This thing called love
It cries (like a baby) in a cradle all night
It swings (woo woo) it jives (woo woo)
It shakes all over like a jellyfish
Continue reading “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen
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It’s a well-known story. At the Last Supper, after Jesus bluntly tells his twelve closest friends that one of them will betray him, they all protest that they would never do such a thing. And no one protests louder or longer than Simon Peter (not so-named for the rocks in his head, although you could be forgiven for thinking so). Jesus calmly tells Peter that Peter will deny him three times, which is met with still more protestations by Peter. In a shocking plot twist, it turns out that everything Jesus predicted came to pass. Peter should have asked him for the lotto numbers. Referenced in: Great King Rat — Queen
Along with “Star Wars” two years later, “Jaws” was the film that redefined Hollywood’s approach to films: it sent it searching endlessly for the next big thing, the next blockbuster. It also made Steven Spielberg a star, one of the new breed of Hollywood auteurs. Unlike most of them, he actually lived up to the hype. “Jaws” was an unlikely film to make such a hit – monster movies are always a heard sell, and this one was infamously plagued by difficulties with the mechanical shark. Spielberg’s true genius showed itself in how he turned those limitations into strengths – the shark looks too fake to show on screen? Then keep it barely seen, a mysterious and deadly force more than a fish. Referenced in: Bicycle Race — Queen
While there actually was a real Lady Godiva – although, as a Saxon, her name was more likely Godgifu or Godgyfu (Godiva is a latinised version) – it’s unlikely that she actually did ride naked through the streets of Coventry. Legend has it that she rode naked to protest the taxes that her husband, Lord Leofric, had laid upon the common people, and that, in respect for her sacrifice, all of them looked away as she rode through a busy market day street (except for a tailor named Thomas – the original Peeping Tom – who was apparently struck blind for daring to look upon her). In these enlightened days, of course, no one believes a word of it – but Coventry’s tourist industry still owes a great deal to women who are willing to get their kit off and go for a ride. (Indeed, the date I’ve used here is the date of the annual commemoration of the ride in Coventry.) Referenced in: Don’t Stop Me Now — Queen
It all started out pretty humbly: George Lucas, a filmmaker with one hit and one interesting failure (American Graffitti and THX-1138, respectively), was able to leverage his success into a reasonably large budget for the time (about $8 million in 1976 dollars), and make a fantasy with scifi trappings inspired by his love of action movies and serials from the past. Star Wars (as it was originally titled – both the Episode IV and the A New Hope are later additions) riffed off classic Westerns (the cantina sequence), World War Two dogfight movies (the Death Star assault), martial arts movies (the Force training sequence), Flash Gordon serials (in general) and, of course, Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. It would go on to become one of the highest grossing films of all time, second only to Gone With The Wind (in inflation-adjusted figures), spawn five sequels and any number of spin-offs, and make scifi mainstream in a way it had never been before. Along with Jaws, it also helped to create the blockbuster-obsessed culture of Hollywood’s last three and a half decades. Referenced in: Bicycle Race — Queen
Little is known of the circumstances of the Great King Rat’s birth, other than its date of May 21st. Even the year is an estimate. It is known that the Great King Rat would grow up to become a notorious dirty old man, and my feeling is that he was probably involved with organized crime syndicates in London. Given the cause of his death, it seems likely that he did not use condoms. Referenced in: Great King Rat — Queen
The French phrase “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” is usually translated as “Let them eat cake”, and is widely attributed to Marie Antionette. However, in the original – Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions, which he finished writing in 1769, when Marie Antoinette was 13 – the remark is attributed only to “a great princess”. The phrase was attributed to Marie Antionette only after the Revolution began, and many citations for it exist prior to this, and not referencing her. In fact, the emerging consensus among historians at this time is that the Rousseau was referring to Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV, and pre-dates Marie Antionette by at least a century. Referenced in: Killer Queen – Queen
Brian May described this song as his own little science fiction story. It concerns a group who set out in a space ship, sailing ‘across the milky sea’ (which is a reference to both the Milky Way and to a pre-Queen band of Freddie Mercury’s, Sour Milk Sea), in search of a newer and better world. Their quest is ultimately successful, but their return to Earth That Was sees them fall foul of relativistic time dilation. Referenced in: ’39 – Queen
Galileo Galilei is one of the people most credited with creating modern science – he is regarded as the father of physics and of observational astronomy. Among his acheivements are the discovery of Jupiter’s four largest moons, advances in telescope design and construction and his famous demonstration of the constant acceleration of falling objects. An early advocate of the heliocentric theory – the idea that the Earth and the other planets revolve around the sun – Galileo Galilei was denounced for this heretical view by various members of the Catholic Church. Unfortunately for Galileo, he lived in Italy, which at the time was dominated by the power of the church. He was summoned to Rome and tried for heresy (although his true crime seems to be less his heresies and more his willingness to teach them to others). He was convicted and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. In addition, he was forced to publicly recant his views – although legend has it that his denial was followed by the muttered words ‘E pur si muove!’ – ‘and yet it moves’ – an explicit contradiction of the Biblical doctrine that the Earth is fixed in space. It will never be known if he actually did say the words – but it’s nice to think that he did. Referenced in: Bohemian Rhapsody — Queen
Mark David Chapman is, by any standard, an idiot. On this day in 1980, he shot John Lennon five times, in the back, while Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono looked on helplessly. Whatever his actual motive for shooting John Lennon – and Chapman has contradicted himself on several occasions regarding it – the fact remains that he acheived only two things: depriving the world of a truly great musical talent, and giving the rest of the world one more reason to loathe American culture. The fact that he has not been shanked in the yard at Attica State Prison only serves to underscore the massive injustice of Lennon’s death. Referenced in: That Says It All – Duncan Sheik
It is probably the most infamous radio broadcast of all time: Orson Welles’ Halloween 1938 dramatisation of H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds”. Welles transplanted the story from England to Grover’s Mill, New Jersey, and told it as a series of news reports, keeping the tension and hysteria of it all steadily rising. It terrified audiences at the time – like a hell of a lot of Welles’ work it is arguably a great work of art, and an enormous prank at once. Whether or not there was panic during the broadcast, there was considerable outrage afterwards – how that has to do with the alleged ‘cruelty’ of it, and how much with people just hating to be fooled is an open question. Referenced in: Radio GaGa – Queen
Brian May described this song as his own little science fiction story. It concerns a group who set out in a space ship, sailing ‘across the milky sea’ (which is a reference to both the Milky Way and to a pre-Queen band of Freddie Mercury’s, Sour Milk Sea), in search of a newer and better world. Their quest is ultimately successful, but their return to Earth That Was sees them fall foul of relativistic time dilation. Referenced in: ’39 – Queen
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