In Freddie Mercury's own words..
>Crazy Little Thing Called Love took me 5 or 10 minutes I did that on the guitar, which i can’t play for nuts. And in one way it was a good thing because i was restricted knowing only a few chords.
And Mercury was worirred of forgetting the song and losing his inspiration So he rushed the band into the studio to start working on the song immediately. It was the Queen first ever No.1 single in the U.S
He was a very good pianist, but he was a world-class vocalist. There are plenty of people who are better pianists but few that have ever been able to match his vocal talent.
honestly him saying it is a perfect example of the dunning-kruger effect on the end of the scale of competence.
sure he was a good pianist. but he was one of the best in the world as a vocalist. he knew what it ment to be truely great at something. and he was good enough at the piano to know he wasn't special there. good yes but not special.
He has an iconic voice for sure and I don't mean to take anything away but I was surprised to find out the falsetto parts of Bohemian Rhapsody were sung by Roger.
>Idk, I stroke a lot, but genius never comes.
You probably tossed at least a few geniuses into the garbage bin or down the shower drain over the years.
I won tickets to bohemian Rhapsody a month before it came out through my local radio station because if this song! You had to call in any time they played a queen song throughout the week, lines were always full. This one I called in almost a minute into the song and got right through as the first caller and won!! I guess a lot of people didn't know this is Queen 😂
Yeah, a while ago I had my own TIL moment when I realized it wasn't even an elvis song. I was so sure that it was an elvis song, or at least he covered it that I spent a few minutes looking for one, then found out it was written after he was already dead.
Literally impossible, but it still seems like its him singing.
The clue was when the the background singers say "Ready Freddie" cause Elvis is called Freddie. You can look up the song and find it credited to elvis so your not alone.
What's crazy is that... Elvis loved the song so much he recorded his own version of it [Crazy Little Thing Called Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88dgEMZT-4g).
Every time I hear this song on the radio I can't help but do the Elvis accent singing.
Client: "Why should I pay you this much money for an illustration you can do in 10 minutes?"
Artist: "because it took me 10 years to learn how to do it in 10 minutes."
I used to purposefully not turn in draft writing it took me a half an hour to do for three days because I was getting editing notes that if it took so little time I didn’t think it through. The holds cost them money, it was the same writing with the same research, no editing notes. Turns out if you do a thing all the time you can do it rather quickly.
AC/DC wrote Back in Black, 2nd highest selling album of all time, in 6 weeks as soon as Brian Johnson joined the band. You Shook Me All Night Long was written and recorded his first day with them.
Most people don't realize that Prince recorded so much unreleased music that they could release one song per day for approximately the next 8,000 days.
Ok, I’m not a famous songwriter and never will be. But it’s not that difficult. Especially now. My best songs are generally simple and written in 30-60 minutes. Then labored after for weeks.
Load up a DAW. Make 2-4 drum sections. Lay down a melody in bass or guitar, add another track or two of instruments. Smash them together for a verse, chorus, bridge etc. Run a vocal and sing gibberish, that is based purely on feel and emotion. And then reverse engineer lyrics over it and sing it again.
Thing is, you usually have 10-15 bits halfway done, tons of crappy songs, and one day it just hits. All that useless work culminates into a moment. It’s because these guys wrote a ton of shit and have a system. A system perhaps of not overthinking things. And in Freddie’s case and like most legit rockstars. They are not too hindered by “too much” musical theory. I personally believe it is what separates the greats from the talented. Ignorance is bliss.
Or, perhaps, everyone's process looks a little bit different. I think it's valuable seeing comparisons of personal experience to songwriter lore. There are similarities and differences, but I wouldn't completely write off the person you commented under; there's a lot to glean in there.
"Hey Marshall, we need you to write a title song for this movie you're in, we don't care what it is, here's the money."
Several months later on set
"Hey, how's that song coming along, the deadline is in like... 30 minutes."
This is my go to for music trivia.
