Brian
May on Desert Island Discs
On
Sunday, Brian May, the castaway on 大象传媒 Radio 4's Desert Island Discs,
reveals to Sue Lawley that it was his idea to play on the roof of
Buckingham Palace for the Jubilee concert.
"They
asked me to open the show but not in that situation. They wanted
me to be inside the palace strolling around playing the guitar.
"I
just couldn't see that working... I thought if I was going to do
this I had to be up there, I have to be this lone piper sort of
figure...
"It
was a symbol for my generation because of course when I started
off it would have been unthinkable for someone to be playing that
horrendous rock guitar instrument on top of the Queen's palace."
Brian
talks to Sue about the "emotional rollercoaster" of his
life and how one record, Smokey Robinson's Tracks Of My Tears, helped
him through a particular tough time.
"This
really took me all through my college days. I was very lonely.
"My
first proper relationship had broken up and I thought it was the
end of the world, this was the girl I was convinced I was going
to marry from the age of 16.
"I
saw myself as this great tragic figure and every time I heard this
record it seemed to sort of move me into a place I felt comfortably
sorry for myself."
But
Brian also made a huge mistake: "I thought the singer was a
girl and I kind of fell in love with the voice and it was much later
that I got the record and thought 'Well, where is Smokey on the
front of the album?'
"I
imagined her as being a dusky maiden and it turned out to be a bloke,
but I still think it's one of the most fantastic voices in the history
of popular music. It still gets me every time."
From
the girl he didn't marry, Brian turns to the girl he did. He tells
Sue Lawley how important his wife Anita Dobson is to him and chooses
a record they made together, To Know Him Is To Love Him.
"I'd
have problems being on this desert island without her... She's such
a big part of my life, she's kind of welded to my soul and I would
need to be able to hear her voice on the island so I've chosen this...
"It
was a moment of wonder and terror and magic and tragedy because
my marriage was breaking up, I didn't know it at this time, but
it was and we were irresistibly heading towards each other and trying
to resist but there are certain things in life that you don't have
control over, I have discovered, and you can fight and you can struggle
but basically it happens and I'm happy to say we're married now
which is great but this is when we were children really, putting
this together."
Brian
talks about his time in Queen and how Freddie Mercury still plays
an important part in his life.
He
takes one of their records to the mythical island and speaks of
his pride in the group and in this particular song.
But
the record he regards as the one he can't do without reflects his
early life and the career he would have had if Queen hadn't come
along.
Brian
May on Desert Island Discs on Sunday 15 September on Radio 4 at
11.15am (repeated Friday at 9.00am).
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