Since today is the 28th anniversary release of A Winter’s Tale in the UK, that got me to thinking about both Christmas songs released by Queen. First, there is Thank God It’s Christmas from 1984 and as I had said last year, I first heard it in 1991 and owned it on CD in 1992. I also sang it at school in 1992, with my friend Bob on keyboards and me on lead vocals and guitar, entertaining our school during a noon hour concert in our school auditorium. I learned the song (note for note) in less than a day and I had plenty of time to burn it into my brain, as I was stuck at school for two weeks. There was a winter storm which had brought a bunch of snow, which wouldn’t allow my bus to take me home for the weekend.
I had approached Bob about singing the song during the next concert and he said yes and we had listened to it and learned the cord changes and key modulations separately. we did it and a piece of it ended up on our yearbook, which was on tape first and now on CD and digitally as a bunch of files meant for dropbox. No, I do not have it on my phone and I can not give it to you hear, but I can probably get it if I dig into Facebook and one of my school’s groups which I post in from time to time.
With A Winter’s Tale, I didn’t think of it as a Christmas song and I still don’t. Obviously, it was the last song Freddie ever wrote and I get why that is. During the 1993/ 1994 school year in social studdies class, we watched a video where a man who was living with HIV and the AIDS virus, took us through all the various stages. Because this song was the last song written by Freddie, it has a reflective feel on everything going on outside and especially, during this most wonderful time of the year. I remember hearing much the same sentiments from the man in the educational video, about nature. The song is obviously entitled A Winter’s Tale, but to me it could mean not just Christmas, but winter in general. After all, one of the lines Freddie sings is “gentle rain beating on my face”. How does that compute with what we normally associate with Christmas? During the winter, it can rain and it can snow, but with Christmas we want it white. Actually, those who enjoy ice and snow, wish we could have a white Christmas every year, but not me. I hate winter and I hate the cold and snow, but I loved and I still do enjoy parts of Christmas and the holiday season in general. However, I like both of these “Christmas” songs by Queen, because it is Queen and not anyone else.
I had bought A Winter’s Tale as a CD single in March 1996 and it had Now I’m Here and Somebody To Love on it, as appposed to Thank God It’s Christmas. I didn’t care anyway, because I at least had something else to keep my appetite for Queen wet and continue to be wet, for any future singles. I forget which part it was, but I believe that all of the British singles from Made In Heaven have multiple parts to them, or am I wrong?
Anyway, both songs are available to stream and download digitally, as well as purchase on iTunes, CD and vinyl as a part of an album or two. I wonder if there will be a year, when there will be a release of Thank God It’s Christmas with A Winter’s Tale as a bonus track, digitally. I am glad that the latter was released as a single, because it has a clean fade, without going right into the next song. I prefer that because I like when there is a break between songs on a compilation and on a CD single. Besides, it’s great for playlists and in the old days, creating a mixed tape. With Made In Heaven, I won’t complain because that is how the album was sequenced so, that’s fine. Altho, I wonder where the “Cosy Fireside Mix” of AWT came from.
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