Freddie Signing Off

So it's Sunday evening, and I am procrastinating...I need to pack a suitcase and finish some 'round the house stuff because I'll be gone most of the week, but instead I find myself online. One of my friends posted the 2003 re-edited video for No One But You that was done for World AIDS Day that year. The re-edit has more footage of Freddie than the original, and you can see how he goes from being a fit god of rock to being the skeletal and heavily made-up wisp of himself in those last months. A lot of people were shocked that Freddie recorded video when he was so ill, especially given how fiercely the band and his friends were protecting his privacy against the (as Roger Taylor called them - f*cking wankers) press.

No One But You is one of the most beautiful songs Brian has ever written. I still remember the first time I heard it; I stopped in my tracks and stared at the speaker it was coming from and burst into tears.

The Official International Queen Fan Club has a long-standing tradition of messages from band members at the annual conventions. Yes, 20 years after Freddie, the fan club is still going strong. I believe it is now the longest continuously-running band fan club ever. Not bad for a band that has spent 40 years being uncool, eh?

Here is Freddie's 1991 Fan Club message :
I'm Going Slightly Mad (Totally Bonkers Version)

Keep in mind that he was terribly ill when he recorded this and probably knew it would be his last fan club message. He kept his sense of humor right up to the end. This and his "I still love you" at the end of the Days of Our Lives video  were his last goodbyes to us mere mortals.

We still love you.