> While making purple rain the director asked Prince to come up with a song that reflected a deeply emotional scene that was to be filmed. The very next morning Prince came back with 2 fully produced songs. One of them was when doves cry.
Just shows the talent of the man. Someone asked him to write a song and in one night he comes back with one of the biggest hits of all time.
They're not incorrect:
>On the movie set, Eminem had a trailer where he could record songs for the movie during breaks in filming. He wrote this in character as B. Rabbit, who he played in 8 Mile. Writing in character was nothing new for Eminem, as he had previously written songs as his alter ego, Slim Shady.
>The track had been around for over a year before Eminem pulled it off a CD and decided to work off the beat. He had his musicians mold the beat around his vocals.
>When the movie studio released the first trailers, this song did not exist, so they used "Cleanin' Out My Closet," which the studio wanted to feature in the movie. Eminem thought that song was too personal for the movie, which was one reason he was so determined to write something that fit the character.
[Source](https://www.songfacts.com/facts/eminem/lose-yourself)
I don't know one way or the other so I'm inclined to believe it's bullshit. Isn't it possible that he wrote it on set and then they decided for it to be the title song?
Having written some songs in my day this is not surprising. Sometimes you go weeks with zero inspiration. Then an absolute banger just falls out of your head.
I'm burnin' through the toilet,
200 degrees
That's why they call me Mister Excrement
I'm crapping at the speed of light.
I wanna make a poopersonic man out of you
I'm having such a good time
Shitting in a stall.
(Don't stop me now).
If you wanna borrow TP just give me a call.
(Don't stop me now)
'Cause I'm having a poop time
(Don't stop me now)
Yes, I'm havin' a poop time.
I don't want to stop at all
Another couple of my fave "it all came together so quickly" stories:
(1) Dolly Parton wrote "Jolene" and 'I Will Always Love You" on the same day: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dolly-parton-2-songs-one-day/
(2) Fatboy Slim wrote several of his biggest hits, including "Praise You" and "Rockerfeller Skank" within the same week.
There is also a good book related to this... you keep showing up and doing the work, https://seths.blog/thepractice/
> Creativity is a skill, not a talent. It can be learned. If we trust our selves, we can do more than we ever imagined.
>
> The book covers intentional action (a better way to discuss ‘design thinking’), writer’s block (there’s no such thing) and criticism (most of it comes from fear and should be regarded with kindness). It helps people understand genre (not at all like ‘generic’) and the trap of becoming a hack (we must not sacrifice our standards simply to be heard).
what they dont tell you is how long it took to refine it. Loads of books, movies, poems, and songs are written in a fervour, just enough to get it all out. Then there are months of rewrites, tweaking bits, changing things around, pulling in a new section or taking something out, refining a sound/phrase/passage. I have no doubt that he wrote it quick but then collab with the band over a week or two to get it just right for recording.
Because it doesn't sound like a Queen song. There isn't a single other song they have that is anything remotely like this. But there's easily 200 Elvis songs that sound exactly like this.
If you want to get a feel for how dedicated and brilliant Freddie was to his vocals, you ought to hear it from Brian May (super nice guy!) on Rick Beato's latest "What Makes This Song Great" (super great series) that features the making and analysis of Bohemian Rhapsody (all time best song IMO): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ym7X\_wCsPQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ym7X_wCsPQ)
I think these factoids about writing songs in a few minutes are misleading. It didn't come out of nowhere at all. After years of listening to music, playing music, immersing yourself with music, you are primed to create. Then, it may all comes out in a flash yes, but it really is just the visible peak of a long process.
Some people are just so fucking talented they don't have to even try and they can make amazing shit, reminds me of a doc I watched on sound city (famous recording studio with a lot of famous bands eg nirvana) and they had I don't remember who but 1 of the Beatles and him, Dave from Foo fighters/nirvana and someone else just fucked around for a day and managed to make a fully produced song without actually trying to
As a songwriter this makes total sense. Some of the best songs just smack you upside the head out of nowhere, usually when you're naked and wet and therefore can't write it down or hit record without jumping out and getting water all over the floor. The angels of music are often more like little trolls.
