Days of Our Lives is very dynamic. Some guitar fans would think it's meaningless because it doesn't kick in, but it sets a mood before it kicks in. It's great. You expect the predictable solo to kick in, and it doesn't - it just hangs out for a while and creates a mood. It definitely fits the song. It demonstrates, again, what guitar players in the eighties lack - an understanding and control of dynamics.
I was very pleased with [the guitar solo]. That's the first take I recorded, and Roger said, “Well…” And I said, “Just leave it there for a while and let it sit. See if it grows on you.” I had a feeling about it. We could've done a cut-and-dried solo which, on the face of it, would've been more dramatic, but that was where I wanted to go.
Roger wrote most of These Are the Days of Our Lives. By that time, we were all fully aware of what was going on… things are always about more than one thing, but yeah, Roger was able to put some stuff in there and, similarly, I was able to put some feelings into The Show Must Go On in a similar way, and I think, sometimes, towards the end, Freddie had already kind of moved on. Freddie was writing stuff which you will hear, which is very peaceful and already removed, and I think it was left to us to write the things which we felt about him and we felt about the way he was feeling. I think it would've been too painful for Freddie to get into that, but he was happy to sing the way we felt. That's kind of complicated - we were very much directed towards him and he knew it, but he would sing it with our words.
We used to share the publishing credits, but that but that one was written by me.
In many cases later on we would work together on the programming of a keyboard part (eg Days Pf[sic] Our Lives). This is a benefit of the new technology which allows us to keep the original feel of a demo keyboard part but update the actual notes as the song is developed – I've used it many times in my solo work – giving an impression that I can play better than I actually can!!! Luckily the guitar still has to be PLAYED LIVE – so my best job is safe for a while at least!!!
I know some people think Freddie was self-obsessed, because of things like We Are the Champions, but really, not so. He had a lot of modesty, and generosity too, in giving everyone their due. Of course, over the years I wrote (and Roger wrote) many song lyrics with the knowledge that they would come out of Freddie's mouth, and knowing that the meaning would be subtly changed because of this - even as far back as Keep Yourself Alive I remember taking this into consideration. And certainly there are interesting shades of meaning in songs like Fat Bottom [sic] Girls, if you really think about it ! Same goes for These Are the Days of Our Lives which again people tend to think Freddie wrote, because of the context. Not so; Roger wrote every word.
One of Roger's great songs, you know, it's a Queen song because we'd made that decision, but this is what Roger brought in really - lovely, lyrical piece, and it's great, and a very kind of grown up recording, I think. You know, everything's very restrained in the way it's played. I think it's one of our nicer efforts really.
It's a wistful song with an optimistic viewpoint looking back on... somebody looking back on their life and going with the flow.
I think I was in a rather reflective mood and I didn't know that Freddie was ill. I think it sort of came out of that slightly melancholic mood one gets occasionally... it's fairly self-explanatory. Written from the point of view of an old man.
These Are the Days of Our Lives was quite nice in a reminiscing, rather old-fashioned kind of way. It took on a resonance, yeah. I was sort of referencing us at the time I wrote it. We knew Freddie wasn't well.
It was just a mood, really. I was in a reflective mood, and it made me write in a reflective way. It's a song about reminiscing. It's a sort of sad song in one way but also it sort of says, “These are the days of our lives,” so live for the moment.