A solo track from “Somebody to Love” has been making the rounds online, giving us a peek into the process of how Freddie Mercury created his most iconic song. You can hear him singing without music, without backup vocals; it’s just Freddie in all his passionate glory.
It’s always fascinating to get an inside glimpse into how the songs we love are made. Each section of a song, a person’s vocals, for instance, are recorded separately in something called a “track.” It’s the Freddie Mercury vocal from “Somebody to Love” that we hear on this track, separated from the rest of the gospel melodies and epic harmonies of the rest of the song.
There’s something particularly moving about listening to Freddie’s passionate singing stripped down from the high-production music that became the finished song. You can hear how much he cares about the words, how invested he is in his singing, and how perfect his pitch is even when singing alone.
As one Youtube commenter put it, “This is haunting. You can hear the passion and power in Freddie’s voice. You can feel the emotion and soul he puts into his voice and it gives me chills. Freddie was truly a gift to the world and to music, and the world may never see such talent and passion ever again; at least for a very long time.”
We would have to agree. This recording is especially moving at the end when they’ve added echo and reverb to Freddie’s voice, and it sounds as if he is singing to us through time. While Adam Lambert does an excellent job singing with Queen, there will never be anyone like Freddie Mercury.