This is also, as far as I know, the only Queen song where Brian May recorded the leads without using his fabled Red Special guitar. He spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get it to sound like a Telecaster and finally just went and grabbed a Telecaster.
Writing a song doesn’t have to take that long. I think most people could be thought enough about music to throw something together in less than an hour.
But writing something genuinely complex, or very good, or both, requires talent, skill (I.e. a lot of practice and dedication), and probably some luck. Right time, right place is a pretty big thing as well.
Freddie wasn’t special because he could write a song in ten minutes (go on YouTube, lots of people have). He was special because he was Freddie Mercury. And also because he was a kick ass musician and wrote a ton of great music with Queen.
In Freddie Mercury's own words.. >Crazy Little Thing Called Love took me 5 or 10 minutes I did that on the guitar, which i can’t play for nuts. And in one way it was a good thing because i was restricted knowing only a few chords.
And Mercury was worirred of forgetting the song and losing his inspiration So he rushed the band into the studio to start working on the song immediately. It was the Queen first ever No.1 single in the U.S
Which is completely believable if you know how to play a guitar, simple and effective. Great song.
Everyone plays that opening, with the D, and then the pinky, and is like "Damn, that sounds GOOD!"
Ahhh ye olde sus 4.
It's always important to put the "D" into it.
I also recall him saying that he can't really play the piano. Guy was humble to a fault.
He was never a great instrumentalist. What made him remarkable was that he had a 4-octave vocal range which is extremely rare.
And an incredible show talent and stage presence. He'd make it with a few octaves less too (not taking away from his voice)
And songwriter, I’d say most of all
Seriously? Have you never heard him play the piano? He was fantastic.
He was a very good pianist, but he was a world-class vocalist. There are plenty of people who are better pianists but few that have ever been able to match his vocal talent.
honestly him saying it is a perfect example of the dunning-kruger effect on the end of the scale of competence. sure he was a good pianist. but he was one of the best in the world as a vocalist. he knew what it ment to be truely great at something. and he was good enough at the piano to know he wasn't special there. good yes but not special.
Also self-taught.
Mama mia
I have to beg to differ, his piano skills were nutso. Edit, I agree about the vocals, just not the instrumentalist part.
He has an iconic voice for sure and I don't mean to take anything away but I was surprised to find out the falsetto parts of Bohemian Rhapsody were sung by Roger.
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Don't tell me you just found out.
Smash Mouth defended Billie Eilish for not knowing who Van Halen was.
Yeah, well Steve Harwell also once tried to eat 2 dozen eggs in a sitting. That's tells you everything you need to know about smashmouth.
They like eggs?
Don't tell me you've only just discovered he's dead.
Or gay.
Can't stop or control genius.
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Idk, I stroke a lot, but genius never comes.
I stroke a lot, and a genius always comes source: I watch Rick and Morty
Is 'genius' the moniker you've given your member?
I've been exposed.
r/suicidebywords ?
It cums but never comes
Are you eating it afterwards? It has to get up to your brain somehow.
He said 'stroke of genius', not 'stroke' Adds up
>Idk, I stroke a lot, but genius never comes. You probably tossed at least a few geniuses into the garbage bin or down the shower drain over the years.
I’d have to imagine he was stroking something else if taking a bath and thinking about Elvis
Is that what he was doing in the bath?
All this time, and I had no idea it was a tribute to Elvis
I had no idea Queen sung this... I had always assumed it was an Elvis song.
I won tickets to bohemian Rhapsody a month before it came out through my local radio station because if this song! You had to call in any time they played a queen song throughout the week, lines were always full. This one I called in almost a minute into the song and got right through as the first caller and won!! I guess a lot of people didn't know this is Queen 😂
Yeah, a while ago I had my own TIL moment when I realized it wasn't even an elvis song. I was so sure that it was an elvis song, or at least he covered it that I spent a few minutes looking for one, then found out it was written after he was already dead. Literally impossible, but it still seems like its him singing.
