Oh I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside Brian May wrote Brighton Rock in 1973 before the completion of Queen II but time restrictions meant that the song was not ready for inclusion on an album until Sheer Heart Attack. The title is something of a pun: Brighton rock is a long, cylindrical sugar candy traditional to that seaside resort. The term was also iconic in UK pop culture as the title of a dark Graham Greene thriller/noir novel later adapted into a successful film starring Richard Attenborough as a teenage sociopath. The song, the first track on the album, tells the story of two young lovers named Jenny and Jimmy meeting in Brighton on a public holiday. Jenny cannot linger because she is afraid her mother will find out how I spent my holiday, but afterwards writes a letter every day; Jimmy, eager on the day, is not so happy with her nothing can my love erase: now he is the one afraid of discovery by my lady. The song is probably best known for its lengthy guitar solo interlude, which was rather similar to the solo of 1968 Smile song Blag. This featured Mays technique of using multiple echoes used to build up guitar harmony and contrapuntal melodic lines. The studio version only contains one main guitar and one echoed guitar for a short section, but live, he would usually split his guitar signal into main and two echoed, with each going to a separate bank of amplifiers.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:27:47 +0000
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