Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Rock musician and lead guitarist of Queen, who built his own guitar and performed atop Buckingham Palace.
On the island
Eight records
Saturn, the Bringer of Old AgeFavourite
Royal Scottish National Orchestra (conducted by Sir Alexander Gibson)
And when I was a kid, I wrote a monologue which I used to perform to this particular 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's not 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.
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.
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
And every time I heard this record, it seemed to sort of move me 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.
But this was my pick-me-up when I was in Munich much later on. Some hard times, um, which I won't go into, but generally we used to drink till dawn, and around dawn time my 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.
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. But I'd have problems being on this desert island without her, you know, I I would you know, it it's really 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.
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.
Well, I figure on this island there's moments when I need to just get up and 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 wave the fist in the air, and this will be the record which I need to need to have with me.
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.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:29What were you like [on the roof of Buckingham Palace]? You said it was an exercise in fear management.
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 It was completely live and there was no safety net in that sense.
Presenter asks
2:37What was your special field of astronomy?
My special field was the motions of interplanetary dust, and I studied the something called the zodiacal light, which is how you do that. Very beautiful. I mean, I think I liked astronomy well, I know that it was from very early on. And I read one of Patrick Moore's books and I was hooked forever. I still am.
Presenter asks
5:23You were an only child. Give me a sketch of home and parents and your aspirations.
A very happy home, a very secure home, with just mum and dad and me. 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.
The keepsakes
The book
C. S. Lewis
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.
The luxury
the guitar I made with my dad (the Red Special)
It's a great link back to my dad, it's very important to me.
Presenter asks
15:49When was [your father] converted [to your music career]?
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. 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 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.
Presenter asks
23:50How low did you get [during that difficult period]?
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 And um yeah. Hell for years and years.
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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 being out there. But the the other stuff is is a pain in the neck, really.”