Freddie Mercury, like many other musicians, held a deep admiration for John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. The Beatles permanently altered the music industry in the 1960s and influenced many of the artists who came after them, Mercury included. When speaking about the group, Mercury said he liked Lennon’s writing better than the other members of the band.
Freddie Mercury admitted that John Lennon was his favorite artist in The Beatles
Mercury wrote the song “Life is Real” as a tribute to Lennon after his death and wanted to write it in a way that reflected Lennon’s style.
“Listening to a lot of John Lennon songs, I just thought I could try and create a kind of atmosphere that he created,” he said, per the book Freddie Mercury: A Life in His Own Words. “So therefore I actually fought to get that kind of oriental violin sound on that – a sort of weepy feel – which I love doing. I tried to put across the surreal kind of lyrics, which is what, to me, John Lennon was.”
He wanted to emulate Lennon because he idolized him. Of all the Beatles, Lennon was his favorite.
“He was larger than life, I think, and an absolute genius,” Mercury said. “Even at a very early stage when they were the Beatles I always preferred John Lennon’s things. I don’t know why. He just had that magic.”
Freddie Mercury said he wouldn’t want to be just like John Lennon
While he tried to emulate Lennon’s style on “Life is Real,” Mercury didn’t want the same musical and public reputation as the former Beatle.
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“I don’t want to change the world with our music,” he said. “There are no hidden messages in our songs, except for some of Brian’s. My songs are like Bic razors; they’re for fun, for modern consumption. People can discard them like a used tissue afterwards. They can listen to it, like it, discard it, then turn on to the next. Disposable pop. I don’t like to write message songs because I’m not politically motivated – like John Lennon or Stevie Wonder.”
He didn’t think this was a bad quality in musicians, he just didn’t think he could write political music.
“Politics enters into my thinking, yes, but I discard it because we are musicians,” he said. “I don’t like to be political and I don’t believe that I have a talent to write deep messages. Music is very free. It just depends on who you are. I mean John Lennon can do that, but I can’t. My songs are just like commercial love songs and I like to put my emotional talent into that. I don’t want to change the world or talk about peace because I’m just not motivated that way. Politics isn’t my thing at all. I’d ruin a country. Can you imagine it? I’d sing all my speeches!”
He was more like Paul McCartney in this way
While Mercury said he preferred Lennon’s music to the other Beatles’, there are some parallels between himself and McCartney. While McCartney wrote political music, he was more interested in songs with lighter messaging, just as Mercury was. He even wrote the song “Too Many People” to criticize Lennon’s newfound activist identity.
Perhaps Mercury admired Lennon so much because his writing style differed from his own.
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