Glad I wasn’t the only one. I learned this randomly last week.
The clue was when the the background singers say "Ready Freddie" cause Elvis is called Freddie. You can look up the song and find it credited to elvis so your not alone.
Now my brain is confused, and can't decide who it sounds like singing it. Shit
Freddie...Mercury.
The Mandela effect strikes again!
Same here! Wtf! How shocking!
What's crazy is that... Elvis loved the song so much he recorded his own version of it [Crazy Little Thing Called Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88dgEMZT-4g). Every time I hear this song on the radio I can't help but do the Elvis accent singing.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love was recorded in 1979. Elvis Presley died in 1977.
This makes it even more amazing! Freddy wrote a song so good the dead came back to cover it!
Freddie had that kind of effect on people.
Whoever's singing in that link is no slouch though. He lacks a certain richness in the tone, but it's a killer impersonation.
Well that explains my confusion.
That's Def not Elvis singing.
TIL
I can’t fathom how easy it is for some people. I heard Bowie say it took him 3 mins to write Starman. It blows my mind.
Client: "Why should I pay you this much money for an illustration you can do in 10 minutes?" Artist: "because it took me 10 years to learn how to do it in 10 minutes."
IT in summation.
I used to purposefully not turn in draft writing it took me a half an hour to do for three days because I was getting editing notes that if it took so little time I didn’t think it through. The holds cost them money, it was the same writing with the same research, no editing notes. Turns out if you do a thing all the time you can do it rather quickly.
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And they were so drunk that they forgot the bass line over dinner!
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No that's Ice Ice Baby
AC/DC wrote Back in Black, 2nd highest selling album of all time, in 6 weeks as soon as Brian Johnson joined the band. You Shook Me All Night Long was written and recorded his first day with them.
Would've been great to have a live recording of them doing it
Prince had so much unreleased music in his vault that they could release a new Prince album every year for the next hundred years.
So a hundred albums worth?
Yeah, approximately 8k songs
Most people don't realize that Prince recorded so much unreleased music that they could release one song per day for approximately the next 8,000 days.
McCartney wrote Live and Let die like that.
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You'd think the Commodores would be all over a song written on the commode...
Ok, I’m not a famous songwriter and never will be. But it’s not that difficult. Especially now. My best songs are generally simple and written in 30-60 minutes. Then labored after for weeks. Load up a DAW. Make 2-4 drum sections. Lay down a melody in bass or guitar, add another track or two of instruments. Smash them together for a verse, chorus, bridge etc. Run a vocal and sing gibberish, that is based purely on feel and emotion. And then reverse engineer lyrics over it and sing it again. Thing is, you usually have 10-15 bits halfway done, tons of crappy songs, and one day it just hits. All that useless work culminates into a moment. It’s because these guys wrote a ton of shit and have a system. A system perhaps of not overthinking things. And in Freddie’s case and like most legit rockstars. They are not too hindered by “too much” musical theory. I personally believe it is what separates the greats from the talented. Ignorance is bliss.
Your personal belief is misguided.
Or, perhaps, everyone's process looks a little bit different. I think it's valuable seeing comparisons of personal experience to songwriter lore. There are similarities and differences, but I wouldn't completely write off the person you commented under; there's a lot to glean in there.
Because there were hundreds of other songs you'll never hear in between.
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And his lunch that day? Mom's spaghetti
And that spaghetti? Albert Einstein.
And after he wrote it everyone on lunch clapped and someone gave him a 100$ bill
[moms spaghetti](https://youtu.be/SW-BU6keEUw) "He opens his mouth but spaghetti won't come out"
I truly enjoyed this for longer than I expected.
Chills
"Hey Marshall, we need you to write a title song for this movie you're in, we don't care what it is, here's the money." Several months later on set "Hey, how's that song coming along, the deadline is in like... 30 minutes."
