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The Works Tour in 1984/1985 was one of Queen's largest tours and included the Brazil Rock in Rio festival—in which they appeared on stage at two o'clock in the morning in front of 470,000 people during the first night and 250,000 on the second night. This tour is the first time Queen did not perform in North America. The lack of US dates is seen as peculiar given that Mercury had started living in New York around this time. The album was partially recorded in Los Angeles, and Queen had changed their US label from Elektra to Capitol. It was rumored that a full-scale US tour would put too much strain on Mercury's voice. Both media reports (e.g. covering the Wembley Arena show) and bootleg recordings throughout the tour show that Mercury would sometimes have vocal difficulties. Usually Mercury wore leotards reminiscent of his seventies attire but, in keeping with its unconventional video, on a number of occasions he would make a cameo appearance dressed, or partly dressed, in drag when "I Want to Break Free" was being performed. This sometimes received a mixed reception. Audiences reproduced the synchronised hand-clapping routine that appeared in the "Radio Ga Ga" video during the choruses of this song. In this tour, the band brought back some of the material from their first three albums into the set-list as part of a 'flash-back' medley. Rick Parfitt from Status Quo also appeared on-stage with the band during one of their London gigs and Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet appeared on-stage with the band during their only New Zealand concert.

Queen were to participate in two music festivals (in 1984 and 1986) at Montreux in Switzerland, where they lip-synched a small selection of their latest material. This surprised many onlookers as the band had often spoken out strongly against this style of performance. The concerts were filmed and then broadcast to many millions of people throughout Europe. To their fans, it seemed obvious that the band, as well as some members of the audience, were dis-oriented and somewhat confused during these faked performances.

The 1984 performances in Sun City, South Africa landed the band in hot water. Many well-known acts, both before and after Queen, have played at the holiday resort in the desert and were not subsequently criticized for it. The international deploration of apartheid, however, would reach a high-point shortly after the band performed. Many action groups, including a group of musicians called Artists United Against Apartheid, publicly condemned Queen for their appearances at the resort. To try to calm the waters, Queen officially released a statement that they had no wish to promote racial prejudice.


Lyrics

Get your party gown
Get your pigtail down
Get your heart beatin' baby
Got my timin' right
Got my act all tight
It's gotta be tonight my little
Schoolbabe

Your momma says you don't
And your Daddy says you won't
And I'm boilin' up inside
Ain't no way I'm gonna lose out this time

Tie your Mother down
Tie your Mother down
Lock your Daddy out of doors
I don't need him nosing around
Tie your Mother down
Tie your Mother down
Give me all your love tonight

You're such a dirty louse
Go get outta my house
That's all I ever get from your
Family ties, in fact I don't think I ever heard
A single little civil word
from those guys
But you know I don't give a light
I'm gonna make out all right
I've got a sweetheart hand
To put a stop to all that
Grousin' an' snipin'

Tie your Mother down
Tie your Mother down
Take your little brother swimmin'
With a brick (that's all right)
Tie your Mother down,
Tie your Mother down
Or you ain't no friend of mine

Your momma and your Daddy gonna
Plague me til I die
Why can't they understand I'm just a
Peace lovin' guy
Tie your Mother down