Tater Thoughts

There's a reason this dive title is ALL CAPS. This song is an unrelenting and driving force to be reckoned with: A declaration of certain evil and death, despite your intent to be good, pure and focused. Maybe that's a little dramatic, but given the power of "Liar", maybe it's not? It's the longest song on Queen's debut, one of their best live (extended) songs, and includes the word "liar" so many times, you can literally make a mini-track of just the song's title. Dive in with me, it's gonna be a fun one...

Sparkling, gorgeous and one of the best examples of Freddie's elaborate storytelling, "My Fairy King" takes the opulence of a typical Mercury composition and extends and enhances it; creating a singular world formed from impressive piano, vocal overdubs, unexpected guitar effects, emotional bass and pounding drums. Listen in as I mention Brian May's comments about this lovely Freddie track, and a surprising echo of lyrics I discovered in a much later Queen track. Dive in with me...I'm happy to be back!

My promise to keep the randomness and mental tangents continues as I open with another totally irrelevant song lyric. But my focus here isn't music; it's running. Running is freedom. It's my happy place. It's not my only happy place, but it's certainly one of the best. I've been through tough times where I couldn't run. But the joy of coming back, even when I'm not quite ready physically? It makes it all worth it. Running is a place to imagine and take in dopamine-inducing music and admire the painted sky. Running is arms wide and I can do anything! Maybe that's just a dream. But it's a dream I want to stay in. What's your positive power? Embrace it, indulge in it, and renew with it.

For the first time, I pick apart a fully Freddie Mercury composition; "Great King Rat", track number three on Queen's debut album. Long, loud, dramatic, it's a progressive early heavy metal track. And I love it. If you forgot just how heavy Queen was in their early days, or you never knew...get ready. This is Freddie's elaborate storytelling in all its glory, with lots of key changes, shifts in rhythm and plenty of guitar manipulations. No shortage of cymbals or amazing drum riffs, either... Check out the Live At The Rainbow performance for more impressive Queen.

It's no secret that social media has influenced and affected us more and more over the years. As a communications professional, I've used social media for a long time. It's been valuable and helpful, and at times, an amazing tool. But sometimes, it's a challenge to navigate the misinformation and negativity, and every channel is not like the other. I'm putting my music chat on hold to ruminate over the subject.

One of my favorites from Queen's debut, "Doing All Right" is a surprisingly soft and warm reflection that creates the perfect contrast against the more rock and roll tracks it's surrounded by. I talk the song's jazzier (almost folk-inspired) beginnings with the band Smile, and why I prefer Queen's '73 BBC live recording over the album version.  

It's only fitting that my first full episode is none other than my Queen Deep Dive introduction! Yes, I fangirled hard for over half an hour about these guys. They are my favorite band, and my comments and opinions are totally biased. But hey; if you love Queen like I do, or you just want to know more about what made these guys so stellar, I think you'll enjoy this. I wrote a blog to announce this series, but it simply wasn't enough. And I didn't even cover everything I wanted to talk about! No worries, there's always another opportunity. After all, there will only be a hundred or so episodes of Queen song talk. My goodness, that's a lot. No fear, though. "Rushing headlong; you've got a new goal!"

Kicking this off is nerve-racking and exciting! I am a music-maker, a writer, a communicator, a dreamer, and an over-thinker. I love music and running and the color yellow and red wine and storm chasing. I have an autoimmune disease; an IBD. I'll talk about all of it, and likely more. I decided to keep my rough intro, because it's honest and genuine, and it's fun. After all, this whole thing should be fun, right? So hiccups and weirdness and unplanned drama included, this is Tater Thoughts...