Beschreibung:

Freddie Mercury
Notebook containing autograph manuscript working lyrics and other material relating to Queen, comprising:
'Stone Cold Crazy'; 'Lover' (beginning "Lover - Calling from the distance..."); 'Feelings Ended, worn away' (beginning "Come to understand..."); 'Stupid Girl' by The Rolling Stones; 'Visions' (beginning "Oh woman, please stop your crying..."); 'See What a Fool I've Been'; 'Hangman' (beginning "Hangman Hang me..."); 'Steamflier' (beginning "There's a redskin brave hard on my trail..."); 'Cancer (beginning "There's a place I have been and a face I have seen today...") 'Jailhouse Rock'; 'And Satan Presides over the Council of Hell' (title only); untitled song fragment beginning "I think I'm going blind..."; 'Doing All Right'; '[If I were a] Carpenter' by Tim Hardin; 'I'm a Man' by Bo Diddley, in the hand of Roger Taylor with additions by Freddie Mercury; 'Father to Son' (partly in the hand of Brian May); 'Old Raincoat [Won't Ever Let You Down]' by Rod Stewart; 'Jesus'; 'Son and Daughter' (partly in the hand of Brian May); 'Great King Rat'; 'She Makes Me' (in the hand of Brian May); 'The Night Comes Down'; 'Liar' (partly in the hand of Brian May); 'Keep Yourself Alive'; 'Ogre Battle'; 'Mad the Swine'; 'My Fairy King'; 'Modern Times Rock and Roll'; 'The Seven Seas of Rhye'; 'The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke'; 'The March of the Black Queen'; 'White Queen'; 'Nevermore'; 'Funny How Love Is'; untitled song beginning "I'm walkin' down the street' in an unidentified hand; altogether 39 pages, in blue and black ballpoint and pencil; together with 3 further pages of miscellaneous notes relating to the band (track lists, expenses) and doodles (including the phrase "Buggar [sic] me please" on the inside upper cover); also with three additional leaves loosely inserted with further track listing, harmonies, and doodles; altogether 47 pages, plus blanks, in stiff red cloth-backed covers (255 x 205mm), c.1970-1974; stains and wear to covers, hinges weak, first leaf detached, two leaves torn at inner margin, several stubs where leaves have been excised, light staining and wear to some pages
A UNIQUE RECORD OF THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF FREDDIE MERCURY AS A SONGWRITER. The first song written into this notebook is 'Stone Cold Crazy', which was the first song on the setlist on the first occasion when Freddie Mercury played on stage with Brian May and Roger Taylor, on 27 June 1970 at Truro City Hall: "Four very peculiar-looking young gentlemen clad in silk and too many jewels, making enough row to wake half the dead in Cornwall (quoted in Somebody to Love, p.61). The song marks the beginning of Queen.  
Mary Austin recalls this notebook as being one of Freddie's most treasured possessions in the early years of their relationship. Into it Freddie has copied some of his earliest compositions, some of which were written for the first bands that he joined after leaving art college. In the summer of 1969 Freddie became lead singer in a blues-influenced band called Ibex; by early October the band changed their name, at Freddie's instigation, to Wreckage; when Wreckage collapsed he auditioned for a band called Sour Milk Sea, who themselves disbanded in the spring of 1970. Several songs in this notebook can be traced back to this seven-month period: Ibex's roadie recalled the band playing a Bulsara-penned number called 'Lover'; whilst 'Cancer On My Mind' is mentioned as a new composition for Wreckage in a letter to a friend (Freddie Bulsara to Celine Daley, 26 October 1969); Sour Milk Sea's guitarist has named 'Feelings Ended Worn Away' as a Freddie composition performed as far back as Ibex; and 'Stone Cold Crazy' was also first played by Wreckage. Two of the songs in this notebook - 'Visions' and 'Steamflier' - appear to be hitherto unknown songs by Freddie Mercury (for 'Steamflier' see also lot 101). 'Visions' is a dark fantasy similar to songs on the first two Queen albums ("The axe man killed the last, in the line of royal trees..."), whilst 'Steamflier' is set in the American West and is possibly connected to the early lost "cowboy song". 
Freddie Mercury mostly wrote songs into this notebook as fair copies - probably when he considered they were ready for performance - but many have later revisions, as he continued to develop his songwriting. He continued to use the notebook for several years as Queen became established, so the notebook includes a large proportion of Queen's output from the early 70s. There are eight songs that appear on Queen, eight songs that appear on Queen II, and one song from Sheer Heart Attack. The notebook also includes 'Hangman', which was a staple of live performances in the early 1970s; 'Mad the Swine', which was recorded in the sessions for Queen; and 'See What A Fool I've Been', which did not make Queen II but was the b-side to 'Seven Seas of Rhye'. Finally, Freddie Mercury has transcribed into this notebook various songs that the band covered such as - and most frequently - 'Jailhouse Rock'. 
Although the notebook is largely in the hand of Freddie Mercury there are contributions by other members of Queen, especially Brian May. 'Liar', 'Father To Son' and 'Son and Daughter' are both partly written by Mercury and partly by May, suggesting an unusually close collaboration between the two as they honed their songwriting skills in the early 1970s. May has also added the lyrics to 'She Makes Me' into the notebook (although this song was not recorded until Sheer Heart Attack, the song's presence here suggests it was written several years earlier), whilst Roger Taylor has added the lyrics to the Bo Diddley classic 'I'm a Man'. The notebook also includes a number of songs penned by May and Taylor that are here transcribed by Freddie Mercury. 
This notebook provides an extraordinary record of the development of Freddie Mercury as a songwriter and of Queen as a band. It opens with apprentice pieces, false starts, and copies of cover songs; by the end of the notebook Freddie is a confident and accomplished songwriter composing sophisticated songs for his second album. A UNIQUE PIECE OF POP MUSIC HISTORY. 
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