Duration: 4:39

1,328 views

14

No copyright infringements intended, all rights go to their owners.

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

I don't want my freedom
There's no reason for living with a broken heart.

This is a tricky situation -
I've only got myself to blame
It's just a simple fact of life
It can happen to anyone -

You win - you lose
It's a chance you have to take with love
Oh yeah - I fell in love
But now you say it's over and I'm falling apart.

It's a hard life
To be true lovers together
To love and live forever in each others hearts -
It's a long hard fight
To learn to care for each other
To trust in one another right from the start
When you're in love -

I try and mend the broken pieces
I try to fight back the tears
They say it's just a state of mind
But it happens to everyone -

How it hurts - deep inside
When your love has cut you down to size
Life is tough - on your own
Now I'm waiting for something to fall from the skies
Waiting for love.

Yes it's a hard life
Two lovers together
To love and live forever in each others hearts
It's a long hard fight
To learn to care for each other
To trust in one another - right from the start
When you're in love -
Yes it's a hard life
In a world that's filled with sorrow
There are people searching for love in every way -

It's a long hard fight -
But I'll always live for tomorrow
I'll look back on myself and say I did it for love
Yes I did it for love - for love - oh I did it for love.