With the news that Queen – with lead singer Adam Lambert – is set to hit the road this fall for a North American expansion of their Rhapsody Tour, which will include a stop in Toronto, it got us to thinking about some of the band’s frontmen (and women) since the gone-too-soon passing of Freddie Mercury.
After all, the incandescent Mercury’s shoes – more so than almost any other – were deemed impossible to fill.
However, Lambert, a former “American Idol” star, has admirably done so for over a decade now, having joined the newly minted “Sir” Brian May and Roger Taylor (John Deacon retired) in 2011. And before that there was Paul Rodgers, the great Bad Company (and Free) frontman, who was deemed the first worthy successor to fabulous Freddie.
It wouldn’t be fair to call Annie Lennox a replacement for Mercury, but she filled his part with passion and panache in this guest performance of “Under Pressure,” along with David Bowie, who co-wrote and performed the song with Queen in 1981.
This 1992 performance came just months after Mercury’s death from AIDs – two luminaries joining Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium to honour him (and raise money for AIDS research).
Lennox, whose costume is said to have symbolized Mercury’s death, in particular delivered a tour de force performance, even upstaging Bowie, no slouch himself.
We still miss Freddie, but reliving performances like this makes it a little easier to bear.
Lyrics
Mmm num ba de
Dum bum ba be
Doo buh dum ba beh beh
Pressure: pushing down on me
Pressing down on you, no man ask for
Under pressure that burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets
Um ba ba be
Um ba ba be
De day da
Ee day da
That’s OK
That’s the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends screaming
“Let me out!”
Tomorrow gets me higher
Pressure on people, people on streets
Day day de mm hm
Da da da ba ba
OK
Chippin’ around, kick my brains ’round the floor
These are the days: it never rains but it pours
Ee do ba be
Ee da ba ba ba
Um bo bo
Be lap
People on streets
Ee da de da de
People on streets
Ee da de da de da de da
It’s the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends screaming
“Let me out!”
Tomorrow gets me higher, higher, high!
Pressure on people, people on streets
Turned away from it all like a blind man
Sat on a fence, but it don’t work
Keep coming up with love, but it’s so slashed and torn
Why, why, why!?
Love, love, love, love, love
Insanity laughs under pressure
We’re breaking
Can’t we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can’t we give love that one more chance?
Why can’t we give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?
‘Cause love’s such an old-fashioned word
And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure