Beschreibung:

Freddie Mercury
Autograph manuscript working lyrics for songs written for the album A Day at the Races, comprising:
i) 'Tie Your Mother Down', autograph manuscript lyrics of the complete song with some variant lines, 2 pages, in blue ballpoint, on a single leaf of A4 lined paper, 
ii) 'You Take My Breath Away', 6 pages of autograph working lyrics including early versions of all verses and fragmentary phrases, and four pages of vocal harmonies, altogether 10 pages, black fibretip and blue ballpoint, text on rectos only, 10 leaves, chiefly British Midland Airways stationery with 1974 calendar (290 x 205mm)
iii) 'The Millionaire Waltz', four pages of autograph working lyrics including a near-fair copy of the complete song and early drafts and fragments, and four pages of vocal harmonies, in black and red fibretip and pencil, text on rectos only, 8 leaves of British Midland Airways stationery with 1974 calendar (290 x 205mm)
iv) 'Teo Toriatte', autograph manuscript lyrics, 1 page, black fibretip, British Midland Airways stationery with 1974 calendar (290 x 205mm)
v) Draft tracklist, and two further leaves of fragmentary draft lyrics
altogether 23 leaves, c.1976
A Day at the Races was recorded from July to November 1976 and released on 10 December. Queen had finished touring A Night at the Opera in April, so much of the writing is likely to have been done in that three-month hiatus, or else after they had already begun to work in the studio. 'Tie Your Mother Down' and 'You Take My Breath Away' were certainly completed by the beginning of September as they were incorporated into a brief series of live gigs they played across the UK at that time.
There are extensive drafts for the simple love ballad 'You Take My Breath Away', from early fragments to the near-completed song, as well as vocal harmonies, although in the studio on this occasion these were all generated by multi-tracking Freddie's voice, rather than using the other band members. The drafts also show the development of 'The Millionaire Waltz', which grew into one of the most complex songs that Queen ever recorded: "Brian orchestrated it fully with guitars, like he's never done before. He went from tubes to piccolos to cellos. It took weeks. Brian's very finicky. That track is something that Queen had never undertaken before - a Strauss waltz. It's all about John Reid actually, our manager at the time." (Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words, p.72).
Mercury was undoubtedly the band's lead songwriter at this time - he also contributed 'Somebody to Love' (see lot 47) and 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy' (see lot 166) to A Day at the Races. This lot also includes copies of two of Brian May's compositions in Freddie's handwriting, presumably for studio use: 'Teo Toriatte' incorporated Japanese lyrics as a thank-you to that country's many fans of the band; and 'Tie Your Mother Down' was a traditional raucous rocker that was a great addition to the band's live sets.
Queen were now at the height of their popularity. On 18 September 1976 they played to a crowd of 200,000 at Hyde Park and A Day at the Races spent six weeks in the UK top ten. However, this was also the moment of punk rock, and the music press were not slow to contrast Queen's polish to the angry authenticity of up and coming punk bands.
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