We got there in the end. To conclude my series of photos that I took at the Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own exhibition at Sotheby’s in 2023, we’re paying close attention to what the Queen frontman was best known for – his songwriting and performing.
There are some very significant items here, most of which are from the On Stage auction, but there are a few pieces from other auctions thrown in too. It all depends on how Sotheby’s had things on display in the galleries.
As has been the case in all the previous posts, clicking on the images will blow them up and the item links will take you to the description pages. So I hope you enjoy!
Contents
Photosets
There were several photosets being auctioned off, and what better place to start than Queen’s first album, the back cover of which featured images from this photoshoot collection by Douglas Puddifoot. It was withdrawn from sale for some reason, but it’s still nice to see it here.
Also from the 1970s, we have this lovely collection of polaroid photos (£40,640), which shows Freddie and his bandmates.
And then here’s a set of photos from the 1980s (£20,320), including images of Queen in the videos for Radio Ga Ga and I Want To Break Free, along with Freddie performing in concert.
From 1987 we then have 4 promotional photos by Peter Hince for Freddie’s cover of The Great Pretender, and the two I saw are really nice.
From the following year, 1988, this lovely smart colour photo is a press shot for the Barcelona album, and was displayed with a presentation box for a Barcelona ’92 Olympic Committee medal. They’re from a whole collection of photos, records and other material that sold for £22,860.
Then from 1991, there’s a collection of photos from the shoot for I’m Going Slightly Mad (£22,860). Given that the video was produced in black and white, it’s wonderful to see the colour imagery here. Freddie took advantage of the costumes and makeup to disguise his extremely poor health as much as he could, and still gave a great performance as well. It’s a very cool video.
There are also some photos that I can’t easily figure out the lot numbers for, but they’re worth showing anyway. For instance, there’s this collection from a solo shoot for Freddie, and some other photographs from across his career, and the Christmas message on the card next to the photos is very funny.
Then there’s this selection of photos that I believe are by Mick Rock. The shot of the band performing on stage was taken at Imperial College in 1973, so is most likely part of a withdrawn lot of photos from that year. One or more of the others are probably from a set of 10, a set of 6 or a set of 4 that were on sale, but it’s difficult to tell without any preview images.
Concerts
One of Queen’s most special and memorable performances was of course their show-stealing set at Live Aid, the big worldwide charity concert held on 13 July 1985. So naturally there was a collection of material relating to the event, which sold for £69,850. It’s lovely to be able to read little snippets of the documents from both before and after the gig.
The collection also includes a programme from Fashion Aid – a lesser-known benefit event, again organised by Bob Geldof, that was held later that year on 5 November at the Royal Albert Hall. It was particularly notable for Freddie taking part in a mock wedding ceremony with actress Jane Seymour during the big finale.
Next there’s a collection of documents from Queen’s tours in 1974-1986 that sold for £30,480, including planners and itineraries. I love the fact that the staff and backstage passes have fun designs, to keep things unique and special for those working behind the scenes.
Guitars
There were a couple of guitars shown in the On Stage gallery. One is a Satellite guitar (£82,550) used by Brian May in the music video for Play The Game, while the other is a Martin D-35 Acoustic Guitar (£139,700) that Freddie kept at home, though he may have used it on stage at some point.
Baby Grand Piano
The most significant instrument in the whole gallery was the Yamaha G2 baby grand piano that Freddie acquired in 1975, after many weeks of searching for the perfect piano to fulfil his musical ambitions. It remained his faithful musical companion for the rest of his life, and he used it to compose some of Queen’s most historic hits, including Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as some of his solo work.
It therefore came with him to Garden Lodge when he moved there in 1985. It’s quite funny to read how he and Mary spent a long time moving it around the property to figure out where to put it, with Freddie sitting down to get a feel for it in each location, before they placed it in a shaded corner and his response was “Fuck it. Let’s put it here.” They did, and there it stayed. It can be heard in use during the famous Garden Lodge session recordings with Montserrat Caballé in preparation for their Barcelona album.
So it attracted a lot of attention and a big battle of bids in the auction room. Yet incredibly, despite all that, it’s one of the few items in the auction that actually sold below its estimate (£2-3 million), though only slightly at £1,742,000. And Sotheby’s say that it’s still a record for a composer’s piano. It is a really beautiful instrument and, considering how heavily it was used, you can see that he looked after it well.
There’s a lovely quote from Freddie displayed next to the piano as well, about how he loves being able to make people happy.
Records
There were a few vinyl discs in this part of the gallery as well, including:
- 7-inch acetate of Bohemian Rhapsody (£44,450), interestingly naming the artist as “King”.
- 7-inch acetate of Love Of My Life (£50,800), a live version recorded in Frankfurt, as a single released from their Live Killers album.
- 12-inch test pressings of A Kind Of Magic (£27,940)
Notes & Sketches
Towards the end there was a fascinating collection of Freddie’s hand-written and hand-drawn material, demonstrating the variety of his thoughts and ideas.
