May then asked fans to try and work out what was in Freddie’s mind with this slightly different version of the track.
And now the Queen guitarist has shared another video, one that he claims solves the mystery.
May wrote on his Instagram: “OK – here’s my attempt to solve the mystery of my last post (assisted by protools genius Kris Fredriksson).
“What we see here is a digital transfer of the original 24 track analogue tape recording of Bo Rhap into the ‘Protools’ system (well, strictly, ONE of the original multitracks – because some ‘bouncing’ was done, duplicating on to copy tapes, at the time – probably because of the worries, referred to in the movie, that the oxide on the tape was wearing thin).
“You can see here, as the Protools cursor moves over the picture, it visually ‘plays’ what was recorded on to each track – and here we see three tracks playing back and two being used at the bottom to record what we’re listening to. The top track has the “1, 2, 3, 4” count from Freddie.
“The two tracks underneath are from a stereo pair of microphones placed above the piano strings. Freddie is putting down the guide piano, to which he will eventually sing lots of multitracked harmony vocals Is this the real life … etc. But these mikes also pick up what is going on in the room – notably, just audible, Freddie softly singing the tune that he has in his head along with the words he is still writing.”
READ MORE: QUEEN’S FINAL GIG WITH FREDDIE MERCURY CHAOS
May added: “So here it’s pretty clear – Freddie goes ‘One two three four’ and comes in with the vocal on the following ‘one’. There is no ‘rest’ at the beginning of the bar. So that sheet music chart is wrong in its assumption. “There is one slightly grey area. The count was obviously added after the recording of the piano. This is very common practice – because in the initial takes you’re just worried about the rhythm and the notes – and it’s only later that you realise you need a ‘count in’ to time the entries of the vocals !
“So that count could have been placed anywhere in time – but it’s unthinkable that Freddie would put it in a place where it didn’t feel natural to him. Well, that’s my case.”
While one part of the mystery was solved, May points out that the recording, which you can listen to in the video, seems to have different lyrics after “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” and he asked fans to try and work it out.
May wrote: “Now – what words is he singing ? The first two lines sound like what went on the record … but after that ? Well, tell me … what does he say ? Cheers – Bri.”
Fans put some suggestions in the comments, but the most popular ones argued not to speculate.
One wrote: “Freddie has mysterious ways. Some things are best left as beautiful mysteries.”
Another said: “As to ‘what words are being sung by Freddie’, I really can’t tell. It sounds like he was just getting the word-rhythm in place, but hadn’t quite finalized the exact lyrics yet.”
While one speculated: “To me the other lines sounded like ‘caught in stilettos… Is this real’”.
In a later post, Brian said: “Thanks for all your comments on Freddie’s intro. Some of them make a lot of sense. Some of them don’t !!! But they’re all interesting ! Anyway, haven’t forgotten. I’ll report back on that soon. Have a great week, folks. Bri.”