Written by Brian May
Recording information by Philipp (PraxisNothaft@t-online.de)
Recorded in 1978 at Mountain Studios, Switzerland and/or Super Bear Studios, France.
Released in November 1978 on the album JAZZ.
General:
Another wonderful, melancholic Brian-song with interesting harmonies, fresh ideas and a very stormy atmosphere. The lyrics describe the inner fight of a man, who wants to leave his home and family.
Drums:
Roger probably used his Gretch-kit. Bass-drum and snare-drum are in the middle.
In the intro, the crash cymbal and the open Hi-Hat are panned right, while another cymbal is panned more into the middle. Then in the verse everything is quite in the middle with the exception of a very silent ride cymbal, which is slightly panned left and the tom-fills, that are panned around. In the chorus, the crash cymbal and the Hi-Hat are more right again. In the part with the effect-vocals, the open Hi-Hat is totally panned right. Just check it out!
Bass:
John probably used a Fender Precision Bass. His sound has lots of treble/mids.
It was recorded via D.I. and and a EQ was used to get the right sound. Mixed into the center.
Guitars:
There´s a little guitar-choir, which almost sounds like strings (especially in the outro). Brian played it with the Red Special on three guitar-tracks and every new note is faded in with volume pedal to get this sweeping sound. This strange sweeping-effect is strenchened with slowly panning the signals from one side to the other. Brian probably used the small "Deacy"-amp.
The acoustic-guitar is also played by Brian and picked up with two mics. The signals are mixed left and right. The guitar has steel-strings and could be a Martin or an Ovation.
Vocals:
The backing-vocals are sung exclusively by Brian. Multi-talent May shows that he´s able to sing proper chords without help. There are four vocal-tracks.
The lower voice is left, the mid voice is middle, while the higher voices are panned more right.
The bridge has got some strange vocal effects, that are done separately.
Brian´s voice is, like the guitar, fading in and out. His voice is pitched higher and there is also some strange filtering and distortion used. It starts with one voice, which is doubled.Then the others are slowly joining.In the beginning of the 2nd chorus there are already four voices, which are fading out then. Like the choir-guitars,these vocals are constantly panned from one side to the other.
The lead-vocals are also done by Brian.
All voices are reverbed.
By the way:
Listen very closely to the very end of the song to hear some background noises of the studio.
This is, besides several others, a song completely without Freddie. So something like this has already been before No-One But You...:)