker 129:40

Let us not a rockin' fam.

Speaker 129:43

Hey Mama, look at me. I love that way you

Brian May29:49

The promise land Right under my

Presenter29:56

Highway to Hell by A C D C. So you've uh Brian May done uh a musical of Queen's music. You're not gonna do any solo tours anymore. What are you gonna do? You're not that old.

Brian May30:07

I'm pretty happy wearing the Queen hat again for a while. It's surprisingly enough. You know, I think the musical brought Roger and I back together. We get on very well.

Brian May30:15

And we've done some playing. We played together at the Jubilee. So it's on the cards we might do some more playing together. So we can. We can't.

Brian May30:23

be queen like in the old days, but we can be in that area and I feel

Brian May30:27

Finally, after protesting for years, happy with that again.

Presenter30:31

Happy with Queen.

Brian May30:32

Yeah

Presenter30:32

It was uh it was George Harrison who said, I asked to be successful at what I do, I never asked to be famous. Isn't that correct?

Brian May30:38

Great quote, I use that often.

Presenter30:40

Do you it's it's it is how you feel, isn't it?

Brian May30:40

It's it's

Brian May30:42

It is, yeah. I hate this celebrity stuff. It's a it's a a real millstone round your neck. I like being excellent at what I do and I love doing it. I love playing and

Brian May30:54

being out there. But the the other stuff is is a pain in the neck, really.

Presenter30:57

So the it's the loss of freedom, the loss of privacy you you don't like.

Brian May31:01

It just makes everything more difficult, I think. You know, when you're trying to do things with your kids and somebody's trying to make you do something, you know, sign bits of paper or

Brian May31:09

Take photographs or whatever. I wonder what happens to all these bits of paper really.

Brian May31:13

You know, and if you say no, you're a bastard, you know, and if you s if you say yes, you feel like

Brian May31:18

Well, if you say yes all the time, you feel like you're not a person anymore. You don't have any choice. So I treasure my choice.

Presenter31:24

But it does mean that the desert island is for you. It will suit you just fine.

Brian May31:28

It'll do pretty well for a while, yes.

Presenter31:31

What are you going to do there with yourself? How are you going to occupy yourself?

Brian May31:34

I'll probably get busy, you know. I like building stuff, so I'll build my house and everything, and I'll uh

Brian May31:39

I'll probably find some way to build a telescope. We'll have to find some way to play guitar, because I have to play guitar, it's part of my life.

Brian May31:45

Um

Presenter31:46

Is there a day goes by that you don't play the guitar?

Brian May31:49

Yes, there are days, sometimes, because I get busy, and sometimes that's one of the regrets I have, I don't play as much as I used to.

Brian May31:56

Um but I'll get the chance here, because there won't be the desk with a pile of mail on it.

Presenter32:02

Last record.

Presenter32:04

Yeah.

Brian May32:04

Uh

Presenter32:05

Well this is you.

Brian May32:05

Well, this is you. Ah, yes. This was a last-minute thought. I wasn't going to put anything of our own in, but.

Brian May32:13

It does seem like a good idea. You know, I'm I'm proud of what we did in Queen. It was a great journey and it's left the world with something. And We Will Rock You is heard all around this planet at football matches and whatever, baseball matches and in the streets. And it's something that I am proud of. I must say, every time I hear it, I think, okay, you know, at least something is there when I go. And it's something which does bring people together, make people feel uplifted and strong.

Brian May32:44

It's kind of a little protest song in its way, ironically, but it it is a thing of strength. So it'll help me too on the island and I'll think, Yeah, I have this link still and somewhere, someplace this is being sung or or performed. So this is We Will Rock You.

Speaker 133:04

Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise, playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday. You got mud on your face, you big disgrace, kicking your can all over the place, singing

Presenter33:32

We Will Rock You, written and performed by my castaway Brian May and Queen. It's sort of two minutes dead, no messing about that one.

Brian May33:40

Absolutely, three ages a man, two minutes.

Presenter33:43

If you could only take one of those eight records, which one would you take?

Brian May33:46

Oh, God Now that's an awful question.

Brian May33:49

Um

Brian May33:51

Do you know, I think it's gonna be number one. I think it's gonna be the

Brian May33:55

The planet's sweet, because there's so much in there, there's so much depth.

Brian May33:59

And there are still things which I need to find out about it.

Brian May34:04

I think I'll probably take that.

Presenter34:06

What about your book? You've got the Bible, you've got the complete works of Shakespeare.

Brian May34:10

My book is Out of the Silent Planet by C S Lewis.

Brian May34:15

Um written, I suppose, almost as a children's book, but it's a very adult kind of children's book. It's a very spiritual thing. It's on the face of it a science fiction story, but underneath it is a view of the universe which I really hope is true.

Presenter34:31

And your luxury.

Brian May34:32

And you're like

Brian May34:33

Home.

Presenter34:34

Guess what?

Brian May34:35

Well it has to be the guitari, not just a guitar, it has to be the guitar which has been with me all my sort of working life, the one which me and my dad made. It's a great link back to my dad, it's very important to me.

Brian May34:49

And I would have to play. I would have to be there playing. I hope I can plug it into something. My plan is to plug it into the record player.

Presenter34:55

It's a wind-up grammar fancy.

Brian May34:56

Well, yeah, I knew you were going to say that.

Presenter34:59

Can you plug it into Surgery?

Brian May34:59

Plug us into such a message.

Brian May35:12

Jungle. Well, I'm gonna have one of those and it's gonna be wind up but it's electric so I can plug the guitar in and uh

Presenter35:18

Complete contradiction. It's clockwork actually.

Brian May35:19

Clockwork, actually. It's clockwork, but it's yeah, you know, it's gonna work. It's gonna work.

Presenter35:23

It's going to work. Brian May, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Brian May35:28

Thank you, sir.

Speaker 335:35

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.