Queen - Ogre Battle (BBC Session 3 - December, 1973) [With Missing Intro]
This audio is sourced from the deluxe edition of the 'On Air' boxset released in 2016 and a tape close to the master which contains the best quality recording of the 'lost intro' (see below for more info). This was first released on the CD release 'Queen At The Beeb' in 1989 in edited form and was originally recorded on December 3rd, 1973.
Queen's third BBC Radio session was recorded on December 3, 1973 at Langham 1 Studio in London. The session was produced by Bernie Andrews and engineered by Nick Griffiths. BBC Radio 1 broadcast the session on John Peel's Sounds Of The 70s on December 6, 1973. Unlike some of their other sessions the band did not use any existing backing tracks, instead they opted to record all new versions in Langham 1. Queen II was still four months away from release when this session was aired, so Ogre Battle served as a nice preview of what was to come. The full version of this take included a guitar solo at the beginning. For the release of At The Beeb and At The BBC, the beginning intro is edited off because the BBC tape was damaged at that point in the song. In 2016, On Air was release and it featured a partially restored guitar intro.
Thanks to brianswig on QueenZone for transferring his tape as it contains the best quality copy of the missing intro take. This missing piece had been circulating for years in many bootlegs but the quality was always dreadful, as the coopies were all taken from tapes that were very distant from the master tape. This new tape however brings so much more clarity and less distortion and we are finally able to tell that this is a seperate take from the one which would later appear on the 1989 and 2016 CDs. There is an aubible cut/stop in the tape and an audio engineer can be heard, possibly informing Brian that the new recording has started.
For more information, check out this thread on QueenZone: http://www.queenzone.com/forum....s/1465022/bbc-sessio
Written by: Freddie Mercury
Produced by: Queen and Roy Thomas Baker
Musicians:
Freddie Mercury - lead and backing vocals, screams
Brian May - guitars, backing vocals
John Deacon - bass guitar
Roger Taylor - drums, gong, backing vocals, screams
Information from QueenVault.com, QueenPedia.com & Ultimatequeen.co.uk
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Lyrics:
Ha, ha, ha, ha, haa
Now once upon a time
An old man told me a fable
When the piper is gone
And the soup is cold on your table
And if the black crow flies
Find a new destination
That is the sign
Come tonight
Come to the ogre sight
Come to ogre battle fight
He gives a great big cry
Swallow up the ocean
With a mighty tongue he catches flies
In the palm of a hand incredible size
One great big eye
Has a focus in your direction
And the battle is won
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Come tonight
Come to the ogre sight
Come to ogre battle fight
Ha, ha, ha, ha, haa
The ogre men are still inside
The two-way mirror mountain
You gotta keep down right out of sight
You can't see in but they can see out
Look out
The ogre men are coming out
From the two-way mirror mountain
They're running up behind
And they're coming all about
Can't go east 'cos you gotta go south
Ogre men are going home
And the great big fight is over
Bugle blow let trumpet cry
Ogre battle lives for evermore
Wow, oh, oh
But you can come along
You can come along
Come to ogre battle
Ha, ha, ha, ha, haa
John Peel: "Oh now there's a band of monsters for you, Queen and the first from them on tonight's programme, called 'Ogre Battle', and that's gonna be on an LP due for release around March".
