Intro
My Interest in Queen and David Bowie's music started when I was around nine. I got interested in it because I made a friend that would listen to older songs, including theirs. But what got me to like Queen specifically, was the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody". I saw this movie with a friend of mine who shared similar interests as me because we were neighbors at the time, and we both lived close to a theater. I found the stories of each of the members a lot (specifically Freddie Mercury) and I liked their songs as well so I decided to look in to them and their songs more.
What Interested me a little bit about David Bowie was his song with Queen which was Under Pressure. But what finally got me to listen to more of his songs, and look into him more was his song Space Oddity which I heard in a movie with Adam Sandler. I liked Space Oddity so I decided to listen to more of his songs.
Artist Background
Queen
Queen was an English rock band formed in 1970 consisting of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon. Two of the members of the band were originally in another band together,, and Freddie Mercury was a fan of their band which was how they met. Eventually they decided to let Freddie be part of the band. After the three of them formed a band they decided to name it Queen. John Deacon joined the band about a year after it was created as the bass player. They started releasing hit songs, but had some issues within themselves, and would later be troubled by the media. The reason why the media troubled the band was because Freddie Mercury, the lead singer came out as bisexual and at the time that wasn't really accepted. Even though the band was bothered by the media for a while they continued to release hit songs and go to events like the 1985 Liv Aid concert. Even though Freddie Mercury eventually died of AIDs related complications and John Deacon retired the band continues to perform with some new members.
David Bowie
David Bowie was quite an eccentric character. He was considered a pop chameleon because of how often his musical styles, looks, and character would change. Unlike Queen he did not become a success right away. He was introduced to music by his half brother who would later commit suicide which would affect David very much. He started his own band which did not succeed and changed his name to David Bowie so he wouldn't be confused with other people. After his band didn't succeed he decided to work by himself, but that didn't work either. After failing at working by himself he quit music altogether and did multiple things like going to a monastery, starting a mime troupe, and eventually getting married. Finally he decided to start working on music full time again, and released his famous single Space Oddity. After he finally started being recognized he started releasing more songs by cooperating with other artists. He then began to constantly change his musical styles, and character.
Song Introduction
The song I have decided to focus on today is Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie which was released in 1981. I chose this song because although it has pretty simple lyrics I think that they have a lot of meaning behind them like how there's so much pain and suffering in the world, but instead of doing something about it people just turn a blind eye.
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 okay
It's the terror of knowing what the world is about Watching some good friends screaming "Let me out!" Pray tomorrow gets me higher Pressure on people, people on streets
Day day de mm hm Da da da ba ba Okay Chipping around, kick my brains around 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 the world is about Watching some good friends screaming 'Let me out' Pray tomorrow gets me 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 (people on streets) 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
Song Analysis
This song was apparently based on another song by Queen which they decided not to release and was later remade with David Bowie because he lived close to their recording studio and decided to visit which he did often. According to David Bowie they wrote the song in one afternoon after going out for food and drinks, but also included hardcore drugs, and alcohol.
No matter how much I looked I couldn't find what inspired them to write the song, but I did find some theories. As I said earlier I personally believe that this song reflects the struggles in the world that are constantly being ignored instead of fixed; but some people think that this song is more about how it can be tough to come out as LGBTQ+ which could be shown by the lyrics "Watching some good friends screaming "Let me out!"" which could be referring to trying to get out of "the closet". Another theory I found is that this song is specifically talking about the hardships of love like sacrifice since love is mentioned so often in the lyrics.
The main parts of this song are the base the bass, and the scatting which is pretty repetitive. The song gives us a clear image off the suffering going on around us that we usually ignore, and can make us more aware of what we and our loved ones might be going through like stress. The song is pretty repetitive throughout but it has had an effect on me by helping me to help fix problems, instead of ignoring them because problem won't go away by themselves and will accumulate.
Conclusion
This song is just one of many that have inspired me to be a better version of myself, and help others be better versions of themselves. Queen has helped me make friends by giving me something to talk to them about, and has been a great inspiration to me and helped me find more artists that I like and expand my musical tastes.
Sources
.tdi_16_fff{margin-bottom:0px!important}.tdi_16_fff{display:inline-block}.tdi_16_fff .tdb-author-name-wrap{align-items:baseline}.tdi_16_fff .avatar{width:20px;height:20px;margin-right:6px;border-radius:50%}.tdi_16_fff .tdb-author-name{color:#000} Jim Bevi, et al. “The True Story Behind Under Pressure by Queen with David Bowie.” American Songwriter, 25 Feb. 2020, americansongwriter.com/lyric-week-queen-david-bowie-pressure/.
“David Bowie.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 3 Jan. 2020, www.biography.com/musician/david-bowie.
McDonald, Adam. “Queen - Under Pressure (Lyrics Review and Song Meaning).” Justrandomthings, 14 Nov. 2018, justrandomthings.com/2018/11/14/queen-under-pressure-lyrics-review-and-song-meaning/.
“Queen (Band).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_(band).
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