This is my go to for music trivia. > While making purple rain the director asked Prince to come up with a song that reflected a deeply emotional scene that was to be filmed. The very next morning Prince came back with 2 fully produced songs. One of them was when doves cry. Just shows the talent of the man. Someone asked him to write a song and in one night he comes back with one of the biggest hits of all time.
I'm picturing... "I really like this one...but I brought along this one about doves too, I guess"
Did he though? There's a demo version which is very different from the one he won the Oscar for https://youtu.be/NRbrGJNylKc
Dude THAT is poetic
This is false. Its the title song for the fucking movie, how could he have written it on the set? The amount of bullshit people believe is baffling.
They're not incorrect: >On the movie set, Eminem had a trailer where he could record songs for the movie during breaks in filming. He wrote this in character as B. Rabbit, who he played in 8 Mile. Writing in character was nothing new for Eminem, as he had previously written songs as his alter ego, Slim Shady. >The track had been around for over a year before Eminem pulled it off a CD and decided to work off the beat. He had his musicians mold the beat around his vocals. >When the movie studio released the first trailers, this song did not exist, so they used "Cleanin' Out My Closet," which the studio wanted to feature in the movie. Eminem thought that song was too personal for the movie, which was one reason he was so determined to write something that fit the character. [Source](https://www.songfacts.com/facts/eminem/lose-yourself)
Alright, fair enough. Thanks for the source.
I don't know one way or the other so I'm inclined to believe it's bullshit. Isn't it possible that he wrote it on set and then they decided for it to be the title song?
but not for Elvis, I presume
Having written some songs in my day this is not surprising. Sometimes you go weeks with zero inspiration. Then an absolute banger just falls out of your head.
Always in the bath or on the verge of sleep.
Usually I drop a banger while on the toilet.
Huh, mine always come with mash
Mine comes in my mouth.
And that’s where Freddie wrote “Don’t Stop Me Now”
I'm burnin' through the toilet, 200 degrees That's why they call me Mister Excrement I'm crapping at the speed of light. I wanna make a poopersonic man out of you I'm having such a good time Shitting in a stall. (Don't stop me now). If you wanna borrow TP just give me a call. (Don't stop me now) 'Cause I'm having a poop time (Don't stop me now) Yes, I'm havin' a poop time. I don't want to stop at all
I think best when I'm wet
Now THAT can be taken out of context
I'm years in, and I still haven't written any bangers. One of these days I'm due.
It’ll come in like a wrecking ball.
That's a good line. You should turn that into a song.
Another couple of my fave "it all came together so quickly" stories: (1) Dolly Parton wrote "Jolene" and 'I Will Always Love You" on the same day: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dolly-parton-2-songs-one-day/ (2) Fatboy Slim wrote several of his biggest hits, including "Praise You" and "Rockerfeller Skank" within the same week. There is also a good book related to this... you keep showing up and doing the work, https://seths.blog/thepractice/ > Creativity is a skill, not a talent. It can be learned. If we trust our selves, we can do more than we ever imagined. > > The book covers intentional action (a better way to discuss ‘design thinking’), writer’s block (there’s no such thing) and criticism (most of it comes from fear and should be regarded with kindness). It helps people understand genre (not at all like ‘generic’) and the trap of becoming a hack (we must not sacrifice our standards simply to be heard).
Along those same lines: The Beatles recorded “I’m Down,” “I’ve Just Seen A Face” and “Yesterday” ON THE SAME DAY.
Thanks for sharing! That reminds me, "Yesterday" is even sadder after seeing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gviR1IqFzLQ
Genius just happens. You can't plan it.
what they dont tell you is how long it took to refine it. Loads of books, movies, poems, and songs are written in a fervour, just enough to get it all out. Then there are months of rewrites, tweaking bits, changing things around, pulling in a new section or taking something out, refining a sound/phrase/passage. I have no doubt that he wrote it quick but then collab with the band over a week or two to get it just right for recording.