Firstly, we have a few drawings that are really cool bits of design:
- Queen crest ink drawings (£190,500), including a sheet of fairies and other bits and pieces.
- Queen in Cavalier costume ink drawing (£50,800) – This is an enjoyably detailed drawing as well.
And then here are a selection of other notes and sketches:
- Early set list and equipment list (£25,400) – With various other documents from the early 1970s.
- News Of The World sketch & books (£35,560) – Includes a rough sketch of the robot used on the famous album cover.
- 1985 Notebook (£40,640) – Includes the draft lyrics “Grew my Moustache and I thought Everything was O-Kay”, to a song called A Living Man. It’s always sad to be reminded that there are so many ideas of Freddie’s that never saw the light of day, he had so much more to give.
- Magic Tour items (£40,640) – A collection from 1986 including a planner, an early set list (before Bohemian Rhapsody was moved nearer to the end), a couple of tickets to the concert at Népstadion in Budapest, and a signed postcard.
- The Miracle album lyrics notebook (£114,300) – With draft lyrics for various songs and a couple of sheets of track listings.
Lyrics
Finally, there were a lot of handwritten draft lyrics on display, which are fascinating to read.
We’ll begin with the lyrics for an unreleased song called I’m Going Down To The City. I don’t know which lot it’s part of, but it’s fascinating.
As far as I can figure out, the words are:
I’m leaving town, without my baby.
My mind’s made up, I’m leaving right away.
I’m going down when I’m good and ready baby.
You see my baby gone and done me wrong.
Gonna get on that wagon train.
Now listen, this here man, he stopped me by this alley.
Which way you goin’, do you think you going my way.
Now listen, gotta tell you something.
I’ve got my knee-high boots from [unclear] leather.
But I ain’t gonna be your pretty blue eyed baby today.
You see my baby’s gone and I got no place to stay.
And then we have a whole bunch of lyrics for tracks that were actually released, the first three below for Freddie’s solo projects, and then the rest for tracks by Queen. They sometimes include words or lines that weren’t in the final recordings, making them all the more interesting.
- Made In Heaven (£69,850) – With lyrics to other songs on the Mr Bad Guy album.
- The Great Pretender (£53,340)
- Barcelona (£57,150)
- My Fairy King & Liar (£76,200) – With lyrics for other songs on Queen’s self-titled debut album.
- March Of The Black Queen & The Fairy-Feller’s Master Stroke (£139,700) – With lyrics for other songs on Queen II.
- Seven Seas Of Rhye (£73,660)
- Now I’m Here, Flick Of The Wrist & In The Lap Of The Gods (£171,450) – With lyrics for other songs on Sheer Heart Attack.
- Stone Cold Crazy (£127,000) – In an early 1970s notebook.
- Killer Queen (£279,400)
- Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon & Death On Two Legs (£241,300) – With lyrics for other songs on A Night At The Opera.
- Love Of My Life (£260,350)
- You Take My Breath Away (£95,250) – With lyrics for other songs on A Day At The Races.
- Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (£76,200)
- My Melancholy Blues & It’s Late (£60,960) – With lyrics for other songs on News Of The World.
- Let Me Entertain You (£82,550) – With lyrics for other songs on the Jazz album.
- Don’t Stop Me Now (£330,200) – In a notebook with other songs on the Jazz album. A separate set of lyrics for this song sold for £371,500.
- Bicycle Race (£57,150)
- Life Is Real (Song For Lennon) (£69,850)
- All God’s People (£53,340)
And last, but as far from least as you can get – because it does really matter, anyone can see – we have some draft lyrics for Bohemian Rhapsody. They reveal a lot of information about the development of this iconic song, including its working title of “Mongolian Rhapsody”, so this collection of paperwork was always going to command a high price. There’s a big essay about the song in the book I got about the exhibition as well.
The video of this going under the hammer in the Evening Sale is brilliant to watch, as it gives a real sense of the excited yet tense atmosphere in the room. Auctioneer Oliver Barker – the Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe – talks about the song, and then elicits gasps from the assembled crowd when he opens the bidding at £500,000, with bids going up in chunks of £50,000 to begin with. It’s a battle between an online bidder and a telephone bidder for a while, then the telephone bidder gives up and a new online bidder joins in. There’s a round of applause when it reaches £1 million, and laughter when the auctioneer has to straighten his tie.
The hammer comes down at £1.1 million, but fees and VAT on top add up to the final total of £1,379,000!
Conclusion
And on those iconic notes, that concludes my extensive tour of Freddie’s incredible collection. At the end of the exhibition there was a wall providing a timeline of Freddie’s life, from which I’ve included a few of the panels throughout these posts where relevant, and then we of course exited through the shop.
Being able to explore Freddie’s private possessions and learn more about his personal life in such depth was such a joy and a privilege. And as I wasn’t able to buy any of the items, I’m really glad I was able to capture so many of them on camera. So I hope you’ve enjoyed looking through them all with me, it’s been a fun way to mark 10 years of blogging with this 10-part series!
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