11/18/2025
13 May 1991 - Freddie begins recording his extraordinarily powerful vocals on his final song, ‘Mother Love,’ Mountain Studios, Montreux, Switzerland 🥺💔
If there was a song that combined the passion and driving force that Freddie demanded, ‘Mother Love’ was undoubtedly it. It was written mostly by Brian and arranged by Freddie. The poignant song is a highlight on the final studio album, ‘Made In Heaven.’
It’s centered around a somber melody and propelled by a shuffling drum machine, the song is a vehicle for Freddie’s emotional vocal performance. Together they were looking to showcase Freddie’s new "inward-looking style." Knowing that Mercury didn't have long to live, May wanted to write a song that talked about the universal longing we all feel for the safety and warmth of our infancy.
According to Brian, Freddie sang each bit of the song in one afternoon when he was still strong enough to sing. In the middle section of the song, he demanded to go higher and harder. With the help of a couple of vodkas, he went for it - and succeeded - as is apparent when listening to the final version of the song.
“He still had astonishing power in his lungs at that point, I really don’t know where it came from. During the recording of ‘Mother Love,’ he starts low and gentle, but Freddie chose to push himself and go higher. We looked at each other and knew there was a mountain to climb. That’s when the vodka really went down. He said, 'I will hit these notes.’ And he did. He soars to incredible heights, and this is a man who can’t really stand anymore without incredible pain and is very weak, you know, has no flesh on his bones , and you can hear the power, the will that he’s still hot. It was a wonderful performance.”
“I don’t know where he got the energy from, probably the vodka. He would get in the mood, do a little warm up then say, 'Give me my shot.’ He’d swig it down ice cold. Stolichnaya, usually. Then he would say, 'Roll the tape’.”
Brian added with a sad fondness, “This was the most significant collaboration I’d ever had with Freddie. The lyrics were more or less made up on the spot as Freddie sat and nodded approvingly.”
It was during the recordings of the final album, Freddie said, “‘Write me stuff... I know I don't have very long; I want to do this.’ He was focused. ‘Keep writing me words, keep giving me things I will sing, then you can do what you like with it afterwards, you know; finish it off' and so I was scribbling words on scraps of paper these lines of 'Mother Love', and he’s grabbing them and saying, ‘Roll the tape. I’ll do this one.’ Every time I gave him another line he'd sing it, sing it again, and sing it again, so we had three takes for every line, he knew that it might be the last time he was ever able to sing and in this case, it was … You know the song was never finished.”
“He sang the verses of “Mother Love” and when we got to the last verse, he said 'I'm not up to this, and I need to go away and have a rest.’ His energy was gone. ‘Look, I’m going back to London for a while.’ It was always 'a while’. Nothing was ever 'the end’.” It was, ‘I'll come back and finish it off ...' He never came back. That was the last time I saw him in the studio.”
“Inside the studio, there was a sort of blanket around us, and he could be happy and enjoy what he liked doing best. We had a lot of laughs, and a huge amount of fun because it was a safe place for him.”
The other members of the band worked on their last recordings for ‘Made in Heaven’ while Mercury rested in his apartment. “We always ate together. That was lovely,” said Brian.
Brian laid down a vocal demo as a placeholder on the tape to be used as a guide for the next session, that sadly, never came.
“I'm hearing Freddie’s voice getting... weaker. But I mean he still hits all the notes. There's an absolutely spine-chilling note in the middle of "Mother Love" ("out in the city, in the cold world outside, I don't want pity, just a safe place to hide") which is just a great bit of singing." - Roger Taylor
The band couldn't bring themselves to go near this material for nearly two years or so. When they finally got around to finishing the tracks, Brian wanted the song to remain as raw and naked as possible to "preserve this final moment uncluttered."
*Unsure how to end the song, May applied the guitar solo as a gentle transition after Freddie's last words, utilizing his demo verse as a kind of mouthpiece for Freddie's farewell from the Other Side. As May has said, his intention was to "use fragments of his voice to paint a picture of his journey home." (Brian wrote and sang the final verses.)
It was here that May picked up his old 45 copy of Mercury's 1972 recording of "Goin' Back." Which, incidentally, was the first record ever recorded by Mercury, under the pseudonym, Larry Lurex. The A-side of that record was "I Can Hear Music." When May laid down the clip of "Goin' Back" against pieces of Queen performances, going back in time, it all fell perfectly into place. Because "Goin' Back" is about those very same childhood yearnings, May knew that his choice for the ending was meant to be.
At the end of the song it features a sample from the vocal improvisation recorded at Queen’s famous 12 July 1986 concert at Wembley Stadium, and a sample from the intro of the studio version of “One Vision” and “Tie Your Mother Down”.
To close the track, a snippet of every Queen song ever recorded can be heard in nanoseconds, put together and then rapidly sped through a tape machine.
You also hear a sample from the cover of “Goin’ Back”: these last two lines ‘I think I'm goin' back/
To the things I learned so well in my youth.’
The song ends with a baby crying
It was only fitting that Mercury's first recorded song, was used as the final word in his last song. A truly haunting verse, as the song "Mother Love" fades to an end.
Source for the asterisk * portion is from “Going Back": The Carole King Connection to Freddie Mercury's Last Song, "Mother Love"
The other source: ‘Queen - The Complete Works’ by Georg Purvis and also interviews from documentary
A truly brave and extraordinary man. Music was his life. Nothing but the utmost respect for him. His music remains timeless and is a beautiful gift we will continue to cherish generation after generation
Legend 💛
𝐖𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 !
We are sharing the beautiful picture taken by Simon Fowler in November 1990, during ‘Headlong’ sessions