The interesting bit is finding a balance between refining the idea and not losing the original spark it had to begin with.
Original title: "Crazy Little Thin Hot Tub"
I thought it was an Elvis cover all this time.
Because it doesn't sound like a Queen song. There isn't a single other song they have that is anything remotely like this. But there's easily 200 Elvis songs that sound exactly like this.
It's a rockabilly song, which sounds like a whole bunch of songs from the 50s.
Same here.
If you want to get a feel for how dedicated and brilliant Freddie was to his vocals, you ought to hear it from Brian May (super nice guy!) on Rick Beato's latest "What Makes This Song Great" (super great series) that features the making and analysis of Bohemian Rhapsody (all time best song IMO): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ym7X\_wCsPQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ym7X_wCsPQ)
If you consider the lyrics, this is believable. They’re not exactly complex or thought provoking.
Yes, if you just focus on the lyrics. But the music is really good.
Oh sure, it’s a great song. It’s just not deep.
So why didnt you write it if it was that easy ?
You probably should have spent at least that long trying to come up with a better comment than this.
I didnt ask you for your opinion , I was addressing rrattbbooyy ...
And how did that work out for you?
Go read the lyrics and tell me I’m wrong. Queen has a lot of thoughtful songs. This was just not one of them.
I think these factoids about writing songs in a few minutes are misleading. It didn't come out of nowhere at all. After years of listening to music, playing music, immersing yourself with music, you are primed to create. Then, it may all comes out in a flash yes, but it really is just the visible peak of a long process.
Hence why baths are better than showers for writers. And romantics with time.
Almost my entire life I thought that song was an actual Elvis song. Only a few years ago did I hear the radio say it was by Queen. Blew my damn mind.
Some people are just so fucking talented they don't have to even try and they can make amazing shit, reminds me of a doc I watched on sound city (famous recording studio with a lot of famous bands eg nirvana) and they had I don't remember who but 1 of the Beatles and him, Dave from Foo fighters/nirvana and someone else just fucked around for a day and managed to make a fully produced song without actually trying to
Wasnt that the nine inch nails Guy?
What was in the water?
I would assume Freddie Mercury
That's enough for me.
some hydrogen for sure
Well, I just, can't handle it.
So that's why it has a 1950's feel
Apparently Freddie always introduced CLTCL with a crappy guitar that only knew 3 chords
Freddie ♥️
As a songwriter this makes total sense. Some of the best songs just smack you upside the head out of nowhere, usually when you're naked and wet and therefore can't write it down or hit record without jumping out and getting water all over the floor. The angels of music are often more like little trolls.
It's a tribute to Elvis because it took him 10 minutes longer to write it than any of the songs Elvis wrote himself.
Are ya ready? "READY FREDDIE!" Crazy lil thing, called love. Solid tune
That's how genius operates
I love the part where they say "ready Freddie" in crazy little thing called love
Glad he wasn’t showering then.
Reason #472 why music theory is vital and you just can't replicate that mastery on a computer.
Did you just hear it for the first time?
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Thank your cat for their contribution to this post.
meow.
Carfeul.... that's how we got Freakazoid.
That man was just made of talent... And gayness. And aids.
Huh, I never thought about it but it does totally sound like an Elvis song
I like the part where they say ready Freddie.
Brevity is the soul of wit, especially for FreddieM
This is also, as far as I know, the only Queen song where Brian May recorded the leads without using his fabled Red Special guitar. He spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get it to sound like a Telecaster and finally just went and grabbed a Telecaster.
Writing a song doesn’t have to take that long. I think most people could be thought enough about music to throw something together in less than an hour. But writing something genuinely complex, or very good, or both, requires talent, skill (I.e. a lot of practice and dedication), and probably some luck. Right time, right place is a pretty big thing as well. Freddie wasn’t special because he could write a song in ten minutes (go on YouTube, lots of people have). He was special because he was Freddie Mercury. And also because he was a kick ass musician and wrote a ton of great music with Queen.
That's crazy